high quality mobile recording under 2k?

buzzjoe · 11th March 2006

Hallo everybody,

I have already some nice mics (neumann U193, Shure KSK141, Sennheiser 441...) and waitig for my DAV BG 1 (my other pres are e.g. dmp3, vtb1...). I am a musician and record my band or single instruments/voices.
Until now I use a tascam 788 for that, but I want something with better sounding a/d converters (I think even my audiophile 192 soundcard in my pc sounds better) and more flexibility.

I consider

1) a not to expensive laptop (e.g. hp pavilion 6296 with amd64) + firewire interface (e.g. onyx 400f)
2) alesis hd24xr
3) a similar "all in one" device but with better quality then the 788 (e.g. yamaha aw1600)
4) akai dsp24 (o.k. more than 2k but maby it's worth it?)

What would you guys recommend here (most importent is the sound quality!)?

Thanks

cajonezzz · 11th March 2006

Look into SAW studio, on a laptop, with RME convertors. Killer mobile tracking only rig.

cz

Rogervandeberg · 12th March 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by buzzjoe

Hallo everybody,

for mobile recording I use a tascam 788 but I am not satisfied with its sound quality (even my m-audio audiophile192 sounds better) and flexibility (only 8
tracks, no direct "wav" transfer to the pc...).

I am a musician and record mostly my own band (with drums guitars...) or single instruments/voices. I have already some nice mics (neumann tlm 193, shure ksm141, sm57, sennheiser md441...) and preamps (dmp3, vtb1, waiting for my new DAV BG No1) and now I need - first of all - better a/d converters. So far I've looked at:

1) Korg d16xd (or d32xd)
2) Akai dps24
3) laptop (e.g. hp pavilion with amd64) + firewire interface (e.g. mackie onyx400f)
4) Alesis hd24xr

Can you recommend one of this? What will sound best?

Thanks

A laptop and a MOTU traveler seems the obvious choice i think!

giles117 · 12th March 2006

A Laptop, Firewire Drive and....a Motu Traveler with the Black Lion Mod (based on all the responses around here)

tonymite · 12th March 2006

alesis hd24xr no competition ... do your research ... and consider reliability.

Diskordia · 14th March 2006

hdr24 is very nice and reliable but monitoring the channels is a pain without a board..and there are no pres

oops sorry...i was thinking of the mackie...don't know about the alesis..

Jim vanBergen · 14th March 2006

I think you'll be happy with the Alesis HD24xr if you want a hardware solution, or you can look closely at the laptop options (Motu Traveller, Digi 001/002, RME, and others) if you want software solutions. You need to decide which is the way you like to work!

a lot is gonna depend on how you want to work, if you prefer tracking on computer on hardware (I prefer tracking on hardware, and mixing in PT with outboard stem proccessing & summing).

I don't know anything about the Korg rig, but I DO know that Akai stops making a product after 20 months and stops supporting them (anyone else own an old S5000 or S6000 sampler?) They piss me off... support is half the battle. And while Alesis has had some problems, they are still surviving and making the best of it, it seems as much as I'd like to say worse.

Any more recent thoughts on this?

Gilliland · 14th March 2006

My remote recording rig is simply an HD24XR with three Studio Projects SP828 mic pres. Total cost is probably around $3500 or so.

The HD24XR is incredibly reliable, and the converters in the XR version are excellent.

The SP828 is a budget mic pre - certainly not fancy, but I've gotten some excellent recordings through them. Their big advantage over the competition is that they contain a simple mixer, and can be chained together. So in my six space rack, I have a complete 24 channel recording capability, along with a 24 channel mix bus for monitoring what I'm recording.

And the mix bus allows me, when necessary, to feed a live mix to a broadcast, or a webcast, or a video crew, or a DAT safety - all at the same time that I'm capturing the 24 channel multitrack. The SP828 also has insert jacks on its mix bus so I can easily add an RNC or other processor across the bus.

Add a UPS to complete the package - hard disk recorders don't like to have their power interrupted while they're recording.

AnalogBob · 14th March 2006

The motu withe the black lion mod is a good suggestion.. The newest version of the mini me is not as expensive as it once was and comes with a battery..and is very good value for what you get.

buzzjoe · 14th March 2006

Thank you for your input!

Maybe I should go with the alesis but then I need an extra mixer for montioring (any economic and lightweight recommendations for that - besides 3x sp828?). The whole rig (incl. pres, mics) shouldn't get to big or heavy because I have no car and everything should fit in my backpack :-) Btw: I don't really need 24 Tracks - it's enough if I can record 8-10 tracks at once (and say 12 for mixdown).

For the same price (1900 euro) I could get an amd64-Laptop (about 1000 euro, e.g. fujitsu-siemens amilo, hp pavilion) and a rme mulitace+cardbus (800 euro). The motu with "black lion mod" looks very interesting but I live in germany and dont think it is worth while from here (shipping...), don't you think?

The easiest solution would be the korg. But how does it sound? Can the converters keep up with rme or the hd24xr ? I think they have imoroved since the d3200?

Or shuold I wait a few month and save for a MacBook Pro (dual core) and a metric halo 2882 (would be about 4k together)?

Rogervandeberg · 15th March 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by buzzjoe

Thank you for your input!

Maybe I should go with the alesis but then I need an extra mixer for montioring (any economic and lightweight recommendations for that - besides 3x sp828?). The whole rig (incl. pres, mics) shouldn't get to big or heavy because I have no car and everything should fit in my backpack :-) Btw: I don't really need 24 Tracks - it's enough if I can record 8-10 tracks at once (and say 12 for mixdown).

For the same price (1900 euro) I could get an amd64-Laptop (about 1000 euro, e.g. fujitsu-siemens amilo, hp pavilion) and a rme mulitace+cardbus (800 euro). The motu with "black lion mod" looks very interesting but I live in germany and dont think it is worth while from here (shipping...), don't you think?

The easiest solution would be the korg. But how does it sound? Can the converters keep up with rme or the hd24xr ? I think they have imoroved since the d3200?

Or shuold I wait a few month and save for a MacBook Pro (dual core) and a metric halo 2882 (would be about 4k together)?

I dont' know how the black lion mod sounds, but i am pretty happy with my stock traveler. Ok, maybe it's not an apogee, but it's quality a/d!

Another thing that attractms me was when you want to go on the road, you can come quite an end with just a laptop and a traveler. Just put it under your laptop, tweak away, you've got 4 good preamps and nice metering which is very important for me when recording on location.

AdamJay · 15th March 2006

i'm using a MacBook Pro 2ghz (7200rpm HD, 2GB Ram). Metric Halo 2882+DSP, and a Swissonic AD96 (4 more 96k inputs via lightpipe) for remote recording.

Its a solid 12 channel 24bit/96khz recording system and the Record Panel in the MIO Software kicks ass. 60bit internal precision, recording with it sounds better than my DAW

I do however use outboard preamps (ATI 8mx2, Phoenix DRS..) but if i had to use the Metric Halo pre's only i wouldn't be upset. They're quite good for live work until you get into the high gain area. The pre's really love condensors i have found. My earthworks TC30k's pair very well with the MIO preamps.

just chiming in to let you know that this option you are considering is already in use.

AnalogBob · 15th March 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnalogBob

The motu withe the black lion mod is a good suggestion.. The newest version of the mini me is not as expensive as it once was and comes with a battery..and is very good value for what you get.

If the Motu/lion mod is too expensive cause of your location. I would take a serious look at the Metric Halo boxes...they can be powered off of firewire...they sound really quite good..and were really designed for mobile recording and in my experience seem to be as step up from Motu for not all that much more $$.

mikebuzz · 18th March 2006

Roland VS2480 16 ins monitoring capability etc. works great as a live board while recording

Later
Buzz

And they are cheap now

newrob1 · 27th March 2006

AdamJay,

Just curious what software you are using with the Macbook Pro?

buzzjoe · 30th March 2006

Thank You!

I made my desicion. I have already ordered a rme muliface II with cardbus (I can use it via a pci to pcmcia adapter with my pc too).

The next piece will be the laptop. I think I should get a dual core, maybe with a 17" display (e.g. sony vaio because it has a very good display) I have also looked at the mac book pro but it's to expensive for me (the dual core pc laptops are about 1K less!)

11th March 2006	#1
buzzjoe Gear addict Joined: Mar 2006 Posts: 440 Thread Starter	high quality mobile recording under 2k? Hallo everybody, I have already some nice mics (neumann U193, Shure KSK141, Sennheiser 441...) and waitig for my DAV BG 1 (my other pres are e.g. dmp3, vtb1...). I am a musician and record my band or single instruments/voices. Until now I use a tascam 788 for that, but I want something with better sounding a/d converters (I think even my audiophile 192 soundcard in my pc sounds better) and more flexibility. I consider 1) a not to expensive laptop (e.g. hp pavilion 6296 with amd64) + firewire interface (e.g. onyx 400f) 2) alesis hd24xr 3) a similar "all in one" device but with better quality then the 788 (e.g. yamaha aw1600) 4) akai dsp24 (o.k. more than 2k but maby it's worth it?) What would you guys recommend here (most importent is the sound quality!)? Thanks

11th March 2006	#2
cajonezzz Lives for gear Joined: Jun 2002 Location: Carlsbad Ca. Posts: 1,765	Look into SAW studio, on a laptop, with RME convertors. Killer mobile tracking only rig. cz __________________ http://recordingdrummerproducer.com http://socaldrumsociety.com http://ProCraftMedia.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

15th March 2006	#12
AdamJay Lives for gear Joined: Aug 2005 Location: Indianapolis, IN Posts: 2,825	i'm using a MacBook Pro 2ghz (7200rpm HD, 2GB Ram). Metric Halo 2882+DSP, and a Swissonic AD96 (4 more 96k inputs via lightpipe) for remote recording. Its a solid 12 channel 24bit/96khz recording system and the Record Panel in the MIO Software kicks ass. 60bit internal precision, recording with it sounds better than my DAW I do however use outboard preamps (ATI 8mx2, Phoenix DRS..) but if i had to use the Metric Halo pre's only i wouldn't be upset. They're quite good for live work until you get into the high gain area. The pre's really love condensors i have found. My earthworks TC30k's pair very well with the MIO preamps. just chiming in to let you know that this option you are considering is already in use. __________________

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12th March 2006	#4
giles117 Gear maniac Joined: Jul 2003 Location: In the Sun Posts: 280	A Laptop, Firewire Drive and....a Motu Traveler with the Black Lion Mod (based on all the responses around here)

12th March 2006	#5
tonymite Gear addict Joined: Apr 2004 Location: Melbourne Posts: 456	alesis hd24xr no competition ... do your research ... and consider reliability.

14th March 2006	#6
Diskordia Gear nut Joined: Jan 2006 Location: MN Posts: 106	hdr24 is very nice and reliable but monitoring the channels is a pain without a board..and there are no pres oops sorry...i was thinking of the mackie...don't know about the alesis..

14th March 2006	#7
Jim vanBergen Lives for gear Joined: Apr 2005 Location: New York Friggin' City Posts: 2,562	I think you'll be happy with the Alesis HD24xr if you want a hardware solution, or you can look closely at the laptop options (Motu Traveller, Digi 001/002, RME, and others) if you want software solutions. You need to decide which is the way you like to work! a lot is gonna depend on how you want to work, if you prefer tracking on computer on hardware (I prefer tracking on hardware, and mixing in PT with outboard stem proccessing & summing). I don't know anything about the Korg rig, but I DO know that Akai stops making a product after 20 months and stops supporting them (anyone else own an old S5000 or S6000 sampler?) They piss me off... support is half the battle. And while Alesis has had some problems, they are still surviving and making the best of it, it seems as much as I'd like to say worse. Any more recent thoughts on this?

14th March 2006	#8
Gilliland Gear maniac Joined: Jan 2006 Posts: 278	My remote recording rig is simply an HD24XR with three Studio Projects SP828 mic pres. Total cost is probably around $3500 or so. The HD24XR is incredibly reliable, and the converters in the XR version are excellent. The SP828 is a budget mic pre - certainly not fancy, but I've gotten some excellent recordings through them. Their big advantage over the competition is that they contain a simple mixer, and can be chained together. So in my six space rack, I have a complete 24 channel recording capability, along with a 24 channel mix bus for monitoring what I'm recording. And the mix bus allows me, when necessary, to feed a live mix to a broadcast, or a webcast, or a video crew, or a DAT safety - all at the same time that I'm capturing the 24 channel multitrack. The SP828 also has insert jacks on its mix bus so I can easily add an RNC or other processor across the bus. Add a UPS to complete the package - hard disk recorders don't like to have their power interrupted while they're recording.

14th March 2006	#9
AnalogBob Gear addict Joined: Dec 2004 Posts: 490	The motu withe the black lion mod is a good suggestion.. The newest version of the mini me is not as expensive as it once was and comes with a battery..and is very good value for what you get.

18th March 2006	#14
mikebuzz Gear Head Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 48	Roland VS2480 16 ins monitoring capability etc. works great as a live board while recording Later Buzz And they are cheap now

27th March 2006	#15
newrob1 Gear nut Joined: Apr 2005 Posts: 92	AdamJay, Just curious what software you are using with the Macbook Pro?

30th March 2006	#16
buzzjoe Gear addict Joined: Mar 2006 Posts: 440 Thread Starter	Thank You! I made my desicion. I have already ordered a rme muliface II with cardbus (I can use it via a pci to pcmcia adapter with my pc too). The next piece will be the laptop. I think I should get a dual core, maybe with a 17" display (e.g. sony vaio because it has a very good display) I have also looked at the mac book pro but it's to expensive for me (the dual core pc laptops are about 1K less!)