# Recording Help!



## Prosonic (Apr 28, 2009)

You guys seem like an intelligent bunch here at this form so I thought I'd ask for some advice. I want to have the ability to record 6 to 8 tracks at once. I've got an older PC laptop with 2G of ram and usb 2.0. What kind of external usb soundcard should I be looking for? Is my laptop going to be able to handle this? I was thinking of upgrading to a macbook in the near future. I've had crappy luck recording using various single channel usb soundcards like the maudio fasttrack. Lots of latency. I don't know if it was the computer or the software was not installed properly. Anyway, any insight into what I should do to start recording 6 - 8 tracks at once would be much appreciated. Thanks!


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## jimihendrix (Jun 27, 2009)

hey there...you might have to go with one of these interfaces...although they do have stand alone units that act as an all-in-one studio...

http://www.long-mcquade.com/products/577/

http://www.long-mcquade.com/products/5419/


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

I have an older laptop I bought that was bumped up to 2gig of ram and a 160 gig hardive. I have been using a Tacam1641 interface with it. For software I have been using Reaper Audio . I have made some great off the floor tracks using 4 inputs. I am pretty happy with it the whole set up. I do find some latency but not enough to try and change any settings. Until you start adding VST's the performance meter usually runs under 20% So a good start into things. Have a listen to some of my tracks. Not perfect all of them but it's not due to the equipment  There are a couple of live recordings there. 

I recorded a great party two weeks ago. They aren't posted there but send me an email and I can send you a couple. Basically a perfect application of my system. Show up at the party, run two overhead condensors and pull two lines out of the board. It took a night to fix up some stuff but I got 24 great recordings with out making a dent on the system's resources. 

A *must* read .... this thread has been going for a year and it's still being posted to. The why's of recording with not much gear talk .. There are some PFD recaps posted through out the thread... Take the 4 or 5 days to read it. As good as any book you will read 

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=29283


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

jimihendrix said:


> hey there...you might have to go with one of these interfaces...although they do have stand alone units that act as an all-in-one studio...
> 
> http://www.long-mcquade.com/products/577/


That's the one I have. I got it off Ebay for $300 shipped


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## Prosonic (Apr 28, 2009)

Thanks guys! That Tascam 1641 looks like what I want. I'll have to take a trip to L&M tomorrow.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Prosonic said:


> Thanks guys! That Tascam 1641 looks like what I want. I'll have to take a trip to L&M tomorrow.


It comes with Cubase light but I couldn't get it to work. Reaper has a free 30 day trial and is cheap too buy. There are exstensive forums too.


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## Prosonic (Apr 28, 2009)

So reaper works well with it? At 60 bucks it looks pretty good!


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## jimihendrix (Jun 27, 2009)

ya might as well buy this software...it's a full version pro recording program...that gives you pro results and is easy to use...

http://www.long-mcquade.com/products/6311/


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

I thought it was $29 bux.. I found it easy. That was the last version... I haven't upgraded yet.


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## Andy (Sep 23, 2007)

The Tascam US-1641 is perfect. Mine works flawlessly with XP Pro and Reaper, very light load on the system versus a FireWire unit.


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## Prosonic (Apr 28, 2009)

Well what would the difference (pros/cons) be between Reaper and Samplitude?


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## Prosonic (Apr 28, 2009)

I should mention that I am familiar with Sequoia and cubase so if either are similar it would probably be best for me.


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## Prosonic (Apr 28, 2009)

So I went for the Zoom R16. For my needs I think it will suit the best. Also, they had one in stock! Does anyone know if the control surface will work with anything but cuebase?


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Don't know the answer to your last question. I would keep your receipt. You may find 16 tracks a little restraining. I I know that when I am working on a song that I like to keep some track attempts until I am sure that I can dump it. I know nothing about that unit. 

But L&M has a 30 day return so work it hard to see if it is indeed what you want.. 

and post some tracks


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## Prosonic (Apr 28, 2009)

I spent the day/night yesterday putting the R16 through it's paces and I'm begining to think that the controll surface is a bit of a waste of time. I could see it usefull when used as a stand alone recorder but I'm only going to use it as an interface. I'm use to controlling the DAW with a mouse so I find myself not using the faders or the play, stop, ff, buttons on the R16. They also had a presonus firestudio 26X26 firewire interface there used for the same price and I'm thinkning about swapping. The presonus likley has better pre's. I've got this thing on my computer which I think is a mini firewire hookup, but I'm not sure as I've never used firewire before. *Does anyone know how I can figure out if it is indeed a firewire hookup?* 

If it is I may head back to L&M. What do you guys think about the swap?


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-73534.html


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