Home studio equipment suggestions

[mja61]

Hoping to get some opinions on this....(I think this topic has shown up a few times on HoD in the past). I've been wanting to do some home studio recording and might finally be ready to part with a few bucks. I want to start with a mixer and A/D box for the PC. I've been doing some browsing and I think I have basically two options:

High-quality (and more expensive) option is:
- Mackie 1604-VLZ pro mixer (approx $1000)
- Echo Layla channel A/D box (approx $700) Looks like the new version is now 10-channel input.

Lower-quality (and cheaper) option is:
- Behringer ULTRAGAIN PRO-8 DIGITAL ADA8000 ($200)
- Behringer UB24442FX-PRO mixer. 10 XLR inputs with 24-bit multi-FX processor ($300)

The advantage of the Behringer mixer is that it appears to have built-in effects. I'm wondering if these are of any real value. Also, is this a true zero-latency mixer (which is not always the case with digital effects)?

The main disadvatage of the Berhinger option is that it requires an ADAT lightpipe (TosLink) interface to the PC (i.e. need to buy an extra PC card). From what I've seen, those cards can be around $300 alone, which cuts into the cost savings.

Other disadvantages of the Behringer mixer is that it has fewer XLR inputs, and the A/D box looks like it comes with no editing software.

Some questions off the top of my head:

Any suggestions for a low-cost ADAT input card?

Does the Layla come with any multi-track editing software? Is it any good?

Any comments on quality of any of these?

Horror stories?

Anything I'm forgetting?

Thanks for any advice you can lend!!

-Mike

[FlamTriplet]

What are the specs of your system? What software do you plan on using?
Check out the MOTU stuff. I just got a 828mk2. It has 8 1/4 ins, 2 XLR ins, Aday, SPDIF stereo, and MIDI in out. IT's a firewire device. I am using it with DP4, which is for the MAC.

The Delta 1010 is a good low end 8 analog, 2 digital input and midi PCI card.

If you plan on using CubaseSX2, I am selling my copy as it is not ready for MAc Panther OSX. But it works fine on Windows XP.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 14, 2004 04:30 PM: Message edited by: FlamTriplet ]</font>

[juanexpo]

Have you considered to buy a DIGITAL MULTITRACKER RECORDER ?
I have FOSTEX VF 16.
here you have the newest version VF 160.
You put thar near your drumset, plug in the mics, record, EQ, effects... and when you want you go to your PC to do "post-production" things: cut the tracks for doing a CD..., or even send each track to Cubase or similar and edite it on your computer.
Check this link:
http://www.fostex.co.jp/int/pages/sets/prodset.htm
I think this is a good investment. You have a whole studio recording in one piece. Using the PC and record drums is not easy...and this type of machine is "the solution" for this. Also, the PC complement the process.

[juanexpo]

this the concrete link:
http://www.fostex.co.jp/int/pages/pr...ostex_mult.htm
Fostex offers (in my opinion) the best relation between quality and price.

[Randy walker]

Frontier Designs make great PC cards, it's what I am using. Not sure of what software if any come swith the ECHO stuff, my guess is that it comes with Cool Edit Pro.
I have used the Behringer ADA8000 and it works well, you want to stay away from on board effects in a mixer though and use plug ins instead.My 2 cents.

[mja61]

Thanks for the replies so far, everyone!

My PC is one I built a few years ago. WinXP, 1.7 GHz P4, 64 MB video, 1.5 GB RAM (yes, you read that correctly!). Not a lot of bells & whistles....just built for number-crunching performance.

I'm not sure the standalone recording box is the best option for me. I'm actually an electrical/software engineer by day, so I don't mind the additional hassle and learning curve of the PC-based setup. I'd rather have the additional flexibility and expandability of a PC-based solution over the simplicity of a standalone.

My goal is to be able to record demo-quality stuff at home, and get decent-quality recordings of practices (both by myself and with a band).

Since it came up, what do you guys think of the different editing applications? A few years ago, CakeWalk seemed like it was top dog, but now I'm hearing more people mention Cool Edit and Cubase. Any thoughts?

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 15, 2004 05:04 PM: Message edited by: mja61 ]</font>

[Derek DeFields]

I don't know what your financial situation is but if you can swing it, I highly recommend the smaller ProTools setups. The interface in PT is fantastic and very fast IMO.

[Lee Collins]

I know nothing much about recording, but today I set up a bunch of AKG clip-on mics on my toms, couple of AKG overheads, an SM57 on the snare, the AKG bass drum mic, one for the hihat, all going through a yamaha 12 channel mixer. Got my minidisc taking a line out from the mixer. There's loads of reverb effects on the mixer, but I downloaded cool edit pro2 today, and it's fantastic. There's just tons of parameters, reverbs, echos, chorused effects, you name it. So easy to use as well. There'a a bunch of stuff I'll never use, but I can get a pretty good drum sound putting the recording through cool edit. Gonna mess with it properly tomorrow. Dunno how it compares to cakewalk and cubase, but it does seem to have good multitracking facilities.

[Randy walker]

I use SONAR by Cakewalk and it runs awesome. 1 tip, if you are going to do MIDi AND Audio, then you should use 1 of the 3, Cakewalk, Vegas by Sony or Digital Performer.

[chris perra]

i use nuendo 2. an rme card and the behringer 800 d/a a/d light pipe pre. it's really good for the money. i was really surprized when i demoed it.

nuendo and the rme card aren't cheap. but this is where the where the sound quality is maintained. m audio has a firewire 18/10 unit that has light pipe in and out.

there stuff is solid when on a budget. for a p.c. i think sx 2 is probably the best value for the money for a daw.

also, if you go the behringer 800 route you won't need a large mixer to go along with it. just a sound card that takes lightpipe.

good luck

chris perra