home studio

present_tense

Im either going to go with a yamaha aw16g stand alone station, or go with a mac notepad g4. Ive never used a mac before, but with all the multi-media functions built in, its very attractive...any advice?

present_tense

awwww..someone respond

mccreadyisgod

Well, the Yamaha has more stuff to start with. 8 inputs, all with mic and line inputs, and a total of 16 tracks. That's a pretty good line-up. The Yamaha is probably the easier one to get into, and the easier one to use. For $1000, that's hard to beat.

However, the Mac would give you better quality. The problem there is input and software. If you had a Mac with, say, a DigiDesign 002, you'd have much better quality and all the toys you need. However, you'd be looking at about $2000 for the computer and then $1200 for the Digi 002. That gets you 8 analog inputs, 4 mic preamps, ADAT lightpipe inputs... and ProTools!

The Mac by itself would be okay... but you'd be limited on inputs, and I'm not sure about the built-in software (Garageband, or something like that?).

If you have the money, get the Mac and the Digi 002 (or any other input interface and software bundle). If you're limited on funds, get the Yamaha.

Just to put my opinion in here, you'll want to eventually get better mic preamps for any of these options. PreSonus makes a great 8-channel mic preamp unit with ADAT and line-level outputs, so keep that in the back of your mind. You'll also need mics, and a good assortment of mics can cost some $$$.

What are you planning on recording? Solo stuff, full-band stuff? Live-recording or layering? Demo or album?

present_tense

thanks alot for the response, that was more then i could have asked for!! Im planning on recording my own stuff track by track, drums, guitar, bass, and possibly vocals. The mac sounds nice, plus it would be great to have something i could also use to edit my digital video and put to dvd, lots to think about, thanks for the input

2italy

if your going to use a MAC G4 then you could try Pro Tools (free version) or Garage Band

drummerboy_73

I've seen Garage Band, it looks pretty cool and really versatile.

I have a PC. I do basic solo stuff, one track at a time. I have mics on the drumkit, and run them through a Behringer 16-channel mixer, into my PC sound card and use Cakewalk Guitar tracks. I run guitars through a Digitech RP80 multi-effects, and through the mixer also.

For basic demo recording, it works fairly well.

present_tense

cool, thanks alot guys!!

Ill have to do some serious pondering before i spend my mulla$$