Need Advice:Digi 001,Echo,MOTU or what????

[Jagmaster]

My band is going to attempt the self-recording route that has become quite the trend.What is the best set-up, we need At least 8 ins and 8 outs and the ability to record at least 8 tracks at one time and playback 16.We are looking at the Digi 001,the Echo Layla 24 and the MOTU.We would like to get the system for around $1000 so we can go ahead and get other stuff as well like mics,monitrs and stuff.which system is going to give us the best sound quality possible.Alos need advice on computer to use,we need to know the minimum requirements for what we are wanting to do.Please repond.
Thanx

[Jagmaster]

bump....

[richn]

Just went through a similar set of decisions with my band. Ultimately, we decided to go with an Akai dps 16 for a basic recording deck (about $1000 slightly used) over a computer based system because it is very portable (any band member can take it for a period of time) and is a unit dedicated to recording, meaning it's very stable and has no latency for audio recording. These things have turned out to be very useful.

My concerns were about mixing through a fairly small display with lots of nested menus. So we burn a cd of the tracks when they're recorded and I take them into my computer (Apple TiBook) and pull the tracks into Cubase or ProTools for mixing and editing. It's turned out to be the best of both worlds- a very stable and easy to use recording set-up with all the flexibility of powerful software for editing and mixing.

My attempts to get the computer set for easy, latency-free recording so far have failed. I just got an M-audio Duo interface for adding the odd track to the band's stuff once it's on my computer and that's working out ok- but it does remind me why I'm glad I'm not using my computer for the basic recording deck. Hope this helps,

Rich

[jazzyjez]

I've been going through all the options to get a decent sound card for my system. I've ended up opting for the RME Hammerfall DSP, which is extremely good value for money (go to RME's website (http://www.rme-audio.com/) and check it out).

RME are well-known for providing the fastest and most stable drivers for Windows AND Mac (MOTU's Windows driver are known for being not 100% there).

The cool thing about the Hammerfall DSP is that the interface is separate from the breakout box: you can get a CardBus PCMCIA interface OR a PCI interface, and connect either of them to the breakout boxes, of which there are currently two: the Multiface, which provides almost identical options to the Layla (but is cheaper), and the Digiface, which offers up to 56 digital I/O solutions.

So if, like me, you have a laptop and a desktop, you can get one of each and mix and match.

The thing provides full multi-client ASIO / DirectX / GSIF / MacOS support and has the lowest latencies in the business (1.5 ms), and has a hardware mixer, which allows you to mix any combination of inputs to any combination of outputs in hardware, so you can use the thing as a 32-bit mixing desk too.

I dunno why more people haven't heard of these guys - perhaps it's 'cos they're German... I've been checking out reviews and user comments and no-one has a bad thing to say about them.

[bowisc]

Check out the MOTU 828. I've been using mine for a few months now and love it.

Bowisc