Portable 8-tr recording: hardware or laptop ?

[clintrubber]

For an 'easier' portable 8-track recording setup I'm considering
going Laptop/Notebook.
Note that 'easier' is meant w.r.t. format-conversion: song-projects
from & to main-DAW.

I do have a pretty compact hardware 8-tracker though (Roland VSR-880, 2RU), but
the integration with song-preparation & importing-the-made-recordings-back-again
is obviously not as easy & straightforward as simply just copying the songs you're working on from main-DAW to a laptop (for using in the same software), adding additional recordings and then taking it back and continuing at the main-DAW again.


BUT I thought to have understood that various people have already taken that route
and regret it in a way - as in the hardware recorders being just so more easy to
work with 'in the field', more reliable, less hassle & computer-surprises etc. 


'Easy' is also meant w.r.t. simplicity of setting up, but I guess that will be comparable
for a laptop to the hardware boxes: in both cases you need to have a few rackunits,
either as additional mic-pre's to the VSR-880 or as the audio-interface to the laptop
(I have already a Phase 88 FireWire interface, so that'd be just one cable to an eventual laptop).

Any thoughts ? Experiences ?

Thanks,

  Peter

 

[NewYorkDave]

Hey, do they still make that "V-Fire" thing you were telling me about a while back?
That would be great for integrating a VSR-880 into a computer-based workflow, although I seem to remember that they were asking too much money for it ($300).

 

[clintrubber]

Hey, do they still make that "V-Fire" thing you were telling me about a while back?
That would be great for integrating a VSR-880 into a computer-based workflow, although I seem to remember that they were asking too much money for it ($300).

Hi Dave,

It's still available and in fact all over eBay (new), at a way more friendly price... but for a reason as I think to have understood it: it's more or less Presonus-confirmed that there won't be Vista-drivers, so in that respect it's a dead end street.

But if you're not going to leave XP anytime soon (assuming you're using XP), it could be a nice box for that period of time. Or keep an old machine running XP when you can't resist going to Vista (I don't feel any urge in that direction yet).

Note that the V-Fire will be less user-steps to perform but means real-time transfer from Roland to DAW, while that a little bit more involved 'Reaper-route' is fast file transfer and aligns up your tracks in a Reaper-song right away, IIRC even including all virtual takes (if used).

Let's keep each other informed about that V-Fire box (= first buyer shares experiences); the eBay-sellers I saw were all US-based so you would even have lower or no shipping. I'll check what EU-sellers are asking now, last time I looked it was ~EU145 over here.

Bye,

  Peter

 

[clintrubber]

Still the same:

http://www.thomann.de/nl/search_dir.html?xsid=f397ee07e76c58cdee97f393a50d534b&sw=v-fire


But talking about laptop vs VSR-880, I seem to recall that for instance Kubi regretted that he sold his VSR-880... dunno which route he took from there...

Bye,

  Peter

 

[josan]

I actually used a BEh.......  bca2000 successfully with a laptop. I used an ADA8000 for the adat feed but it had to run in ASIO to
be bug free. I gave it away unfortunately and now am in the position of having to replace the interface. I don't do a lot of site
recording but when I do 2 channels is not enough. My laptop doesn't have firewire and my pcmcia bus is shot so I am hooped.
Maudio has the Fast Track Ultra (usb) or the Profire light bridge  but sell me a ladder.  A cheap adat interface for the laptop
would be great.

 

[clintrubber]

I read up on the BCA2000 back then and it looked like about everything you could wish for for that price. But did I understand it correctly that they (Beh) never really got it fully working & then dropped it ?

I have ADA8000 as well but figured a decent economy ADAT-interface for laptop is $$$, hence I bought that Terratec Phase 88 FireWire when I saw a nice one passing by - figuring that FireWire is easier to have on a laptop that an ADAT-interface (please correct me there when needed).

Regards,

  Peter

 

[clintrubber]

boemp...

thanks

 

[livingnote]

Funny and here I was considering going the other way for "safety reasons"...

What I have been doing so far with good success is to use an ibook G4 as a dedicated recording laptop and stick a Metric Halo 2882 in the firewire input, record straight into the MH record panel and go from there. You can do a little mixing during the concert, and it's real solid because you don't have a full-fledged DAW that can do funny stuff while you're recording (happened to me with Cubase during a 16-channel orchestra recording). What you have to watch the flip out with these halos though is that you don't set any in gains while recording, the little digital pot "trrrrrrkkkk" sound will be on the track (this includes setting the headphone volume).

Have been thinking of getting ye olde Alesis ADAT as a backup - if the laptop crashes, the halo will still happily tigger on...

 

[clintrubber]

Hi!

Funny and here I was considering going the other way for "safety reasons"...

If I understand it correctly: as in forgetting about a 'real computer' (your laptop) and going towards hardware ? (aka: 'a dedicated digital machine of which you hope it will run more solid'  )

Have been thinking of getting ye olde Alesis ADAT as a backup - if the laptop crashes, the halo will still happily tigger on...

I checked that Metric Halo 2882, if I understand it correctly the MH supplies both your laptop (by FW) and the ADAT (by lightpipe). Looks good !

I could connect a second VSR-880 or an old Tascam DA-88 in parallel to whatever I think is the most sturdy 'first' recorder, but that would double the volume/hassle of the setup.

I realize it's impossible to predict which hardware or software route will give me the least hassle & most reliability, but it's good to read about what others have done, so let's keep them coming those experiences.

Thanks,

  Peter

 

[walter]

I am happy with my macbook pro, profire lightbridge, and Bringer ADA8000's. The profire sits next to a WD hard drive, the HD has two FW ports so it goes between the mac and the profire. Two ADA8000's a headphone mixer, and a digital effects processor all in a rackmount flightcase. I set the case on a stand, remove the covers, and out falls one six strip ready to plug in. and one FW cable plugs to the mac. The mic set up is what takes the time and care. I am currently working on recording with a band, live mix. I run the many keyboards, guitar and vocals into a DDX3216. The keys and vocals go to PA, and everything goes to the lightbridge via the ADAT card, only one line. My drums go to an ADA8000. That was an easy setup for a live mix. I didn't need any extra patch cables. The cost was on the cheaper side considering it's capable of 32 simultaneous tracks, and the recording capacity is awsome, I hit go and just jam it can run an hour, more, I don't know how long, but the longer it goes, the more editing to do. I record on Cubase SE, so it does have some limitations, 8 buss. It's my first digital rig, and I don't mind if it's my last. I think being able to use an external HD is an important factor when choosing a digital recorder, if you run out of space the session is done.

 

[clintrubber]

Thanks Walter for sharing, much appreciated. That profire lightbridge looks like a nice 'missing link' between
multiple lightpipes & going to a computer, hadn't heard of it before. And 'enables' the ADA8k again which most of us will be having a few around (with or without repaired supply  )

What I've seen of internal HDD-sizes of laptops is indeed like it could use some more space.
I'm using those WD USB-aluminium bricks as well with my home-DAW, satisfied with these, but it'd add
to the external mess around a laptop. But maybe you've already put that external HDD in the rack ?

BTW, about the 8 buss limitation you're facing, I guess Reaper can bright your further in that respect.

Thanks / regards,

  Peter

 

[walter]

If I were to make a more compact rig, it would be this: get a laptop with the screen that twists around and shuts with the screen facing out(are touchscreens available), use an audio interface with eight ins and an ADAT port. If you need more than eight lines, add one ADAT pre. Something about the screen standing up that is less than perfect, when it's on the floor I can't see it. The internal hard drive is fine for recording, but I would dump everything to external for housekeeping.