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Portable multitrack recorders?

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:04 pm
by lukpac
In this day and age, does a portable multitrack (8-track) recorder exist that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? I've seen a couple of Tascam units that are only a few hundred dollars, but they can only record 2 tracks at once - I'd need to do all 8 (well, 7) at once. My MiniDisc does a good job, but it's stereo only, so all mixing is done on the fly.

It seems like a lot of the stuff out there is expensive simply because it can be...

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:17 pm
by Rspaight
Any reason for going with tape instead of something like this:

http://tinyurl.com/yfv7hp

and a laptop?

Ryan

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:32 pm
by lukpac
That *could* work, although the upper 4 inputs are stereo pairs, rather than individual channels. The combo would be a little on the bulky side.

Of course, any of this is pretty hard for me to justify - pretty much just doing some local recording for fun.

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:18 pm
by Aftermath
The closest I've seen to what you're looking for is this, but unfortunately it only records four tracks at once:

Tascam 488 MKII 8-Track Home Studio / ***NEAR MINT***

I've got a 424 MK II (four track). Its fussy to use, but can give good (not great) results w/care and some XLII-S casettes. The cheaper units should be avoided because the sound quality sucks.

Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:31 pm
by lukpac
Hrmm. I should have clarified - I was thinking of some type of digital solution. Quality issues aside, I really need to be able to do 60+ minutes without flipping a tape over. Easy when MD does 80...

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:52 pm
by LesPaul666
Luke, are you looking for a completely(battery powered) portable, non-laptop 8-track setup?

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 10:14 pm
by lukpac
Wouldn't have to be battery powered - I plug in my MD when I record. I guess laptop would work, although it would be cumbersome.

Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 9:56 pm
by LesPaul666
I've been looking around, and I can't find anything other than larger hard-disc units that are A/C powered, if you want to record say, 8 tracks at once. I guess you could get one of M-Audio FireWire 1814's, for a notebook computer(ProTools compatible)which run on bus-power, and have 8 analog ins(2 have Pre's), 8 ADAT in's, and 2 channel SP/DIF inputs. You can do 16 tracks at once, with an external hard drive.