PC or stand alone??
Home > Home Recording Forum > Computers & Software > PC or stand alone??
Posted on Jul 10, 2004 06:34 am
pasmoi
Member Since: Jul 10, 2004
Hi Guys
I'm new in audio recording. One big question is on my mind, should i go for a stand alone station (Boss BR-1600) or get myself a new pc, card, and sofware? Music is an hobby for me, no professial stuff a few gig here and there but really not much. I have 2000Can$ to spend. I already have a old PC (AMDK6-3) and cakewalk pro audio 9. Please help me spend the cash before my wife get in the way!!!
Fred
[ Back to Top ]
Jul 10, 2004 08:29 am OK, team, we are up against a wife-clock here...so lets get crackin'!
1- Welcome to HRC :-)
2- Either can give you great results, so the decision isn't really a quality based issue. The issue would lay in convenience and money. a K6/3 could be enough to get you started recording. Don't see many K6/3's as they didn't last too long, but the have enough power to get you started. So, in terms of money I would do two things, fill it fullof RAM and get a decent sound card.
I lean toward the PC for a few reasons, one is due to the fact a PC is good for a lot of things in addition to recording, hard disk recorders are only good for one thing...recording. On a PC if you buy, say, a compressor effects plugin, you can use that one effect 25 times in one song if you PC has enough power run it, whereas if you buy a rack mount compressor, you can only run one bus thru it. Does that make sense?
Also, there is lots of freeware/shareware available for a PC for effects, mastering apps and multitracking apps, so you can get started relately cheaply so you are more knowledgable when you actually want to spend money on the bigger, better apps.
Just my two cents, hope I got to you in time, wives more quick sometimes :-)
pasmoiMember
Since: Jul 10, 2004
Jul 10, 2004 11:32 am sorry guys i shoul have read a bit more before asking. It seem's i'm not the first to ask this, sorry.
Fred
Jul 10, 2004 02:25 pm No prob, you surely won't be the last...
Oh, and Missed the part about you having Por Audio 9 already, hell, then don't even THINK about going to a hard disk ecorder :-)
guitwizzNothing doesnt give me gasMember
Since: May 25, 2004
Jul 10, 2004 04:48 pm The standalones are great quality soundwise, and the effects in most of them are pretty good. Our drum teacher at work put together a great demo, that is pretty close to radio quality, BUT, I personally would only own one if I did location stuff, which I dont. The ability to audition and use different software on the pc/mac is irreplaceable in my opinion. I also could never look at one of those matchbox size displays on a standalone after using a monitor.
TheTincanbugsloppy dice, drinks twiceMember
Since: Aug 05, 2003
Jul 10, 2004 08:43 pm My vote is for pc, all the way. You can't beat the quality and flexibility for the money, you really can't. Welcome to HRC!
WaltChief Cook and Bottle WasherMember
Since: May 10, 2002
Jul 11, 2004 11:05 pm Welcome to HRC and sorry to hear about the wif. I've had a couple now and well, I still have the second one but ya they can be menising critters when it comes to a hobby.
PC definately. Stand alone is fine for as mentioned above a band teacher using it for a learning tool or a beginner to get the hange of ruitamentory tasks in recording. Kinda like a consumer cam corder. Good for remembering what the kids sound like. If you plan to persue recording as a long term hobby a pc will take you places a stand alone can't touch. For portability either a laptop or a hard disk recorder with as few bells and whistles as possible. Just make sure you can easliy get the files from the hard disk recorder to a PC for mixing and mastering.
