Hard Disk Multitrack Recorders: What’s Available?
By Max on Dec 17, 2007 in Featured, Home Recording
Hard disk multitrack recorders generally come in a variety of setups. Among them are the low end, garage band style which are great for a budget and will record around 8 tracks at once.
There is also the semi-professional type which can record around 16-24 tracks at a time and is my choice as an independent professional musician.
Finally, there is the professional type which can record up around 32-64 tracks at once and has amazing capabilities but limits the user ability.
“Garage band” recorders
When it comes to the low end, or garage band style as I call it, (priced around $250-$700) hard disk recorders, units generally come with very few inputs (anywhere from 2-4 line inputs with 1-2 microphone preamps). This makes it impossible to record multiple band members at the same time on their own tracks.
You can remedy this, however, by recording them all individually or by using a mixer to plug all the mics and line inputs into, mix their levels, and then use the mixer outputs to go into the inputs of the recorder.
Make sure you pick something that has enough inputs, however, to create a decent recording for your project as you will not be able to edit later. Low end recorders also have very small LCD screens, and limited onboard effects, which usually isn’t a problem for garage band set ups so long as you find something that has a compressor, limiter, EQ and reverb.
Semi-professional multitrack recorders
Mid grade units, considered semi-professional and are priced from $700-1500. They offer many more input channels, more onboard mic preamps, more onboard effects, and are able to record more tracks at once. Most of these units also come with either a CD recorder option through a SCSI/USB connection or have one built in.
Furthermore, the built in mic preamps and effects are considerably much better than their low end competitors. Even so, I still recommend using standalone mic preamps and compressors, but most will find the onboard ones adequate. The only real problem these units have is their limited hard drive space and lack of expandability (i.e. adding a bigger hard drive, more effects, etc.).
The higher end Roland and Korg models do offer add on card that give you more effects and output options. The other large benefit of these is that they have a much larger amount of controls, such as sliders, to aid in the mixing. The larger LCD and/or VGA connector (for hooking up a computer monitor) make navigating through the many menus a thousand times easier the lower end models.
Professional hard disk recorders
At the professional end of hard disk recorders, the options become unlimited. Whereas the low and mid grade units are all table top style, these are 19″ rack mount units priced around $1500-5000.
The major benefit of these is that their hard drives are removable/expandable and use a mouse/keyboard/monitor connection. They are dedicated PC’s designed solely for recording that offer a plethora of inputs, but usually don’t offer mic preamps.
The idea is that if you could afford one of these units you will be using standalone mic preamps and whatnot. The onboard effects on these are generally considered good equipment and are expandable by add on cards. They also offer improved quality analog to digital convertors. These are important because lower quality analog to digital convertors transmit less information (signal) to the recorder.
The units are a large investment as you will need the unit itself, the mic preamps, compressors, preferably a digital or midi mixer to interface with the unit, a keyboard, mouse, and monitors, and the space to set it all up. Quality wise though, these are much better units capable of doing almost anything a ProTools system can do.
That’s the low down on the available range of hard disk multitrack recorders. For more information, visit your local music equipment retail center or check back with us soon for additional articles.
