@bozmillar I know what you mean, most of these multitrackers promise 16 or 24 channels and it turns out that they can record 4 or best case scenario 8 channels at the same time. The other Tascam, Roland or Zoom products surely did that false advertising trick, and I am seeing it on audio interfaces as well.
This one says:
“Model 24 is also designed as a powerful USB Audio Interface, complete with premium quality mic preamps and onboard compression. Ideal for project studios, the Model 24 will provide 24 simultaneous inputs to a computer based recording system”
Also specs show: Maximum Recordable Channel Number: 24 ch ( 22 ch + 2 stereo mix )
It looks like exactly what I’ve been wanting in interface and mixer all in one, I grew up in analog and like the feel of a real mixer, but gotta track to digital nowadays for the ease of editing. I am not as good of a musician to record as I did back in the days of analog, or now I do “short sprints of brilliance” as opposed of back in the day “long treks of mediocrity” The editing system of digital is probably something I can’t live without nowadays. I digress…
I went ahead and ordered the cheaper one with 16 inputs on it, the Tascam US-16X08.
The final straw was the fact that my PreSonus FP10 won’t sync back again on my 2nd rehearsal studio laptop after full reinstall of Windows 10. and reinstall of drivers. I said OK, lets try Windows 7, installed all drivers OK, still no power to the firewire. Don’t know if something broke but it is not syncing up, so it will become the
I would also check the bit rate. If it can record at 24 bit, then expect maybe only 16 channels at 24 bit.
I personally like to track everything at 48kHz 24 bit for video compatibility (down the line). If you have to go to 16 bit, just to make a certain channel count: then you may be getting into ‘noise floor’ territory.
I know it’s metal… but LOUD stuff needs HEADROOM too!
I didn’t think of bit rate shenanigans, but you’re absolutely right, it wouldn’t surprise me once you switch to higher bit rate that it starts taking down channels as some of hte othe units do.
I need at least 24bit/44.1 that seems the happy minimum I am content with for this type of music. I’ve done tests where I’ve even recorded at 192k and honestly it is just a bunch of useless bits on top, the end results achieved didn’t seem to warrant hiher bit rates for this type of music.
I produced a 24/48 for a while too and that was fine.
I’ll have to either get one of these all in one units with good return policy or talk to Tascam about it. At this stage I am willing to give them some time to see how this develops, if it is solid hardware in a year or so I might get it.
One thing that seems to really work well for me at this current stage is midi drums when songwriting, these then get replaced by our live drummer and we then re-track instruments, or augment my “home demos” with the band performance. This method of production seems to lend itself best with a DAW so maybe there’s a comfort zone and ease of edit that I am not ready to forego for an all in one hardware unit. Not with this drummer at least
Got the Tascam US16x08, for the price so far I think it is killer.
From what I’ve read there were some niggles with the earlier software, but it has been fixed. So far running super stable on Win7 laptop with Studio One 2.5.
Will mic up on Sunday and try a full band recording. Will need to get enough line inserts to use a mixer for preamps as this thing has only 8 pres but we have 2 spare mixers at the rehearsal and I also have one here in the closet, so we can test which one we like the best from these and go with that
Initial tests at home are looking very good, especially for $300 interface.
That unit has been in production for quite a while and like you said, the drivers are more mature.
Looks like you have an additional 8 line level inputs that can be driven from your spare mixers.
Cool - Let us know what you think after your first recording session.
Tracked impromptu practice, sounds is pretty good. The pres are clean, and while definitely the XMAX pres (the unit providing 8 more inputs is a PreSonus Firepod as preamp) seem to be a little more lively and clear, considering the Tascam is giving us a preamp at something akin to $20 per channel, I can’t complain. Sounds very good.
Here’s little teaser:
The drums were tracked mostly on the Tascam, only one tom on the Presonus preamps, guitar is HK Redbox with Ampire speaker sim, vocals direct from the PA which is an old Yamaha that might be clipping a bit here and there. All tracked live at the same time.
Not sure what drum mics were used, I think AKG D112 on both kicks, snare and toms are Sennheiser e604, overheads just what I had at the time, one cheap MXL and one cheap AT (pencil mics). Can’t really tell the disparate overheads so I am beginning to think that even matching them is overrated. Anyhow, these will be swapped with AKG P420 pair for overheads next practice.
Pretty happy considering I just threw in the new mics our drummer purchased and got line level check. Even one of the pencil overhead stands started developing erectile disfunction while we were tracking
The editing system of digital is probably something I can’t live without nowadays. I digress…