All-in-one studio

[Guitr777]

I've been seriously looking at the new all-in-one studios with effects, drum tracks, CD burners, etc. Boss has a really cool looking one for about a grand. Bunch of tracks and virtual tracks, effects, mic modeling, programmable drum tracks, etc. I don't have the specs in front of me, otherwise I would spout them off.

 

My question - are these mini-studios worth the cash, or should I save my money to invest in a more component-ized (and probably more expensive)studio?

[bearded yeti]

Get a Triton, ya can't go wrong.

[Guitr777]

What do you like best about Triton? Can you give me more info? - Thx.

[Compact Diss]

I had an MPC 4000, the same machine Dr. Dre has used for years to make beats and so on. I turned it in because it was so new there were a lot of bugs that Akai hadn't yet fixed and so on, all I kept hearing from them was that will be in the next OS update--a lot of blah blah blah--I turned it in and got myself a Korg Triton Studio---Now this was a great machine. You have to buy the CD burner extra--but the machine had a lot of great sounds. I started making "meditation music"--I had rivers flowing in the background and so on. I did one jazz song also and one hip hop song. The real problem was that I can't play the piano--you are able to all kinds of things with this instrument. You can literally make your own beats in minutes. I turned that in and went back to my original favorite the guitar. If you are buying this I have the CD burner so you don't have to spend the extra $200.00 on it--I'll sell it to you for $75.00--it was used for less than a month but guitar center will not take burners back. You can literally create a whole back up band and play your guitar along with it, slow down the tempo raise it up--whatever. The sounds were really amazing---I love the trumpets and saxaphone. It's a good deal but you will be better off having it if you know how to play the keys.

[Guitr777]

Don't mean to be dense, but...

 

So this is a keyboard-based music workstation. Can I also record sources from analog inputs, such as guitar? Or, do I need to dump everything to external media before I can add my guitar tracks?

 

Thanks for being patient...

[Guitr777]

I guess what I'm getting at is this...

 

I'm used to the old analog multi-track line of thinking. I've never been into midi or sequencing. The new all-in-ones that I've seen lately seem to fall into this type of setup. I can plug my guitar in and record tracks, I can plug my mic in and record tracks. There is drum machine capabilities so that I can program the drums.

 

Does the Triton have these capabilities PLUS the additional functionality of a modern digital music workstation? Am I even close?

 

Thanks for helping me understand this...

[Dak Lander]

BUMP!

[The T Dot]

The Triton and Triton Studio are synth workstations, both with sampling capability. This means you can record your guitar through the analog ins to the Triton's sampler, using the Triton's effects. The Triton has some incredible sounds and is fairly easy to use. You don't need to dump everything to external media, you can plug in your guitar and record directly to the sequencer, and then edit and burn the final mix to CD once you're happy with it.

 

You can use midi sequencing the same way you would a multitrack machine, but if you're not a keyboard player and are mainly interested in recording audio, then you'll probably be better off with somthing like the Yamaha AW16G. Keep in mind that the Yamaha recorder doesn't have any drum patterns or allow you to sequence your own. What you get depends on your personal needs. The Triton is much pricier than the AW16G.

 

AW16G http://www.yamaha.com/cgi-win/webcgi.exe/DsplyModel/?gDAW00008AW16G

 

Triton http://www.korg.com/gear/product_info.asp?A_PROD_NO=TRITONSTUDIO

[not coaster MODERATOR]

Sometimes I would love to have something simple like the Boss all-in-one studio. You can really lay down some great stuff with one of those.

 

Things you can add later - Outboard mic pre, PC based sequencer, outboard effects etc. But sure, for a grand you get a lot of stuff. I think there's a few other comparable products out there too.

[michael saulnier]

Depending on how many tracks you need to record at the same time, it's amazing how low priced digital recording has gotten.

 

For around the $400 range, you've got cool little recorders by Tascam and Zoom. They both have MIDI sound modules built in to them and also are very simple to use.

 

At this level, you can typically only add one or two new tracks at a time, but you can be playing back other tracks you've laid down. So they're a great "personal" recording device.

 

For a couple of hundred more, you can get used Roland 880ex's and above. Lots of used ones out there now... Plus still more...

 

Go to a big website like www.musiciansfriend.com and read the info and compare prices...

 

There's SO much you can get these days, and it seems like the deals keep coming.

 

Jeff from Tascam hangs on the keyboard forum. If you like their unit, he would be a great resource for pre-purchase questions.

 

guitplayer

[bcalla]

My friend and I went in on a Zoom MRS-1044 hard disk recorder without the CD burner. You can get one for about $500. 10 recording tracks plus a stereo drum track & a bass track. Each recording track can have up to ten virtual takes. You have to program / set up the drum and bass tracks.

 

It has lots of effects, and way more features than I can figure out. We've had it for about six months, it's been a blast. We did absolutely no research before buying this, it just seemed like a reasonable price to pay for what we were trying to do.

 

Bob

[Guitr777]

Thank you all for your input. I'm going to think about it for a while before I jump into anything.