Once upon a time, there were no multi-track recorders.  Every musical performance had to be played in

real time and there were no overdubs. Once the 1st "Sound on Sound" recorders appeared, followed by early 4 tracks, the music industry took off like a rocket. Elvis, the Beatles, the Stones were just a few artists who capitalized on the new technology by using them artistically. The multi track recorder (MTR) made it possible to record different tracks at different times, and allowed exacting control of the studio's rooms to create isolated clear sounding tracks and mix them into a stunning audio image, which captivated the airwaves and the hearts and minds of nearly everyone alive.

In the 1970's the first consumer cassette 4 tracks arrived. The venerable Tascam Portastudio was quickly followed by products by Yamaha, Fostex, Roland and others.  Hey that's how this whole home studio "craze" got started.  By the mid-80's, multi tracks were big. And as the late 80s and 90's when MIDI came around, home multi tracks went to 8 tracks and reel to reels were at 16.  Then the digital 8 track ADAT tape recorders came out, followed by the 8mm (videotape) digital audio  format, followed by Minidisk recorders.  As we turned to the new millennium, hard disk recorders proliferated, and the now current crop of 24 track hard disk based multi track recorders became reality.  Today's MTRs come with features that blow away models even a few years old.  Feature sets vary widely requiring that you choose carefully.  We are going to discuss the things you need to watch out for below. 

The Basic Question: DAW or MTR

The question is how are you going to record your audio for your projects?  The solutions all fall into the following categories:

• 1. You get a computer, audio and midi interfaces and record your audio directly to its hard disk in a computer sequencer.  Most of the articles on my site deal with this method of recording audio.  If that is what you are planning to do you can take a break and skip this page.
• 2.  You get a stand alone multi track recorder/mixer and record all your tracks on it.  The options here are cassette, hard disk, minidisk, or smart media. That is what this article is about.
• 3. You get a modular multi-track recorder and a digital mixer and work that way.  You can still get 8 track ADAT machines, but more and more these are being replaced by hard disk systems.
• 4. You take the advanced approach and use both a multi-track recorder and a computer audio sequencer and find ways to incorporate them both together, either through MIDI Time Code synchronization or through a digital file transfer system like an ADAT light pipe or Tascam's TDIF or Roland's R-BUS.  We'll be touching on these issues here.

There are many advantages and a few disadvantages to standalone audio multi-track systems.  The cool advantages are 1) everything is integrated.  There are fewer cables and no wiring/impedance issues going between different parts as all the critical stuff is built in.  2)  An advantage over computer systems is that you get real faders and knobs and don't have to play around with mice to mix your song.  3) They are more portable than a computer system and require little time to set up. That means more Uptime.  It also means it will be easier for beginners and will save time for professionals.  4) Finally, you don't need to buy, maintain, and upgrade a powerful computer, deal with driver issues, be concerned with viruses and so on.

The disadvantages to the multi-track approach are 1)  that you can't use computer plugins as effects (except on the most expensive MTRs that offer optional cards), or use any of the large number of products that require computers, like soft synths, audio editors, etc., unless you incorporate a computer in your rig. 2) on MTRs without a VGA output you will be restricted to the small display on the unit (note that the higher end systems do have the ability to connect computer monitors and mice to the system) 3)  Not all multi track recorders have CD burners so in those cases you will need another device to record the final output to, like a standalone CD burner or, yep, a computer.

How Many Tracks?

You can find a digital multi-track in many different formats from 4 track Mini-disk and Removable Media solutions to massive 24 track hard disk modules like the Mackie HDR2496 that offer 8 virtual tracks for every physical channel (or 192 virtual tracks).  So how many do you need?  Can you get by with just 4?  Sure!  The Beatles, as legend has it, recorded Sgt. Peppers on 4 track recorders.  But if you do go for a 4 track, I assure you, you will be bouncing tracks (i.e., combining 3 tracks down to 1) quite a bit with all but simple arrangements.  8 tracks give you much more room the dedicate audio channels. So count 'em up.  Lessee 1) vocal, 2) lead guitar 3) bass, 4) drums, 5) synth  6) background vocals  7) sampler 8) rhythm guitar.  See they all fit!  Wha, you wanted a separate track for kick, snare, overheads?  And your 2 synths and sampler are all stereo?  Bite the bit man, go 16.  Oh, you forgot!  The Conga man needs a track, and don't forget the tabla player, the girl doing the HurdyGurdy, and the dudette blowing the Australian Didgeridoo, and the extra track you need to double the vocal in the chorus.  :)  Those of you doing full musical productions will benefit from 24. 

 

Zoom HD16CD Multi-Track Recording Studio

Interfacing keyboards, sequencers and computers

Newbies: Read Roland's Introduction to Recording your Own CD

Once you add keyboards and a sequencer, things get a little more complicated.  If your keyboard has a sequencer, you can build your tracks there and when they are done, you can record them in time with the multitrack using Midi Time Code (MTC) to keep the sequencer and the deck in sync. Other options to sync sequencers and multi-tracks are MIDI Machine Code (MMC), which basically syncs the transports,  or Society of Motion Pictures Timecode (SMPTE) which works like MTC but allows the connection to video and film equipment.  You need to check the specs on the multi-track unit carefully to find out which are supported.  Then I highly advise you hit the users groups to find out which actually work with your sequencer.  But for MTC, which is simple, you just plug the midi out of the keyboard (or midi interface)  to the midi in of the multi track and vice versa.  The Multi-track becomes the master and the computer or keyboard sequencer will follow it's commands as the slave.  The audio outs of the keyboard go into the analog inputs on the mixer channels of the multi-track. And you simply record the sequencer tracks right into the multi-track.  

 

 

Tascam DP02CF 8-Track Compact Flash Digital Recorder

R-Bus, TDIF, ADAT Optical Interfaces

Perhaps one of the more complex setups one can do with a digital multi-track and a computer is to pipe audio back and forth.  However, for those that meet the challenge, there are many rewards. The three main methods are Roland's R-BUS.,  Tascam's TDIF or Alesis ADAT Optical.  These are all multichannel digital data piping schemes.  They differ from S/PDIF and AES/EBU, which are other digital data transfer protocols, because they send up to 8 channels while the latter only send a stereo channel.

For example, using ADAT outs card you can send a block of 8 tracks of audio in sync, to and from your computer's audio applications assuming of course, that you have an audio interface equipped with ADAT.  You could pipe tracks into Logic or Sonar, edit the track with any of the plugins on your system, then pipe it back to the multi-track.  Used in this manner, the computer sequencer becomes less of a master arranger and more of an advanced audio editor.  Such a setup gives you full access to all the audio files, loops, phrases you have stored on your computer.  You could pipe in tracks from older songs and remix them on the multi-track.  Many cool possibilities.  

As a general rule of thumb, R-Bus works with Roland products, TDIF is for Tascam products and ADAT is for Alesis products.  However, over the past few years there has been considerable cross-fertilization and somewhat of a shakeout.  For example, Fostex uses ADAT optical, Tascam itself can use ADAT, and Roland has expensive format converters for ADAT and TDIF that can work with R-BUS.  Mackie uses an ADAT interface card for it's HDR 2496 Multitrack; the Behringer DDX3216 digital mixer uses an ADAT interface...The list goes on.  What's the difference? Read the specs on any product you consider.  Some only support 44.1 and 48khz sample rates and others go full 24/96.  Be careful here.  There are few audio interfaces that can understand R-BUS and TDIF.  ADAT is common on audio interfaces. 

It's too bad that the manufacturers developed competing proprietary interfaces for multi-channel digital audio.  As a result, they and we are now paying the price.  This has also given rise to a new product, the format converter, which sometimes costs more than some of the multitrack recorders listed here.  They really dropped the ball here in my opinion.  Proprietary thinking is a dead relic of the 90's. 

USB to the Rescue

The inclusion of a USB port on MTRs is a great development, and its now a "gotta have" feature if you want to transfer recordings to your computer.  Unlike s/pdif, TDIF, ADAT, etc., this is NOT a real time audio transfer, but a simple file transfer.  Typically, you plug in the cable and your MTR's storage area shows up as a hard drive on your computer's desktop.  Then you drag and drop files to your computer's storage and import them into your sequencer. 

 

Korg's renowned D-series of digital recording studios welcomes the new D3200 Digital Recording Studio. The D3200 is the first in its class to provide up to 32 tracks of simultaneous playback and up to 12 tracks of simultaneous recording to support high channel-count projects – such as recording a live band. Tweak:  I like the price for this power

Keeping it Simple

You CAN keep all this simple and get an old style 4 track or 8 track cassette multi-track.  Contrary to what you might think, you can interface cassette machines to computer sequencers by dedicating a track and recording a sync tone to it.   If you have a MIDI interface that generates SMPTE you simply stripe a channel with a SMPTE control track and when you press play and stop on the multitrack your computer sequencer will follow and will regulate itself to stay in sync with the code.  Before computers recorded audio, this is how many home studio's worked.  And it still works.  But keeping it simple, all you have to do is press record and play your instrument forget computers entirely.  This is perfect for a songwriter just trying to play with different ideas.       

Summing Up

So whether you are just getting started and want to record a few tracks and overdub vocals, record your band, or want to add a multi-track to a large existing MIDI and Audio studio, there is probably a multi-track recorder tailor made for what you want to do. 

source: tweakheadz