Mixer? Recorder?

[sonic::bionic]

So far, I've just been playing everything live. I think I'm good enough to get into recording. So I have a couple of quick (stupid) questions.

1) If I buy a multi-track digital recorder, do I need a mixer?

2) If I buy a multi-track digital recorder (say, 16 tracks), but one of my pieces of gear only has 1 audio out, but I want to use it for more than one track, can I record the first track, and then record the second track later? Does the mixer have quantizing, or will I have to set it as a slave to my sequencer?

Sorry if these are stupid, but I know absolutely nothing about recording. I don't want software, either--I like hands-on stuff.

If ya don't feel like wasting boardspace with a reply, feel free to email me at wavera@hotmail.com

 

[Asa]

technically you can record to a multitrack directly if it has line level analog inputs...but i wouldn't recomend it because you may need a preamp and/or a limiter to protect you from overloading the recorder...

by using a mixer it will allow you to route signals to different tracks at the same time, and of course you can play track by track and do overbuds as well as monitor...(ya' can't monitor when u go str8 2 tape w/o a mixer)

ya' can only quantize sequenced music...

 

[JamesM]

Yeah, if you don't already have - or want to buy - a good mixer, and you don't want to take the software route, you should definitely go for some kind of digital workstation (eg. Yamaha AW4416, Roland VS2480) instead of a straight 16-track recorder.

 

[djgazbo]

I know this post may be a little late but I wanted to say that I had this very problem. I tried to run a couple of different software packages and so far I've had the best luck with Digidesign's Pro Tools Free. I realize it's not super hard core stuff, but I'm not a super hard core engineer either. I have fun messing around creating tracks with it for a small hip hop group and it works great for me. It managed to fix my problems with the sound cards recording input issues. I use software drum machines and midi stuff in combination with live instruments and it has worked without fail.