Hello beloved sp-fam,

I've got an old imac (2011) and a M-Audio 610 Firewire Audio Interface with 4 Inputs, i used a lot in the past years.

For recording my gear (Synths, Grooveboxes, Samplers) i route them through a classic mixer and have the stereo-out of the mixer connected to the inputs of my audio interface.

So, mainly i record just the final stereo-mix and master it on the imac.

But my imac is an old, heavy and noisy computer now and of course not very portable. So i need a replacement or an alternative.
In the past i also used a tape-based portastudio from tascam for hip hop jams (2xMics, sp 404 and korg emx)
I think about buying a digital multitracker now. But to be honest, there are so much possibilities, i don't know which way to go.

I like the aproach of the sp 808 a lot. Having a sampler and a 4-Track-Recorder the same time, where u can resample your recorded stuff from the 4-Track back to a pad is a great feature. I could imagine using it as an arranger, when sampling all instrument parts of a track to its pads and build the song in its 4-track-sequencer. And then i can rap/sing along or do an instrumental solo on an empty track and finally master the whole song on the device.
But i worry about the zipdrive. Would def extra pay for an expensive mpc 2000 cf card reader then.

I could buy an roland a6 in good condition with a hard disc of 2gb for 200 euros, but does it have the same timestretch and bpm-features like the 808? Does anybody use the A6 OS and can tell me more?

I think there is no similar gear to the sp 808 at the market. Maybe the 1010 Bluebox. Does anybody use this as an multitrack recorder and want to share his/her xperience?

I know there are a lot of digital multitrackers out there, some with 8 or more simultanious recording tracks.
But how about arranging on these? I think the most are straight forward linear recording tools....

On the other hand i think buying a laptop with an audio interface would be the modern, portable solution.
Or an ipad or tablet with an audio interface. I am looking forward to buy the 404mk2 too next year and this unit will fit well with a new laptop or a tablet because of the audio-over-usb-possibilities. But to be honest, i like knobs and buttons...

I heard about the newer mpcs, that they can multitrack recording, too. But idk exactly.

So what do you use for multitrack recording? What is your gear/way?

i own an mc-909, a beast with faders and such a cool mixer and mastering section, but due to it's limited sampling time i never tought to use it like that; i also modded it with an xd card adapter but the maximun i can reach is 256mb.
cool for electronic, hihop,house etc but if i would like to record indie rock with it it could be very limiting or at least i have to think out of the box on straight short timed songs:)
other stuff i used to record: zoom mrs-4, a little 4tracks digital recorder with midi out; other: 2 yamaha 4 tracks recorders, one of them since the 90s:)
btw how much sampling time the 808 got?

fam, if you got the means to, just buy a laptop and audio interface and call it a day. you already got ableton live.

there's so much gear and options these days that it's silly to toil your time away thinking about how you're going to record your music. especially if you know that you can just get something that you know will work.

i use ableton live and a gen1 rme fireface ufx to track everything and mix/master on my computer.