Well first of all... first post!

Second of all I've got my first ever sampler (a 404) coming through the mail right now. This forum definitely I major reason I invested in one by the way.

I am more interested in making some experimental music than just straight beats. I am more of an Animal Collective/Panda Bear kind of guy than a madlib person. Although when it comes to hip hop I AM a big DJ Shadow fan. Oh and DJ Frantic, if you read this, I have been enjoying your Frantic Beats collection that I found and downloaded from this forum alot! Great style and mood to it.

Anyway, I will mostly be sampling a lot of my guitar work with a shure sm57 that I just got.

I've now wanted to invest in something to compose my music.

I am split between a Cassette four track such as the Tascam Porta02mkII or an USB audio interface like the Edirol UA-4FX.

I am attracted to the idea of the simple, warm recording of a cassette four track. There is a certain nice purity there when I dont have to worry about bit-rate and compression and whatever else I need to worry about. The ability to compose without having to muck around in Audacity or Reaper seems nice.

Yet,

The cassette option doesn't seem to have a good way of distributing my music. I definitely want to be able to put some mp3s on the net and make CDs for my friends when the time comes and although I do have a Line In on my computer I dont really trust my sound card (Realtek AC-97) to give me a good sound. Not to mention I will probably not get as good sound any way because I will be on cassette.

So it seems to me that with an audio interface I will easily get high quality stuff onto my computer with many options plus the MIDI which I might get into in the future.

So thats where I am torn.

The simple elegance and warm, tangible composing of a Tascam
or
the diversity and power of an audio interface like the edirol

Help!

Which one?
Should I aim for both and get one before the other?
Is their something completely different for me to get?

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

Welcome man

Yes, you should get both, if you can. In your situation, I feel that the tape deck would be a better choice first, as with that you can get straight into laying down the kinda tunes you are aiming for...... the interface is good for getting stuff to/from the computer, but will have a very transparent sound, which is not what you're after it seems..

Yeah, welcome to the forum.

I have a 4-track and interface.

I love the 4-track to record all my ideas on the fly and then record them in the comp with my interface.

The sound quality isn't even bad, prolly way better then most mp3 and other audio formats. See it doesn't make it sound worse, just different.

welcome and thanks for the love, im glad your diggin the music

To answer your question, I would say get both ! just not that edirol... I used to use this till I got my 555...http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic That thing has suprisingly good recording quality and its cheap. I got mine on clearance somewhere for $25. That should leave you with some money to get the 4track. So you can record your mixes into the 4track and then send em over to the computer. Or...for a little more work and less money u can get the 4 track record to that and then record back the SP and export the sample as a .wav and import it to your computer.

ok right on
I will go ahead and purchase the Tascam.
Wait a little before I get the iMic (or maybe a higher quality interface) and for right now just make .wav files on the compact flash card.
thanks

That tape sound is nice. I been listening closely to how tape can make your final mix sound. I make sure my beat is recorded to tape if I think it needs that natural compression(or whatever the hell it does so great).

I believe most them cassette multitracks use hi position tape- dont forget to pick them up.

If you can afford both the tape and the interface. Record your beats to the tape. Then take a line from the tape back into the 404 and record your song onto a pad, but make sure its stereo then export the wav.

But really if i were u i would look at the higher model 4 track, the tascam 414mkII i think it is called. But you should try and get it second hand. Most I got my MF-P01 for $50.

Anyway good luck.

yes you could record to cassette and then input it into the usb box and digitizr it (best of both worlds)

honestly an interface that cheap will not really be any better than your AC97 built in sound.

get the 4-track if you want the sound-coloration,

for the recording to computer - just get a cable to plug into the AC97's input (whatever the 4track outputs->1/8" stereo/headphone)... then if you arent satisfied with that (I used to record dj mixes using an AC97 and they were fine), save up the money for a decent audio interface with 1/4" inputs.