Getting Back into recording

[trptracer]

I hope I am posting under the correct forum, so here goes.

As the title says, I am getting back into recording and will need to upgrade some equipment. I currently use an Alesis HD24XR or Zoom H4N or a Superscope PSD300 for live and studio recording. In the past I also used Adobe Audition 1.5 for mixing and mastering (that should tell you how long ago I was doing this stuff). The program worked great and gave me results that I and clients liked.

I am not really interested in upgrading recorders nor am I interested in recording on a laptop or desktop. The HD24 is going to stay as it is reliable and has never let me down - laptops and desktops are another story.

I am considering purchasing PreSonus Studio 2 Professional as it has everything that I will be needing for what I do (Recording pro/amateur jazz bands, concert bands, chamber groups in concert halls or concerts)

A new desktop had to be purchased as the old one finally died - 10 years old. New machine is running windows 7 and Audition is working fine. Again, I use the recorders to record and the computer to mix and master.

What I am hoping is to be pointed in the right direction and have some of my beliefs confirmed or corrected:
1) What type of interface should I look at that will enable me to transfer files from the HD24 - Fire wire or USB? I would prefer firewire because of the HD24 FST software and because I have the 1394 hardware. That is, unless someone has another or better way to transfer files from the Alesis to the desktop. Or , should I just set it up as a server and transfer files that way? I've seen a couple posts where people say it is very slow to transfer data with this machine like that.
2) Do I really need a "music" interface (Avid RME PreSonus) or can I just get PCI firewire card and simply drag and drop the files off the machine into the desktop mixing/editing software? I am asking this as I used to be a computer programmer and it seems to me as if that should work - these are just digital files. Of course, I am probably missing something in the equation.
3) What other software should I consider? As stated above, I am giving serious consideration to PreSonus Studio 2 Professional.

So, there you have it. Hope I have given enough info and not been completely confusing

Thanks in advance.

[Boswell]

You could use the Alesis FST/Connect external hardware to interface between an HD24 caddy and your FireWire port. With that in place, you can run the Alesis software or the 3rd party HD24 Tools software for transferring recorded tracks to your computer. Note that an HD24 drive is not visible directly to a Windows or Mac operating system and that you have to use the special software for the track transfer.

An alternative is to get a Vipower caddy receptacle and mount that in a 5.25" front panel slot in your computer. You would connect the rear of the receptacle within your computer chassis to power and an IDE (parallel ISA) port. This makes it easy to hot-swap caddies between the HD24 and your computer. You can run the HD24 Tools track transfer software with this arrangement but not the Alesis software.

I recommend you visit the Yahoo HD24 group for further information.

Avoid the Ethernet connection to the HD24 for track transfer if you wish to preserve your sanity.

As far as DAW software is concerned, I would give serious consideration to spending a very few $ on Reaper. It will probably do all you need, but if you did wish to move on to something more expensive, you will have had an excellent learning experience for not much money.

[RemyRAD]

I'm still using my Adobe Audition 1.5 and love it. I sold my upgraded version 2.0 to a client and upgraded to 3.0. But I'm still more comfortable utilizing 1.5. And whatever newer software does certain things automatically, I'm so used to and adept at dealing with things manually, Audition 1.5 is no problem. In fact, I don't like relying on automatic anything. That is, of course, except for an automated mix which I have essentially automated. But I want to tell the software what I wanted to do not what it wants to do. But that's just me. I like engineering audio and that's why I'm an audio engineer. I even sometimes fix my own dinner instead of eating at McDonald's. That's awful but it is tasty delicious at the same time, when you're hungry and need instant gratification. Too bad our multitrack software doesn't include buttons labeled " George Massenburg ", " Ed Cherney ", " Bruce Swedien ", " Bob Clearmountain ". Since it actually seems that's what most people want out of their software?

My software has a button labeled " Remy David ".
Mx. Remy Ann David