Hi
Is there a silent, cheap and portable recording solution for recording 4 tracks simultaneously at 24bit/88.2khz using my MOTU traveler mk1.
I can currently do this using my vintage P4/3ghz/1gbram laptop, but the laptop fan noise can be an issue and it's more cumbersome than necessary.
I only need the laptop to lay down tracks that I can transfer to my pc for mixing.
The fireface ufx can record directly to a usb stick (which I think is excellent), this is achieved using a tiny piece of software that tells the unit to arm tracks/set sample rates etc. then stream the data to the stick.
I reckon this could be achieved by a small device that could accept the drivers for the MOTU (maybe not needed?), which has a firewire input, and output to any storage media.
Does such a device exist?
Maybe something like a tablet, an ipad or even ipod with recording software and a firewire adapter?
I know there are small recorders like the edirol r-44, but I already have mic inputs/preamps/recording level adjustment etc. in the traveler, all I need is the ability to record.
Cheers
BTW. When I mention cheap, I mean hundreds or less, I'm already acheiving 4 tracks simultaneously with a laptop that's worth about £50 :)
Comments
UPDATE : I got a motion M1400 on ebay for £60. It is fanless an
UPDATE :
I got a motion M1400 on ebay for £60.
It is fanless and has a 4 pin texas instrument chip firewire port (so no bus power for the traveler).
Using the standard 40gb 4200rpm drive.
Shoved in the 1 gig ram chip from my other laptop (new total 1.25gig) , installed a lite version of Windows 7, changed optomisation settings for audio recording.
I've only done a couple of tests so far using Reaper :
1 hour recording 8 tracks simultaneously at 24bit/88.2khz powering traveler and motion by ac power adapters.
No problems.
Half hour recording 4 tracks simultaneously at 24bit/88.skhz powering the traveler by a direct feed from the motion's battery to the traveler power input.
So both units running off the motion battery.
No problems.
Next I'm going to make a permanent soldered connection internally in the motion so I can power the traveler.
I'm also going to look at a more reliable firewire connection, maybe internal soldering there too.
4 pin firewire ports are pish.
Right at the end of my first 1 hour test I just touched the firewire cable and it showed up on screen that the traveler was disconnected, but the recording was still fine.
Also maybe an ssd (not cheap) or sd to ide adapter (cheap) as the hard drive makes a bit of noise, but it's not much at all.
So, I have acheived my task of finding a cheap, silent portable recording solution for the traveler.
Reliability issues will be found out through time, but I'm chuffed for now.