old equipment.

[Seren]

I've had my Roland VS2480CD for over 14 years (got it second hand).
   The CD burner has started playing up - will read and rip from but not burn to.

I have considered replacement, but the current range of non computer based DAWs (Tascam and others) seem very basic in comparison. They appear to be stripped down, lean machines with less flexibility, adaptability and range.
   I suspect the quality of the recording is as good, but I would struggle to do what I can do at present...especially as they generally seem to lack digital ins and outs - all my equipment is linked via S/PDIF digital connections (another older technology) - so much of what I do now would no longer be achievable.

I have bought a Zoom44 interface that enables me to record from the VS direct to Sonar on the computer - converting digital to USB.
   I still have to create a final mixdown on the VS - it's just the process of getting it from VS to computer that has changed, it is a longer and slightly more complicated process.
   In the past the computer was mainly used to store final tracks/albums with some use of sonar to play around with some sound effects and long fade in / outs (10 - 20 minutes) - so still getting my head round options and possibilities. Including whether this is the best I can do for what I want to do...

I am open to any thoughts, ideas, discussions, suggestions about how to think or what to do...

[Julio Di Benedetto]

I've had my Roland VS2480CD for over 14 years (got it second hand).
   The CD burner has started playing up - will read and rip from but not burn to.

I have considered replacement, but the current range of non computer based DAWs (Tascam and others) seem very basic in comparison. They appear to be stripped down, lean machines with less flexibility, adaptability and range.
   I suspect the quality of the recording is as good, but I would struggle to do what I can do at present...especially as they generally seem to lack digital ins and outs - all my equipment is linked via S/PDIF digital connections (another older technology) - so much of what I do now would no longer be achievable.

I have bought a Zoom44 interface that enables me to record from the VS direct to Sonar on the computer - converting digital to USB.
   I still have to create a final mixdown on the VS - it's just the process of getting it from VS to computer that has changed, it is a longer and slightly more complicated process.
   In the past the computer was mainly used to store final tracks/albums with some use of sonar to play around with some sound effects and long fade in / outs (10 - 20 minutes) - so still getting my head round options and possibilities. Including whether this is the best I can do for what I want to do...

I am open to any thoughts, ideas, discussions, suggestions about how to think or what to do...

Hi Seren,

This is a tough one to offer suggestions on because of the strange way you record your music :) ;) but I recently considered the idea of going without a computer for recording and in my search I came across a new line of stand alone recorders from Sound Devices, a highly regarded portable audio recorder manufacturer. 

This is what I was considering https://www.sounddevices.com/product/mixpre-10-ii/

There were quite a few major limitation for me coming from a DAW that made it not really feasible but certainly if one performed music live this could be a nice bit of kit.

Some food for thought.

[Seren]

Hi Julio,
Thanks for taking the time to think about it and reply.
I take the 'strange way you record your music' as both a compliment on my methods and end result 8)

I checked out the link you posted - it does look like a good piece of gear, but I don't think it would work for me either. Mainly because I don't play live.
   I suspect I will keep doing what I am doing till something dies completely and then try to reinvent my wheel.

I am getting the sense that the VS2480 was a sort of peak in 'complex' equipment - there are so many aspects of it I don't use, including things like recorded motorised fader mixes (so it then repeats the fader moved on replay) and so on. I always said it was like packing a huge recording studio down into a single box.
   I get the sense from looking at more modern equivalents that they are much simplified and I don't really want to have to spend more money buying outboard items just to repeat what I already have in one place, nor end up working in the computer domain.
   Don't get me wrong - I really value the Sonar software I have, using it in a variety of ways the VS2480 could not do, but it is an effective means rather than my main process.

Now that I have got used to the process to set up to on computer from VS and then reset to listen and tweak it is not so bad as I had initially reacted to.

Similarly my trusty Casio thermal ribbon printer (CW75) recently threw a wobbler - I tried to reinstall but although both computer and printer showed they were connected it would not print.....I tried updating drivers via casio and ended up on a Japanese language webpage and no apparent way to translate.
   I tried some other pages but Mcafee was like - "whoa - don't go there".
   Eventually paid a very small cost to someone on ebay who sent me a disc with updated drivers - after scanning what I needed to open with Mcafee (which said it was fine) I installed and all is working again....

Perhaps learning the cello would have been easier in the long term?? music without any need for cables, electricity etc etc...

[doombient]

Never change a tool you are used to -- unless you want to slow down the creative process considerably, that is.

Stephen

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Hi Julio,
I take the 'strange way you record your music' as both a compliment on my methods and end result 8)

Perhaps learning the cello would have been easier in the long term?? music without any need for cables, electricity etc etc...

Most definitely and add respect to your method and music.....cello is on my bucket list to learn.

[phobos]

Is it just the CD burner playing up or the whole device?
If its just the burner have you tried to see if you can get a replacement or compatible model, its amazing what you can sometimes find on ebay!

[Seren]

Is it just the CD burner playing up or the whole device?
If its just the burner have you tried to see if you can get a replacement or compatible model, its amazing what you can sometimes find on ebay!

Sorry, missed this over the new year.

I don't know is the honest answer. The VS has not been made for over 10 years I think, and I know that replacement process can be complicated.
   Luckily Roland headquarters UK is only about 10 miles down the road and they have given me the number of a guy only about 30 miles away who might be able to fix it.
   But until it's open I have no idea of cost and there is a 'open up charge' as well.....

Currently am managing well by recording into Sonar Artist from VS via Zoom digital converter.....the only thing I am missing is recording audio archives of 'component sounds' so once finished, it is finished - perhaps that is best, certainly saves me time and burning extra discs I rarely seem to use.

[Seren]

well,
I've not really got back into recording zone for sometime - I was not passionate enough to get the tech issues sorted and when I have tried recording, it has surprisingly been more of a task than a pleasure in many ways.

...and I am enjoying listening to music more than recording it for the first time in many years.

So last Friday I decided to retire the music studio.

I still have sonar artist on the computer and the Korg MR1 if I find some sound I want to record and see if I can play around in some way- but 5 days after making the decision everything else has gone.

Currently it feels like a leap into the unknown, but also a positive one.

It was not an easy decision to make, but it has moved surprisingly fast from the moment I made the decision. I took it all to the local cash generator type shop and dealt with a rather supportive gentleman (also into making music) and walked away with an unexpected level of new funds....

interestingly, letting it all go created a similar sense to  when I stopped recording in 1982 - a real sense of releif at getting rid of the cable spaghetti.

[Julio Di Benedetto]

Well Seren I do understand that we do need to purge from time to time.....get things, in this case a studio down to its bare essentials to possible rebuild at a future date or just to let it go.  It is something that has been working at me for a while, not to stop per se but to scale back.

I have had such a passion for recording sound that I have gone to great lengths to create a studio environment with well chosen gear to rival commercial studios.....does not mean the sound is equivalent because the skilled and gifted engineer is missing from that equation.  I am not but I try and really have enjoyed the journey.  That being said with music technology being so advanced these amazing Daw interface of today can get music from ones instruments or microphone into the on board preamps and through converters that makes all this external "character" producing equipment somewhat obsolete.  I suppose its coming to terms with hearing the difference, which I can and asking if it makes that much of a difference.  I am questioning it now and feeling a need to simplify. 

This is my perspective and Im really happy that your joy is just to listen.....something I have to work hard at because to listen can inspire and makes me want to create which is in its way a disservice to the art of listening.

   

[Seren]

So last Friday I decided to retire the music studio.

Wow  :o

That's how I felt too...

[Seren]

Julio, I hope your own journey goes well - music / sound has always been important to me in various ways.
   Whether it is making actual music, listening to it or sitting in the middle of a forest and hearing the sounds around me - I love swimming in the sounds I listen to. I think we've mentioned before the pleasure from listening in places where no human sounds can be heard.

I don't know what the future holds, but it felt important to open to the unknown and make a leap.

technology is certainly advancing - the quality of sound even out of items such as TVs and phones are definitely improving, I know it was opening to such developments about 20 years ago that got me back into recording this time, who knows what might happen in a few more....

[chris23]

That's a major decision. Kudos to you for having the fortitude to make it and follow through with it.

We'll all be making music on our watches in 10 years. Might be good to sell off the equipment now while there is a market for it. :D

[phobos]

So last Friday I decided to retire the music studio.

Wow Andy, That is one hell of a big step!