I know mobile DAWs and setups are sometimes looked upon as being the cheap imitators of something much more powerful (and rightfully so, in most scenarios), but I’m considering actually putting together some kind of budget tablet / phone rig in order to capture more unique sounds to play with later.
I don’t know if I’m alone in this, but it seems like the cost of multitrack recording on the go has been dramatically decreased, especially if you’ve got a phone or tablet lying around, thanks to mini-DAWs like Cubasis (I’m eyeballing that one right now), FL Studio Mobile, and others. It also seems as though more interfaces are being supported even on Android as time goes on, making it just that much more appealing.
I also figured this could serve as a catch-all for mobile / limited-resource setups and workstations people use when they’re on the go or want to do something out of the studio. I can always use more excuses to go outside when resources and time permit, so tell me (if you’d like to share):what’s your rig like?
I do all my field recording with an old Tascam DR-40 and external mics as needed. I’ve had more elaborate setups in the past and that’s all that survived multiple purges and selloffs.
I’ve never really thought about actual DAW/multitrack recording in the field, and I’m not sure I’d personally have a use case for it, though I guess it could be handy for some people depending on what you’re doing. Stereo has been enough for me.
Honestly, nothing I record is going to survive contact with my DAW so perfect fidelity is way less important than having something convenient at hand when cool sounds happen or I get the urge. If I want high fidelity rain on the roof or birds chirping I’d probably just buy a sound pack or something.
Everything in the bag: recorder, mics, cables, wind screens, ear buds, extra batteries, bendy tripod thingy, clothes pins, blue tack, bail wire, sunblock, first aid kit.
I can take that wherever the hell I want to, and it’s great. Might not have any hardware superpowers, but I don’t need them…
I don’t so much like the idea of mobile DAWs like FL mobile, just because mobile devices are such a PIA to use for anything when compared to a computer, so I just keep my laptop in good condition and ready to go.
Have a look at digital multi-track recordwrs like a Zoom r8 or Tascam. Record onto sd card. Some will work on batteries. Can take anywhere for multi-track. I have used a Zoom R16 for a few years tracking stuff in different areas..then bring it back to the computer and import files into DAW
I’ve used so many different daw’s and software to the point where I cant name them all, but this is about our current setup, right?
I don’t have any money at all really (I’m young when it comes to being a producer) so I can’t afford anything like FL or Reaper. For a while, I used some shitty browser daw called Soundation, which I made a good amount of tracks on there. But now, I use cakewalk. Compared to the other daw, it’s a pretty big step up, but isn’t as good as other ones. It’s pretty good compared to the browser one because it can support vst’s and overall has more features, so I’ve been able to make some sounds I was not able to make previously. I’ve also tried VCV Rack and Renoise, but I cant figure them out. Oh well.
In terms of hardware, I only have one midi keyboard that I got as a gift. But, I might get an actual synthesizer or drum machine, or even go completely dawless, though I think the vst’s in the daw’s provide better sounds (at least to me).
Quick note: previous rigs are totally cool to mention, too! Might give the rest of us some ideas
I think we’ve got threads for both around here (and I use both + lots of tools like these!), so if you ever need help getting started or feel like trying them again, I think I’ve managed to simplify all of it down so that even a cave person could do it
I think this is mostly why I could never take mobile too seriously (although, IIRC iProducts have some kind of plugin support?). I don’t know what I’d do without general plugin use, myself, which is also why I don’t own any hardware (aside from not having hardware money!)
Is Cakewalk still free, by the way? I might look into that
Me neither, but I think a lot of the marketing for this type of shit really amped it up, and I could never justify spending hundreds on something that I’m only ever likely to use every once in a while. And now that it doesn’t really cost any extra money to have something like this on hand (and at least a semi-decent GUI to go along with it), it almost seems like something to play with, despite likely not adding anything too valuable to the OTG-recording process.
I also didn’t realize that Tascam made XLR-connectable versions of this. I have the downgraded DR-05 and this form factor is actually probably a lot better than a tablet. This might actually be the answer I’m looking for, but I’m complicating it due to being a little too trigger-happy
For me, dual independent XLRs is the game changer and makes it worth the cost of admission. While I’m definitely not above using my phone if that’s all I’ve got, those little MEMs condensers have limited frequency response in the lows and highs because they’re specifically tuned and filtered for voice, but I didn’t just hike a mile in the woods to record some voice memos. I want that cool sound I just heard and it’s probably got some nice bass tones to play with that I don’t want to miss out on. Invariably, when I record something with my phone it never sounds like what I actually heard - too noisy, too shallow, missing all the complexity, and it’s disappointing on playback.
The built-in X/Y on DR/H4N-style recorders are a step up, but the real magic for me are external mics. Take a simple situation like beating on a steel barrel: I can set up a close shotgun and something like an SM57 at a distance and capture both the initial hit plus the room sound (drum mic style). Or I can blue tack a contact mic to the side and dangle the 57 in the interior. Or X/Y at different distances and capture the interference pattern. Another great setup is a shotgun in conjunction with an inductor mic on something with a motor to get both the physical and EM sound at the same time.
All that for me adds up to both higher fidelity and more flexibility, usually giving me two separate samples for the price of one or a more complex, interesting and dynamic sample to play with.
Forgot to also point out that there’s a decent used market for these things on Reverb, ebay, etc. It’s not nothing and budgets are budgets, but you can get into something with XLRs pretty cheaply these days, and it’s likewise easy to sell them on if you don’t find yourself getting on with it.
I had a Tascam DP-008 8-track portastudio until a few months ago. Runs on batteries, two XLR inputs with phantom power, uses an SD card for its recording media, has a stereo pair of mics built-in but didn’t have a MIDI out port to sync anything to it. I used it for a few field recordings while out and about but that’s about it. Sold it to buy my JV880.
What I was using for a while in the mid-late 00’s was an old laptop running FL Studio with an Akai MPD and Korg K25 that I kept in a backpack in the trunk of my car. Replaced the K25 with a 1st gen Korg nanoKey (which I still have sitting in storage). Sold the MPD so it was just the nanoKey until I bought an M-Audio Axiom Air 32 and used it for my mobile rig.
this was a fun discovery: 2021 saw USB audio added to the OP-1, and so all I needed was a USB cable to record into Cubasis 3. Which exports as DAWProject making such things able to be opened in a few DAWs afterward (Bitwig, Studio One, Cubase, and REAPER with a converter program by Jürgen Mossgraßer).
Couldn’t get it working with my Polyend Tracker+ though.
