Hi,

I don't know if this is the right section, but I really need to went my frustration. This is gonna be a bit of a rant.

I spend a lot of time recording music at home. Naturally like almost all of us I do that in front of a screen. I use Reaper to be precise. It makes for acceptable results but I find it taxing.

I am a programmer by trade and I spend my entire working life in front of a screen. It is incredibly frustrating that my favourite past time also requires me to use a computer more often than not. Be it for overdubbing of recordings to get them ready for release or just trying out new song ideas and recording them.

While DAWs offer an incredible amount of flexibility they can also be very fidgety at times and between setting up a new project and making sure every input is in its place I sometimes forget what I wanted to play in the first place.

So I thought to myself: Why not go dawless? I dove right into the process devoting a lot of time and energy over the past two years to find a (true) multitrack recorder that might fit my needs.

And it seems none of them do. When we record as a band we do so at 96k so anything I might use has to be capable of high sample rates not only when recording multiple channels simultaneously but also when recording one track after another and doing punch-in punch-out overdubs.

Plus I don't want to endlessly fidget with the gain knob every time I really just want to press record to jot down an Idea. Just plug-in and go. So 32-Bit Float capability would be very nice indeed.

Most recorders in the market are not even true multitrackers to begin with. Most are multichannel recorders (Like the Zoom-F8n Pro). No overdubbing, just the possibility to record multiple tracks in parallel.

Those that are true multitrackers don't seem to go over 48k when multitracking is used largely bc of restrictions to do with internal DSP effects (Specifically Zoom Live-Trak and Tascam Portacapture series of recorders come to mind). But I really don't care for these. I have zero issues with using a DAW for mixing and editing what I have done. 32-Bit stuff requires normalisation anyway.

I know my prefered workflow seems like a weird edge case, but I really feel that digital multitrackers have some catching up to do. In the early 2000s up until the year 2010 they were more of an alternative to using DAWs than they are now.

I know DAWs rapidly got better, relegating portable studios to the dustbins of history. Its great that they are making a bit of a comeback now but there is a lot to be done until they become a serious choice for me. I find that incredibly frustrating.

I'd love it if there were a device with the following features:
- 32/96 khz (multitrack recording)
- At least three inputs
- Bouncing (like the Zoom R4 Multitrak or Tascam Portacapture with the Pocket Studio app)
- Two outputs
- No FX
- Audio interface capability



What are your thoughts? Do you know I'm wrong? Is there something in the pipeline coming this year or next year? Or is there something already available which I'm blissfully unaware of? Is there an audience for this?

How long have you been working with Reaper?

Seven years give or take.

That seems like enough time to learn it to the point where it's second nature.

Thats not really the point. I dont really need ages to get ready. Its just that those 30 seconds feel very distracting.

I know the feeling Anarchyreloaded

Pounamu