The DR-100mkIII and a pair of those CM3s is going to have you set up really well, and with some money in your budget left over for all the miscellaneous stuff that quickly adds up like cables, memory cards, a stand, some kind of stereo bar, etc. Make sure to post some of your pulls here.
Yeah... the CM3's seem like a no-brainer as a starting set. If I want to change patterns I'll just buy another mic pair down the road. I LOVE high-value brands, and Line Audio Design definitely seems to be one of those brands.
I have stands already... nice ones from my photography stuff. Light ones which would work well for portable recording, and some really rigid studio ones that I'll probably use in my place. I have some short Mogami XLRs I can use if I mount the recorder close to the stand for now. But I will probably order some light weight ones like Moke suggested.
The DR-100MKIII looks nice... but I REALLY think I want the flexibility of more tracks. To me 4 is a minimum... and I'm definitely in the having more than I need and not use them, rather than the wish I had more, camp. Going to a recorder that has nicer features to me justifies the cost... the Sound Design units can serve as a USB interface if I want to record to my computer, the Class-A preamps are supposed to be very nice (and I'm a huge believe in preamps making a huge different, albeit coming from the playback world. My most expensive component is my Modwright 36.5 pre.) Analogue limiters, if I need them in the future, good DAC's etc... Plus, to me, the remote app is a big plus — which is almost an exclusive feature of those units.
Now — assuming that I was pre-disposed to 4+ tracks, and a budget of $900 MAX for a recorder, and I wanted the OPTION of portability, the question becomes IS the MixPre-3/6 the best recorder option for the reasons listed above. Or is something like a Zoom F4/F8, Roland R-44E, or something with more tracks from Tascam, like a DR-60/DR-40/DR-680/DR-701 a better value?
Are there any generalizations/consensus regarding brands among the more serious tapers? Like "lower end Tascam sucks, don't waste your money" etc... I should be aware of? And sorry if I just made anyone LOL asking if there was consensus in an audio-related hobby.
- Woody