Topic: Dat VS. Laptop

[shroominhumpy]

Which is now the better taping method? If I go laptop (I may be getting one for graduation in May) what will I need? What are the advantages and disadvantages of both? Any comments welcome.

Jason

[plucks]

I would hold out at wait for the HD recorders.  You can plug your mics straight into them and record at 24/96 or 24/192 even.
http://www.sounddevices.com/products/7.htm
http://www.fostex.com/index.php?file=products/dat_dvd/fr2

 If you buy a lappy, you will need at pre, a-d converter, and in some cases another interface to hook into the lappy.  
Laptop/HD will give you the higher sample rate, DAT will give you standard 16bit recordings which for many people are more than enough.

Phil

[kindms]

If I had to choose between both formats at this exact moment I would go Laptop.

I used to use a D8 and now just the laptop. I would say that the biggest disadvantage of the laptop is the size of the footprint of the rig. I have a standard 14" laptop and my case setup is a little larger than I would like when the crowd is packed but have done it.

I like DAT but HDD based recording on the laptop has alot of advantages. The higher bit depths for one, but the biggest is not having to transfer from DAT to PC or whatever for burning to CD-R (moot point if you won't be trading etc). Also you have a piece of EQ that is multi-functional. You can record shows, surf the net etc if you want to so you ae not dropping tons of $$$ just on taping gear.

If you are getting a laptop just for taping I would do as advised above and wait for the HDD recorders to come out and go that route.

If you were getting a laptop anyway and were also gonna tape with it most new machines have enough CPU power to handle the job. I personally run a P4 1.8, 1024MB RAM, 60 GB HDD.