I've been using Ableton with a Presonus Interface (running direct in) for a few years and while I've grown to enjoy a speedy, simple recording process (with unlimited looping and overdubbing), I came to the realization that despite it's conveniences, I was spending a lot of time in overdub-land, trying way too many times to nail the track right. And when I did get it right my recordings still felt a bit lifeless.
I just got this cheap Fostex 4 track tape recorder on ebay. Not a lot of frills (or any kind of EQ) but it's tiny and it does have an aux send. I want to use it as my primary method of recording, and then bounce audio from tape to Ableton, where I can do the heavy lifting. I think it'll force me to better practice my phrases before I hit the "Record" button.
The dude I bought it from sent it with a Motown's Greatest Hits tape. I had a pleasant evening of listening to it played back at a higher speed, bouncing both sides to Ableton (a lot of good samples to be found) and then erasing it to make room for my giggles and shits.
Other potential uses:
*Tape loops?
*Sending stems back through pedals (via the aux send) for some post(ish) production effects.
*Can demo pedals the same way... a 4-track recording going through a pedal seems cool. Hearing a looped 8 second phrase for 8 minutes can be exhausting.
*Can make an actual honest-to-jeebus mixtape now. Now all I gotta do is make friends who actually listen to tapes
Plus (let's be real) I wanna push those inputs realllly hard. Wish I had Ohnoho's "Blowing Up" right now
