For a few years I used a DAT recorder for making a recording of a track. Then I had a PC with an 8 input/output audio board and used that to play some audio channels and record those together with the output of my synths from my mixer’s output.
That pc died a few months back and I’m looking for an alternative.
I was wondering what people use to make a ‘final’ recording of a track.
Does anyone use one of the Zoom H[1-6] recorders for that? Are they of any use for such a task?
I use a tascam digital recorder for ideas.
Ableton for MIDI only stuff and presonus studio one for mastering and most audio.
I’ve played with a few Linux systems, pure data, FL studioand caustic on android.
Horses for courses. Im sad my mastering is still under windows.
I also sometimes use a Roland VS 1680 hdd studio adapted for SD.
Nothing has been as reliable and as fun as my old Yamaha mt4x 4 track cassette recorder may it rest in peace.
What is it you want to record and ultimately produce?
Tracks like the Ostinato series I posted in the past year. I’ve never replaced the pc I used as a recording device with something else. Some of the ostinato tracks were within ableton only pieces, so those I ‘rendered’ in Ableton. But now I want to combine my hardware synths and the ableton soft synths once more. Because in my setup I now have a problem with USB noise (which I never had when I was using the audio board and the PC), I was thinking of a recording device which is not in any way connected to the usb of my DAW’s laptop and maybe record stuff in 2 or more goes, combining them to one track in post processing. But I’ve not made my mind up, hence this thread.
I had the same USB problem which was solved with a powered USB3 hub, short good quality cables and balons on them. I also upgraded the cheap wall wart that came with my scarlett interfaces and put balons on them.
There are dedicated hard disk recorders out there but the PC option is still the most useful for me.
I use a separate USB interface for playback in ableton and studio one and a separate PC entirely for virtual instruments.
All noise is a bugger but I reduce a lot with preamps and inexpensive cab modeling (especially on the older gear) before it hits the interface. I have reminders to turn off my TV phone and kit im not recording and if there is noise I do the shaky cable dance till I find it. If I can’t … well then out comes distortion or filters.
Stick with ableton if it’s what you know and add a simple line mixer between your gear and interface.
I’ve had a home studio since I was 12 and I swear if id spent more time recording than I did bug hunting I might have one day had a hit.
Happy to discuss further
Edit: you might consider putting in a dedicated USB3 card.
I use an old Acid Pro 7 for all, midi and audio tracks.
I have allways problem with this PC, for audio i make sometime 10 recordind beacause it make some small cut in the track sometime, but not allways, sometime not and here you hope it’s when you make a good take. 
i not masterised track because i don’t have the software for, and i don’t really know how that work exactely.
a little resourceful situation
What are balons? And where can i buy it?
Sorry Balon was what they were called at IBM years ago. A better description would be clip on ferrite chokes
Not even sure if I spelt Balon correctly 
Balun, maybe ?
That’s the puppy! Excuse my spelling.
I have been using a Tascam Model 24 for the past couple of months and I’ve never been happier. It records all the individual tracks and can export a stereo mix directly without going to the computer. It also works as a computer interface if that’s your bag.
Slowly learning Cakewalk, spent weeks with problems with audio distortion ( like there was a constant reverb feeding back) which after buying one interface and buying another was not solved. tried everything until I found changing the USB cable and port sorted it (not sure which of the two did the tric).
Tried ableton but could not understand it at first stab and had no time…
USB interference is most likely power related than cable. Though I use good cables and ferrite baluns the single biggest difference was introducing a powered USB 3 hub.