I've tried a few DAWs in the past , but for me , farting around with a computer just gets in the way of creativity , so some years ago I bought a Zoom 16 track digital recorder with a built in CD burner . I'm old school and like actual buttons and sliders and knobs as apposed to virtual ones , and the Zoom has all of those plus built in effects and easy editing and mastering and what I hear coming out of my amp is exactly what is recorded and it can record 8 tracks at once , so it does a great job at recording a band in a rehearsal studio too , just set everyones input levels and press record and let it run for hours if necessary. It can be plugged into a computer using USB if required and a virtual copy of the actual machine appears on screen , but to be honest , I've never seen the point of using it like that .
For capturing ideas on the fly when I'm noodling away at home , I have a little Boss Micro BR permanently plugged into the stereo headphone jack of my multifx , that does a great job too , considering it's not much bigger than a fag packet . It has four tracks and records two at a time , each track has a number of virtual track , so I can choose the best take for the mastering , and no tape hiss ( remember that ? ) :shock:
