Best/Cheapest Way to Record 6 Ins at Once

[jeffgowins3]

Dear Songfighters,
I use to love my Firepod dearly. I took it to all of my band's shows and recorded our sets to my laptop, with each instrument on its own track so we could mix it down later. It was quite amazing. However, in the process of touring and moving, I had to sell the bugger. Thought I didn't really need it anymore.
Now, my band's been touring and we want to do some good recordings for what we hope will be a live record.

Our set-up would be this:
Track 1) Vocals
Track 2) Guitar - Mic or Line In
Track 3) Keyboards - Line In
Track 4) Sequencer - Line In
Track 5) Backing Vocals
Track 6) Room Mic

What's the best/cheapiest/easiest way to record six tracks at once? It doesn't necessarily have to be my laptop, if there was a good digital recorder out there we could do six tracks on at once that'd be just fine.

[ken]

I picked up the M-Audio Fast Track Ultra used for a little over $200 recently. Not a bad little box. I've only used it once and think it sounded pretty good. It only has 4 preamps built in, but you can use those plus 2 line ins and 2 spdif ins to get 8 inputs out of it. All in a small box. I looked at A TON of boxes trying to get 8 ins via USB 2.0 and there are 3 choices on the cheap, Tascam US-1461, M-Audio Fast Track Ultra, and Fast Track Ultra 8r or whatever it is called. You have a lot more options with FIrewire devices though. Typically, you are going to find boxes with 4 inputs or 8. A cheap firewire option is one of those mixers with the firewire output.

Ken

[Teplin]

Get a Roland Vs-840 or 880. I used to record my live band on one of these, and they're great. Good sound quality and simple to use. Since they're outdated, they're going for somewhere in the $50 - $100 range on Ebay.

This solution is easy and cheap, but, of course, depends entirely on how comfortable you are buying used gear on the bay.

[Sober]

Get another Firepod? Why get something you're not familiar with when you know the Firepod works and is quality gear? They're mega cheap nowadays.

[Märk]

I gotta second Sober's suggestion. I am biased toward the Firepod, however, as I own one and love it.