recording live with pro tools 002

[jdintuitionnyc]

I own a small home recording studio and currently use the pro tools 001 for most projects. I have had a lot of inquirees about recording live demos. I am interested in the 002 because I can use it with my g4 powerbook via firewire. But with only 8 inputs this doesn't give me much flexibility recording a full band, unless I also purchase an 8 channel mic pre with lightpipe out like the digimax which would give me 16 inputs. I have never tried to record anything live before and never recorded more than 8 tracks at once. My questions are: Is this a good investment and would this setup allow me to record 4 piece bands live and with high quality? Also what are some good tips for recording live with this setup. And when using lightpipe out into pro tools do you still get all 8 tracks seperate or does it come in as one combined track? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[cmchamp]

After looking over the OO2 pages at DigiDesigns, I've got a few questions (and suggestions) for you.

1: do you need the control surface? (I wouldn't want to lug it around if it's not in a rack)
2: how do you feel about Mark of the Unicorn? a couple of 896's would give you your 16 channels and fit in a rack.
3: Planning on recording on your built in drive? not a good idea, you should get a FireWire drive.

Lightpipe should be interpreted as 8 seperate tracks in your hardware setup options.

[jdintuitionnyc]

Thanks for your reply. It's not that I need a control surface. But can you use the 896's with pro tools and a laptop? I thought 896's were for use with logic. I prefer pro tools and want to record 16 tracks into pro tools as easy as possible. I thought that the 002 was the only piece of equipment out there that can record directly into a firewire drive on your laptop.

[cmchamp]

Nope, there's the 896 and the 824 from MOTU that are FireWire based. They should work fine with ProTools. I don't see any documentation at either site for cross compatability. Could give Sweetwater a call but I'd say they should work together.

[reignstorm]

perhaps i dont understand..but you cant use the 896 with Pro Tools LE. You need the digidesign interface....001, 002 or mbox.

The 896 is a great idea if you want to use MOTU. But if you want pro tools software you need the hardware. (unless you use the free...which is only 8 tracks i think..not sure though)

good luck~

[cmchamp]

You may be right. It would figure though that they'd be proprietary.