I am thinking about purchasing a multitrack recorder and have been doing some reading. It looks like for a 3 piece band you can get by with a 4 track. Most of the sites are saying to get at least an 8. My concern is not really cost, I just don't want to spend all my energy learning how to record when my passion is really the music. The main purpose is to be able to fool around with sounds and learn more about our music. So question for one of you with more experience is: What do I look out for when purchasing? I don't really want to get into an expensive computer so I want to have everything integrated. Any advice would be appreciated.

I would recommend buying a cassette 4-track, as these are pretty intuitive to learn and easy to use. You lose some versatility but gain a good sounding way to quickly record your band.

If you're going for something simple like that, I'd think you wouldn't want to go with any kind of mixer at all. Why not just buy a portable recorder? Zoom makes the H2 and H4, which, in my opinion, are two of the best recording devices for the money. They self-adjust for gain and room reverb - everything. I know Zoom has a reputation for making "bang for the buck" type gear, but this is also top notch quality stuff. And the sound quality is pretty darn solid. I had one of my piano recitals recorded on it. I can send you clips if you'd like to hear how it turned out. All it was was a freind of mine sitting in the second row with it on a stand.

Here's more info on the H2:
http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodid=1916

And the H4:
http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1901

It sounds like those would be more worth your while. Basically a studio you can carry in your pocket. And the Zoom recorders support formats that you can dump into Cubase, ProTools, Garage Band, and whatever other programs you like. So you can still take the tracks you've recorded, put them on your computer and edit them to perfection.

I'd still be happy to send you the tracks from the times I've used it. Just an H2. No software. So you'd hear it, essentially, raw.

Let me know if this helps.

Peace,
ShackMan

You know, I would second this too. I have not owned an H2 or H4, but friends have told me good things about them regarding their simplicity and portability [and price, too!].

This could be a good purchase, and is basically a digital version of the cassette recorder I recommended before. Ease of use, learning and good price make this a safe bet.