I recently bought a 1010 bluebox as a portable mixer and absolutely love it.
It has some firmware flaws such as you can’t delete the created project in the mixer itself (you need to remove the memory card and delete the project folder from it), but it sounds great and it can record all tracks simultaneously + a separate master track + built-in effects track in 24-48.
You can simply turn on the recording and play music, knowing that all your tracks will be recorded separately. It has 6 stereo inputs that can be configured as 12 mono or mixed. This is the only way I record audio now, even though I have a good audio interface (and already mentioned Tangerine). But what is especially pleasing is the presence of an additional stereo output, which can be configured for 2 mono sends + a headphone output, which also works as a stereo send (on the 1010 forum, users have already asked the developers to make it also configurable for 2 mono sends). That is, in total you get 3 (4) sends to external effects, which in turn can be sent to each other + 2 built-in effects (delay and reverb). I connected Strymon TimeLine + Strymon BlueSky + Korg Kaosspad (whose channel I send to TimeLine + a little to BluSky). It also works as a USB host. I have a Faderfox EC4 connected to it via USB, through which it powers and controls the BlueBox. Nice machine.
+1 for the poor man’s TX-6
(that does more for less money)
The other day I recorded a video for my friends about my live setup, but unfortunately not in English. Sorry about that. You can take a look at it if you want. I hope you can roughly understand what I’m talking about by looking at the picture. There’s a little demo at the end where I use Faderfox to control effects sends.
Video is approx 100 Mb so I can’t upload it here.
There is also the brave option: keep the signal 100% analogue, avoid any digital recorder and use tape. From a conceptual point of view, your dawless jam would make a lot more sense. This is exactly the setup I use: mixer sends signal both to Nakamichi deck and monitors, no computer or audio interface involved. Actually, my gear and my daw have never met: my analog personality doesn’t get along with my digital soul, I keep the two entities completely separated.
The day I reach 1k budget, I will buy a reel to reel (for better sound and editing features).
@alechko & @obscurerobot thanks for the info about the filtering. It makes sense when using it as a mic, but I just want that line in.
Handy to know!
I’ve never understood why second hand DAT recorders aren’t super cheap these days. It’s an obsolete format by now but it was the de facto standard for 2 track master recording back in the day.
It would be a great solution for a DAWless setup.
I just took a look at eBay, and DATs and Digital Beta decks are both cheap compared to cassette decks.
I’d go for a portable Sony one.
I have a R4. I bought it for recording live arrangements, especially with the Maschine+ and MC-707, because I don’t have to worry about levels and because I can bounce tracks to build up a recording like a looper.
Only recorded 2 projects from the Maschine+ so far, but the recording sounds lackluster when played back through it’s headphone out using my HD660S headphones. I haven’t tried exporting the files to see if things improve, but it doesn’t sound as good as playing a live set using the Maschine’s headphone jack for some reason.
I will probably retry it at some point and see if there’s an obvious weak point or something i’ve missed and export the files to see if they sound better inside my Daw, but i’m really unsure about it’s value for my needs currently.
I just took a glance… but they’re not cheap for a dead format… 
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2332490.m570.l1313&_nkw=sony+dat&_sacat=0
Darn, I was just about to pull the trigger on the H2N as a simpler way to add vocals to tracks and in a pinch do some recording. Do you know if there is a similar issue with the H1N?
The H4n has used the same sims/effects as the original H4 from the mid-2000s. It makes sense to spend their upgrade resources to the pre-amps and casing/controls since those support the main goal of the recorder. The multi-track effects are kind of a bonus.
Amp sims and distortion aside, the effects were pretty decent, good enough for sketching out ideas, at least. The G/MS series pedals on the other hand are really good. My MS100 is a permanent fixture on my pedal board.
If I ever need to replace mine, I will likely pick up the R4 since I probably MTR or line in record more than use it as a field recorder these days.
1010music BlueBox
I use mine almost exclusively for field recordings, since I’ve got a Sony M10 for line-in recording duties, and now the R4.
Apologies for reviving an old thread. I found this in a Google search as I have been searching more info on line-in recording on the R4. How do you do it? Is it as simple as XLR > 1/4’’ (or XLR > XLR maybe?) into the R4 and hit record? No attenuator or anything needed? No adjustments in the settings? I just bought one and I need to record soundboard audio next week for a gig but I can’t get to the soundboard for testing so I’m just trying to make sure I know exactly how to accomplish this before getting to the event.
The two jacks on the bottom of your R4 will take either 1/4" (6.35mm) or XLR. I’ve only worked with line level sources so far, and the 32-bit recording worked magically as expected. Just plug and go. I don’t recall whether having the faders all the way up makes a difference in recording or just playback, but I keep them up.
If you have any other audio gear at home (synths, drum machines, small mixer), I’d encourage you to run some experiments at home.
I would also lean towards 1/4" rather than XLR since the R4 can output fantom power on the XLR pins, and I don’t know how safe that is when you are plugging into a big mixing deck. Bring your own cables, don’t expect the venue to have any useful cables that work.
Thank you so much! That’s very helpful. I unfortunately don’t have any audio gear at home (I’m a videographer largely clueless about audio) which is why I’ve resorted to digging through forums and replying to really old threads in search of useful information 