Hi guys,

I'm trying to decide which of these 2 to get at the moment.
I 'll be using it primarily for song writing.
The Zoom is a fair bit cheaper and has a drum machine built in, which I need.
If I were to get the Yamaha I'd need to buy a drum machine, maybe the Alesis SR18, which would bring the price up even more, a few hundred over the Zoom.
But I dont mind spending more if it's worth it.
I would trust the Yamaha name over Zoom for some reason.
Though the Zoom has gotten good reviews, as has the Yamaha.
Can anyone help please?

I don't know either system, but it usually helps to define your needs and then find the gear that matches. How do you record? How many tracks at once? What sort of manipulation will you need to do? What sort of editing will you need to do? What sort of mixing? What is the end product for--commercial release, demos for full sessions, songwriting/production? What other stuff do you have? Are you planning on upgrading down the road?

Bear

I'd say go with the one who's features you need. These days you can make anything sound fairly decent if you know what your equipment can and cannot accomplish. If this is a first piece, then get what is more in your budget and learn. Pay attention to getting good mic'ing. Pay attention to EQ in the mix.

Cheers for the reply Bear.
Well I'm really a newbie to be honest.
The sole purpose of whatever I get at the moment will be for me to write.
I want to be able to lay down a whole song by arranging the beats on a drum machine, putting down bass lines, guitars, vocals and whatever.

The band I was in folded, through my choice. So I need to be able to do it by myself for a while.
I am planning on getting something else together in a bit however so a unit that can handle a whole band could be useful, but not essential.

Now as I said I'm a newbie so I'm gonna be doing a LOT of learning.
I'm a songwriter and musician. I dont really know to much about the technical side of recording.
But I have good ears and a good head for music and even in just the time I've been researching what recording gear to get, I've learnt a lot.

So for the moment I will be recording by myself, one track at a time.
As for manipulation, mixing and editing. I will be learning how to perform these as I go.
A nice easy to use, intuative system would be nice. Though I know there will be a learning curve on whatever I get.
I will be getting various bits of gear with the system, as in speakers, headphones etc.
And a lot of the recording will be direct in at the moment as it will be bedroom recording.
I'm probably over analizing this, as I'm new to it whatever I get is probably gonna sound shit for a while.
I want the unit that is gonna sound best when I get good and hopefully that isn't to hard to use.

I have more or less narrowed it down to these 2 systems at the moment.

We must have cross messaged Osraves.
Thanks for the advice.
Both of them are pretty much in my budget though as I said the Zoom is cheaper.
I do have a lot to learn.

Cheers

Had you ruled out computer setups for particular reasons? There can be good reasons for a songwriter to opt out of those, but then again some of the software out there now is very friendly towards composition and songwriters. Tools for graphically editing drums might be handy if playing them is not particularly your thing. I'd peak at Ableton Live, Sony Acid, and Mackie Tracktion, among others. Pluses and minuses to each, of course. There are all sorts of free trial versions of stuff out there.

And if you go for an all-in-one studio, see if you can get an in-store demo to see if you're comfortable with the menu navigation. It was a bit easier in the day of the cassette portastudio because every knob had a single function, whereas it's all shared functions on most of these guys these days. Typically someone looking for a songwriting sketch-pad wants a low learning curve, and some of the interfaces reputedly don't fit.

Bear

Yeah, I 'm going for an all-in-one as I think it will be more conducive to songwriting and the creative process.
Also, I wont have exclusive access to a computer for a while and if I was to buy a laptop I'd want to get a decent one. Which would up the price a bit.

I'm limited to what units I may be able to get an instore demo to, as living in Dublin there aint an amazing selection in the music stores in the city.
But yeah a low learning curve would be a big plus. Especially as I'm so new to it.
One of the pluses of the Yamaha is there are a some good forums dedicated to it.