A while back I made an executive decision regarding my modular collection. I decided that I wanted the setup to be as portable as possible. The problem with that is that the year prior, I had bought a TASCAM DP-24SD. Yep, I had all my modules’ audio outs going to a full-sized mixer. I even had a 16-channel submixer in a 1U rack. I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I had managed to fill every input.
So I picked up the WMD Performance Mixer, just after they decided to cease manufacturing. I loved how I could do effect send and return, lots of out options, cue, and it had plenty of channels. Not as many as the Tascam, of course, but I really don’t need that many.
I sold the DP-24SD, and that left me in a quandary as to how to record my glorious synth grooves that nobody understands but me. I picked up a DP-006 for a really good deal and that seemed fine, except that it’s very cumbersome to use. You have to record to it, then before exporting a song via USB, you have to master it, which takes as long as playing it. Here’s my shitty opinion. If you’re recording on a dated, sub-$100 digital recorder, you probably don’t need on-board mastering.
I used it, frustrated a few times, then realized, holy fuck, I still have a DR-07 that I used to use to record live concerts. Dug it out, recorded a session, straight to MP3, and it transferred over with ease and sounded great. Nice to breath life into that old thing. Other advantages: While the DP-006 inputs are 1/4″ and required adapters to come out of the WMD Performance Mixer, the DR-07’s line in is 1/8″ stereo and I can go direct with no adapters!
