Hello

I often play guitar while watching a movie, I want to be able to record it, then add a beat to it, and other instruments on the go; on a discrete small standalone (no computer!) DAW

I have been comparing a lot of stuffs (Akai Force, MPC Live...), but they have tons of features I wont use, and each device has it's advantage and it's weak points, so, in the end I am completely lost

needed features :

- records midi & audio
- has built in basic synths/drums plugins
- ouputs midi
- has some Ableton Live look and feel
- <1000$

some sort of modern equivalent of a good old analog 4 tracks if you see what I mean

thanks for the time you'll spend answering this thread

 

A no computer DAW with Ableton look & feel. Hm, no wonder why you're lost
Maybe get more than one device? As a guitar player, I'd look at iRig stuff like this one:
https://www.kvraudio.com/product/irig-stomp-i-o-by-ik-multimedia
Has no synth & drum 'plugins', but I don't know any hardware that does. Then checkout some sort of synth with hardware input.

 

Akai Force – a portable, standalone, groovebox and production machine designed to create, produce and mix your music without a computer.
https://djmag.com/news/akais-new-hardware-ableton-live-without-computer

 

I know you said no computer, but have you thought about using an iPad? It will ultimately be more flexible. It has Garageband, but there are other mobile daws that may be more similar to Ableton. $500 for an iPad air and $150 for an iRig Pro I/O should get you a truly mobile recording/creation solution.

 

Last edited: May 13, 2020

https://polyend.com/tracker/

A tracker, sampler, synth. Records midi and audio.

 

Just use a small class-compliant audio/MIDI interface and your Android or iOS phone with the Audio Evolution Mobile app.
Can record, edit and play audio and MIDI, has a good and expandable set of instruments and just works.
It also manages to give you a usable UI on a small phone screen.
I don't know any small hardware box with this kind of features.

 

Yeah if he already has eq he wants to use then that is a quick and cheap option. I use my PreSonus Studio 26c with my android phone and it works great. Even gets power from the phone so I'm not tethered to the wall.