I am relatively new to multitrack recording. Apart from having recorded a few pieces on my iMac, I have been recently transferring to my Mac some recordings I did 10 years ago on my 4 track portastudio for the purpose of 're-mastering'. I was struck by the relative richness of these old recordings to my more recent ones and was wondering whether I stumbled into the old analog vs digital problem. If so, does a product like T-Rack-S solve the problem or do I simply need to learn how to better use the EQ and VST plug-ins on my multitrack software?

A lot of pros are using tape to record on initially these days because if you record on a good analog tape deck... you can saturate the sound more and add warmth. Then they are taking the recordings from tape and transferring to digital and then performing editing and mixing all in digital domain.

It really depends on your tastes in sound and what you want to achieve. I use T-racks as a final mastering point for my tracks because I like using the compression and limiter to boost tracks a little for hotter sound and using the EQ... you can take a little of digital harshness out of a track but I don't think it is the same as recording to tape as far as sound quality goes.

A tube pre-amp used during recording also warms up cold sounding digital audio.

They don't have to be expensive, but they do give you tube saturation/distortion that we so miss.

Would one use this effect on acoustic instruments and vocals?

Yes I would. but it's really not an effect per say.

Just a front end for recording.

After I purchased my TDM-1000 digital mixer I noticed that my recordings were much brighter, than my previous set up of an analog mixer and Korg 1212 I/O.

The difference was the analog mixer card combo. Now with the digital mixer the analog to digital converters on the card don't come into play.

I noticed that my previouse recordings sounded different from the newer ones.
they didn't sound bad, but different.

For me the tube preamp restored the warmth while recording. It's hard to describe, but I can hear it.

Most of my recording is done direct, other considerations are room treatment, quality mikes and mixer.

It's always best to capture the sound you want rather than trying to fix it later.

Thanks for the reply. I am using an analog mixer and simply going in the sound-in rather than use an audio interface. What really struck me, as I might have mentioned earlier, was the sound difference between tracks recorded on a portastudio compared to the same type of track using the same mics etc. on the computer. Sound clarity is more pronounced when recorded on the iMac but the older recordings are much richer. I think I will look into the tube pre-amp you mentioned, as well as t-racks although I am not crazy about the price.

Getting a fat sound with digital is not that hard:
First be sure that your A/D converter are goods. Without serious converters, any effort you spend before the converters, would just be a waste of time (and money).
Then use the correct preamp to boost your low-level (often low-Z,) source (mic, guitar, synth, ...) to the correct level of your converter input.
Always remeber, that you MUST always record a HIGH level in your DAW, if you want to get a sound at least as good as a tape recorder: Due to the quantization process, if you record a sound too low, you will be faced with the quantization noise that is really ugglier than the noise produced by tapes recorded at low levels.
With a good preamp, a good converter, and A GOOD LEVEL, you should get a really better quality than a 4tr. tape.
To add the warmness you like on tape records, good tube preamps work fine!
My favorite include Tubetech (or Pultech) and Summit ones, but they R a bit expensives

In Re: To Abbie's recording technique.

I've recorded several records using a makie board into the minijack on my mac. I noticed that it lacked 'warmth' so I bought a tube compressor from ART, and it really put color into the mix.

The Waves R-compressor plug in helps do a digital warmth as well.

Unfortunately, recording can become an addiction, and where a c1000s may have sufficed in January, a BLUE may be the solution in May. Be careful!

I am not sure what your current set up is, but these new firewire input devices are amazing, the motu 828 is fantastic for it's price range.

If you can stop by http://www.tapeop.com and try to grab a free subscription, that magazine comes from every recording angle and may serve you well!