Sampling The World Around Us Options

[DEVIOUS]

I wonder if I am posting this in the right section?

The thing is I am a complete newbie but my ideas are developing more and more everyday I think about the portable studio I want to set up. Something occurred to me the other day however. I am keen on sampling- cars going by, a girl crying, everything. I want to have a neat small piece of gear to take everywhere with me so I can bring fresh sounds from everywhere. Does this exist?

I have looked at some samplers but they all offer very small recording times and too many knobs and fiddly stuff. All I want is a way to grab sound and then put it on my computer to be messed about with. I am thinking of a digital 4-track- there are a couple around at the mo that record to smartmedia cards, yet in terms of importing files I am unclear- some say it is converted to mp3 and no mention of being able to import individual tracks. The thing is what I really want is one of those digital dictaphones with 44.1HZ recording and the ability to connect a high quality microphone.

Any ideas? This would really open up the world of music- I really believe solving this problem could be a breakthrough!

Thanks people!

D.

[intunetown]

You can record with anything you want so long as it ouputs a digital signal and has the hardware connections to match your computer. It's not necessary to have an all in one unit that also does the computer end. Obviously the USB or Firewire hardware is already on the computer to bring that sound in. That only leaves you needing something to convert the samples to wave forms. I've been using Amadeus for years. It is an inexpensive wave form editor that can manipulate (trim, amplify, nomalize etc.) audio and save it in a ton of different formats. It is share ware and is about $25 or $35 I think. The guy that runs it has given me at least 6 free upgrades including the OSX version. These days, it's hard to beat a deal like that. I think his name is Martin Hairer. If you do a search for Amadeus and his name you should be able to find him easily enough.