Recording gear for a classroom

[stubby]

Next year in my classroom (grade 7s and 8s), I am going to be purchasing some recording gear for classroom use. I've only ever used Logic so I am not too sure about what I'd need with a stand-alone device or what I should be looking for. I've recently acquired a class set of acoustic guitars and what I'd like is something compact for use in the classroom to capture these, other traditional school band instruments, and vocals. I'd like it to be portable with the capability of recording a couple tracks simultaneously at least. I've seen a number of devices (e.g. Zoom4 products) that come with built in mics but I'm hesitant to go this route. Perhaps though these would be serviceable for the purposes I'm looking at, I don't know. I guess I could always bring in my own mic for more detailed, "special" projects - e.g. those requiring more careful vocal recording. Note that I use Logic Pro at home and would like something that is compatible with it. Though I'm not sure of our budget now, as a school we don't have scads of cash to spend on this equipment. Any recommendations or experiences you can share would be appreciated. Thanks.

[qwezirider]

I couldn't recommend any stand alone units (Logic user myself), but I would definitely consider a mic for the guitars as well as vocals you're talking about. Teaching some very basic micing techniques would go so well hand in hand with the recording lessons you're shooting at with the kids.

[leesh]

A Boss Micro-Recorder is fantastic....once you look at it, you think that it can't really do much because it's so small....but I've done so much with it (recording demo's, recording training classes at work, etc).

Do you have a computer in the class that you can use (i.e. if you have a Mac, then if you buy something like a M-Audio Firewire 410 or 1814, or even a Digi002 mixer/audio interface).

[stubby]

I will have a computer in the room but it definitely won't be a Mac. I won't really know what I have until until September. I imagine though that it will be a basic machine without a lot of RAM or other processing power. What I need first though is something I can simply capture tracks onto with ease. I'm not looking to give lessons in recording per se (although I imagine that there will be a small group of kids that get into this and will help me mix material that we've recorded). I will equip a separate school computer with the necessary software to do some more advanced mixing/processing but what I need first is some upfront, portable stand-alone unit that will allow me to simply capture tracks. It can't be involved and involve lots of set-up between as I will need to be able to flip from track to track fairly quickly - downtime with me working personally to set up files, etc., would quickly lead to chaos with 30 kids unoccupied.