I like the Roland VS units ( I record on a VS 1880 at home) ...thing is though that they are 'OLD SKOOL' by most kids standards these days and the line is being/has been phased out by Roland. The VS units were/are amoung the best and first 'affordable' digital multi track hard disc recorders. They are totally adequate for a band and/or a homebased muso. In essence they offer pretty much everything you need to record and produce a studio quality CD in a small home based rig. When i was young we dreamed of having affordable multi tracking...now I have 8 inputs,18 playback and 288 digital tracks, hundreds of studio quality effects all in a small desk top box ....and it's already out of date ...which is cool because it means it is CHEAP. The learning curve will be steep with any recording set up if you've never been involved B4 but it's worth it.
I suggest these because I use them & have many friends who use them as well...no doubt the younger generation will shun them because they are not software based but for the cash they are a superb machine and like I said will do the job.
I write and play all the time with my VS 1880 set up running...it's like a second instrument to me...very quick to work with once you learn how to drive it.
BUT...like I said, the industry is software based...if you want to be in with the in crowd a hard disc recorder is not exactly street cred right now....
...but my next move in my home studio will likely be to pick up a good used VS 2480 with a monitor, on board effects cards and mastering and some plug ins...dunno...maybe I just like real buttons and nobs compared to mice
if you want to hear what Roland recording units like these sound like listen to this:
http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?PID=799926&t=9942
It was recorded totally on my VS 1880 and the bands VS 2480's across cyberspace.