what to do, what to do.....

McQ has a lappy he may sell you.
 
I keed I keed.
 
OK, since I have an ADK lappy DAW that is powered enough to plug my RME into (which has four mic pre-amp channels). That is what I'd use if it were me. Of course my RME also has 8 line level ins so I'd be covered all the way around.
 
Actually McQ says he lugs around a desktop these days for remote recording. He's a brave one.

I do lug around one of my StudioCats. I like the fact that I know it is going to work.
 
Not because my recent laptops don't have the "horsepower" but because they don't run smooth. I tried all the tweaks but the DPC spikes are frequent and rather large.
 
If I don't need more than 6 channels I take a Tascam DR-680. It's reliable, it sounds OK and it is small.
 

 
When the music is going to be good I take a John Hardy 4 channel preamp and maybe something else from my rack.
 
best regards,
mike

"messing about with a hardware recorder is more hassle than it's worth."
 
I switch the power on.
 
I hit the red button.
 
It is actually quite relaxing.

Ah - LOL - true dat fellas! I was thinking of the transfering of the audio
 
 
But like I said, IMO and so forth, YMMV and many other nice abbreviations.
 
My point was, if you have the laptop, why not give it a chance

I see a lot of people using just normal SM57s for ambiemce. I suppose everything would do, really. My favorite has always been two Røde NT5s or the NT4 and hard pan the ambience tracks left and right. It just makes it sound better and you can easily mix it in while keeping the stereofield. Just experiment and see what works if you have enough inputs.
 
If using separate microphones I usually set them up on separate mic stands and put them to each side of the venue, usually in line with the FOH. That way you capture both the PA left and right as well as the audience, remove what you don't want/need.
 
If using the NT4 or something like the Zoom H4n, I put it infront of the FOH. For some reason, I like it like that. If I have 4 inputs to use with for ambience, I put the final two in front of the stage, facing the audience to get more up close and personal, but I've never prioritized that.
 
But the key is experimenting and see how sound and equipment behaves in different venues. Small venues and loud volume is usually harder to capture nicely.