Hi all,
I have a home studio(all PC, analogue) for many years and am now making the transition toa Macbook Pro and would like some advice, as I've not exactly kept upwith technology over the last few years.
I'm mentally goingthrough the process of putting together a setup and am realising thatno matter what, I need to either get new studio equipment or create abridge between the Mac and the analogue setup, due to connectivityetc.
My current PC setup inits most basic form:
Terratec Phase 22 soundcard (1/4” jack in/out) going into Behringer Eurorack UB1622FXmixing desk used for recording external sources and taking the PCaudio output and feeding my active Behringer Truth monitors. MIDIcontroller into Phase 22 via 5 pin DIN.
My mixing desk is setup as follows. I have a sub group and a master group. PC audio outgoes to 2 hard-panned channels routed to the master, which then playsthrough the speakers and headphones. Then all other channels (audioinputs, such as mics, guitars etc.) are routed to the sub group whichgoes directly into my DAW via the audio in, which is used forrecording. Effects (in the mixer) get routed to the master to supportthe performance (such as verb on the vox, overdrive on guits etc.)but are not recorded into my DAW, which helps massively when thereare latency issues when using the DAW to add FX live. This gives me agreat setup with a lot of control and I get a great performance.
As you can imagine it'sold, latency ridden and audio quality is reduced through so muchcabling and potentially lower resolution elements in the chain.
Now, when it comes toupgrading it seems to get complicated... as I'd like to retain thosefeatures (routing with FX to one out different to dry to DAW etc.)where possible and on a fairly limiting budget.
The first thing thatbecomes apparent as being an issue is connecting the laptop to themixer. I'll either need a DA converter OR I could ditch the mixer andcables and buy a new USB audio interface with various inputs (withFX), which seems like the logical thing to do for audio quality,flexibility and ease, which I also prefer. I also don't need 16channels if I can only record 2 at a time.I don't do any live mixing,just recording in to the DAW and mix from there.
The audio interfacesI've seen do not seem to have a sub group nor an output for mypowered monitors, so this part is baffling me with the wholetransition. I am also unclear on how the audio channels are routedand what I should be considering with USB audio interfaces and ifthey allow channels to be routed as per my analogue setup or not.Also, how many channels I can record simultaneously (my current setupallows 1 stereo, or 2 mono) but with USB it's about data transfer socould be more.
I also cannot figureout for the life of me how I can get some audio routed tophones/monitors, eg. master (and apply FX from the mixer only to themaster) separately to the sub group that goes into DAW dry.
And finally, thatleaves me with the MIDI controller, which can easily be fixed withanother USB converter or if the audio interface has DIN input I canuse that. Is there anything I need to be considering here in the wayof latency? MIDI interfaces seem to be really cheap - £5.
Can anyone please shedany light on the above and clarify the areas I'm unsure of? I'mconsidering the following audio interfaces initially:
Yamaha MG10XU Mixer
Alesis Multimix 8 - USBFX Audio Mixer
… but am very unclearon the audio routing possibilities and sending audio to speakersseparately to the channels going to the DAW.
Advice very muchappreciated. Apologies for the long post!
I have a home studio(all PC, analogue) for many years and am now making the transition toa Macbook Pro and would like some advice, as I've not exactly kept upwith technology over the last few years.
I'm mentally goingthrough the process of putting together a setup and am realising thatno matter what, I need to either get new studio equipment or create abridge between the Mac and the analogue setup, due to connectivityetc.
My current PC setup inits most basic form:
Terratec Phase 22 soundcard (1/4” jack in/out) going into Behringer Eurorack UB1622FXmixing desk used for recording external sources and taking the PCaudio output and feeding my active Behringer Truth monitors. MIDIcontroller into Phase 22 via 5 pin DIN.
My mixing desk is setup as follows. I have a sub group and a master group. PC audio outgoes to 2 hard-panned channels routed to the master, which then playsthrough the speakers and headphones. Then all other channels (audioinputs, such as mics, guitars etc.) are routed to the sub group whichgoes directly into my DAW via the audio in, which is used forrecording. Effects (in the mixer) get routed to the master to supportthe performance (such as verb on the vox, overdrive on guits etc.)but are not recorded into my DAW, which helps massively when thereare latency issues when using the DAW to add FX live. This gives me agreat setup with a lot of control and I get a great performance.
As you can imagine it'sold, latency ridden and audio quality is reduced through so muchcabling and potentially lower resolution elements in the chain.
Now, when it comes toupgrading it seems to get complicated... as I'd like to retain thosefeatures (routing with FX to one out different to dry to DAW etc.)where possible and on a fairly limiting budget.
The first thing thatbecomes apparent as being an issue is connecting the laptop to themixer. I'll either need a DA converter OR I could ditch the mixer andcables and buy a new USB audio interface with various inputs (withFX), which seems like the logical thing to do for audio quality,flexibility and ease, which I also prefer. I also don't need 16channels if I can only record 2 at a time.I don't do any live mixing,just recording in to the DAW and mix from there.
The audio interfacesI've seen do not seem to have a sub group nor an output for mypowered monitors, so this part is baffling me with the wholetransition. I am also unclear on how the audio channels are routedand what I should be considering with USB audio interfaces and ifthey allow channels to be routed as per my analogue setup or not.Also, how many channels I can record simultaneously (my current setupallows 1 stereo, or 2 mono) but with USB it's about data transfer socould be more.
I also cannot figureout for the life of me how I can get some audio routed tophones/monitors, eg. master (and apply FX from the mixer only to themaster) separately to the sub group that goes into DAW dry.
And finally, thatleaves me with the MIDI controller, which can easily be fixed withanother USB converter or if the audio interface has DIN input I canuse that. Is there anything I need to be considering here in the wayof latency? MIDI interfaces seem to be really cheap - £5.
Can anyone please shedany light on the above and clarify the areas I'm unsure of? I'mconsidering the following audio interfaces initially:
Yamaha MG10XU Mixer
Alesis Multimix 8 - USBFX Audio Mixer
… but am very unclearon the audio routing possibilities and sending audio to speakersseparately to the channels going to the DAW.
Advice very muchappreciated. Apologies for the long post!