I have 3 synths (monosynths) and a sound module. I want the quickest way to build up a song, while keeping everything in sync.
1) Would there be any advantages to MIDI sequencing external synths with an MPC 2500 and recording the audio into it one-by-one and building a song up in just the MPC...
OR
2) Getting a 4x4 MIDI Interface + a multi-channel audio interface and sequencing the external synths via MIDI using a DAW like Ableton/Reaper and having the ability to record the audio of multiple devices on separate channels, as opposed to only being able to audio record one external unit at a time using the MPC?
How much would lag/latency become a problem using the DAW?
1. Mac Pro Dual CPU 4 cores on each CPU with Apogee Symphony + Apogee SYMPHONY 64 PCI-E (*) and Logic Pro X
2. 8 port MIDI interface/controller such as:
ESI - M8U XL
3. Non-digital high headroom hardware console as recording audio interface
4. Do all of the midi recording activities inside of Logic Pro X, using your analog console and the hardware fxs. (**)
5. Once midi is in perfect condition, you record the MIDI sounds into digital audio using the highest possible sample rate to reduce latency.
6. Then you record all of the other sound sources in the production as digital audio at highest possible sample rate (through the hardware console) and keep re-recording until everything is perfect
7. Ensure the recording is ready for mixing (this essentially means that even if what you hear now is still only in the recording stage, you would be proud of it if it was what the final master sounded like)
8. Export all of the audio to separate audio tracks inside of Logic Pro X
9. Import all audio tracks into Pro Tools HD and start the mixing process inside of Pro Tools HD (no sample rate changes)
*) Very important to minimize latency at the bus clock front and back buffers (giving you a total analog input to output latency of 1.8 ms on 32 sample buffer size @ 96 kHz, can be reduced to 1.7 ms @ 192 kHz)
**) You want hardware to color the software synths as well, so here you do a D-A conversion on these
Please note that in this configuration, if you get the latency down to something like 64 samples (0.3 ms @ 192 kHz sample rate), the tuning of the various midi sound sources might be a bigger issue than latency and might require more of your focus at that point. Be careful so that you do not match midi sound sources that are out of tune relative to each other and do not let the various sound sources you happen to have available play a limiting factor on the tuning quality you want to achieve. Tuning and phase, do not compromise on those. The more you perfect those, the higher up on the charts your productions are going to end up.
Today there are better routes out there though, but they are much more expensive. The above route gives you quite a lot of quality for the money and can be used when you learn the music creation process. I would say that if you combine it with a great monitoring solution and process, this kind of setup can take you on the charts at least. I don't think you'll be able to get up to say the US billboard top 20 on this kind of solution anymore (I think that would have been possible a number of years ago), but you will certainly be able to produce pro results.
