Muff's Modules & More

Babaluma · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:53 am Post subject:

i'd agree with your fine assessment of behringer gear. steer well clear and you can't go wrong! never owned any and never will, for so many reasons.

Babaluma · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 11:55 am Post subject:

i think usb 2 could struggle. ditch your laptop and get a desktop with pcie and firewire, loads more reliable choices then.

dzlvs8 · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 12:31 pm Post subject:

Babaluma · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 12:39 pm Post subject:

i'm mainly mastering 2 channel stereo, and monitoring the output, so latency is not so much a concern for me, but i have a new carillon audio PC, with an RME HDSPe AES interface (with external crookwood converters), using audiomulch 2.0 as my main DAW, and i can get very low latency without glitches or drop-outs. i can play guitar with effects and monitor it all in real-time through the ADC/DAC chain output without noticing any delay.

dzlvs8 · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 1:00 pm Post subject:

CalvaryBand · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 4:16 pm Post subject:

Put together a PC; don't worry about getting an Apple. They make decent laptops but PC desktops pretty much trounce Apple desktops these days, ESPECIALLY since you can turn them into a hackintosh and run OSX straight off of a PC (if you use the right components, that is). I just setup a new desktop with both Win7/Lion and it was actually quicker to install Lion than Win7...

I think having a bias towards firewire is unnecessary in this most recent age of audio interfaces. There have been legitimate strides in the technology put into place in some of the newest USB 2.0 interfaces. I actually prefer USB interfaces as I seem to run into less hassle when it comes to power/sleep/hot plugging compared to Firewire. There is no benefit when it comes to latency either; my laptop runs the USB RME Babyface at 4ms roundtrip.

dzlvs8 · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 6:37 pm Post subject:

lilakmonoke · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 7:35 pm Post subject:

RME fireface UC is usb 2! ... and nobody records with 12 synths at the same time. the UC will give you 8 ins and is easily expandable via ADAT to 16. firewire on a PC with windows 7 has been a nightmare for me until i switched to usb. its ok on apple but basically a discontinued format.

dzlvs8 · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:09 pm Post subject:

CalvaryBand · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:35 pm Post subject:

Well if you're looking to do OSX/Win7 this page should help you out when deciding on parts. You have to read up on it a bit but there are really good guides on getting OSX on your PC. I would personally skip out on harddrives and get a SSD (or two). The performance difference is pretty huge when loading/auditioning samples. The parts you have listed sound good, only changes I'd make is get 8 GB RAM rather than 6 GB and unless you have a spare 460 around or can find a really good deal on one, get instead a Radeon 6850 or 6870. When shopping for a firewire card, look for a TI chipset model. An easy way to tell is by checking out a picture of said unit and looking at the biggest chip (usually located in the middle of the card); it should have the TI logo right on it. These have been known to perform better than the VIA and other assorted chipsets.

If you're worried about the USB on your mobo becoming saturated you can get an additional USB PCI-E expansion card. This and the firewire card can be found on eBay for next to nothing.

dzlvs8 · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:49 pm Post subject:

CalvaryBand · Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 9:31 pm Post subject:

Yeah, on my RME Babyface I have had 8 channels going in at once at 4ms. I have also had 8 going into my Allen & Heath USB controller/interface at around 7ms. Keep in mind also that this is not being done on a separate USB card and I have several other things connected at the same time (Maschine, RME Babyface, A&H controller, USB 3.0 external drive, mouse, keyboard, etc). I would not buy the card first and see how it works for you. You may not need it.

lilakmonoke · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 8:48 am Post subject:

the point is not usb or firewire, its the quality of the hardware and the drivers that run the I/O. thats why i keep mentioning RME. there is a reason why practically everybody i know uses rme interfaces. this stuff is rock solid! and again, there is nothing wrong with only plugging in the stuff you are actually using or using a small submixer for drum machines. just keep thing simple is the best advice i can give.

dzlvs8 · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 12:43 pm Post subject:

Son of a bitch. I am deeply sorry but I have failed you. I am about to cancel my computer order, not buy an audiofire 12 and go the route of buying a 16 channel mixer and a fast track pro interface or something.

Reasoning:
audiofire 12 channels is not enough
I still would need to buy a new mixer in order to run all my stuff through my Roland Chorus Echo before I went to my computer. I also have no way to run 16 channels separately out of the Chorus Echo. Therefore, in order to use a multichannel interface properly, I would need to swap cables constantly or buy a patch bay, I think. Those both defate the need of needing multi channel anyway.

I also really dont want to be in the box anymore than I have to anyway and I don't want to slow down my creating process anymore than I have to.

I started thinking Nutter!

about selling my Arp Odyssey in order to fund the recording setup and thats when I stopped this mess. An Arp Odyssey recorded via a kareoke machine sounds a million times better than recording nothing through an audiofire 12.

So I am just going to run one channel (or maybe two channels for P08) via usb into my current laptop. Assuming I wont get latency on the output.

The price was getting out of hand, and in the end i would only have a more tedious and time consuming setup and more recording features than I currently need.

Question:
Does anyone have a recommendation on a cheap compact mixer with no dsp stuff or other BS. The only feature I am looking for is a quick way to have an output that only outputs a few specified channels (for recording purposes). I think the Yamaha MG16/4 has what I am looking for with "on/off" buttons next to the sliders. I really dont want to have to adjust my mains for each channel when I go to record on one channel

Again, I am sorry. But since I love my current setup, I need to take baby steps back into the box. I get mad when I have to even look at the P08 menu screen, to make music, let alone a computer screen.

jonah · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:21 pm Post subject:

In regards to your new question I just got an allen and heath zed 10 that I'm finding very useful and pleasant sounding. It has knobs rather than faders, but I only really prefer faders when doing a final mix.

dzlvs8 · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:33 pm Post subject:

I need at least 12 channels. Preferably 16 channels and it needs to be compact. I noticed that the mackie 1402 has a solo button for each channel. Thats what I'm looking for as far as a feature for recording!

Also, is there any problems with using my crappy, half busted, 6 channel behringer as a mixer for my SCI drumtraks, and then chaining the 6 channel mixer output to one input on a bigger mixer. It seems like that would be ok, but I never see people with that ghetto of a set up.

Babaluma · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:59 pm Post subject:

mackie 1202 vlz3

Rudy D. · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 2:01 pm Post subject:

I would get a emu interface and a behringer ADA8000 - the converters are without a doubt good - there are several converter treats on GS - i also worked with this setup until i got myself a linx aurora 16 - Never A/B'd the converters but my tracks doesn't sound better since i got the linx for what my ears tell me - Interfaces with numerous in/out possibilitys are expansive - get the behringer along with a "cheap" 4/4 or 8/8 interface with adat in and out - i would directly record all the tracks to the pc and monitor the stereo out of the daw. Other Possibility - Get the Mackie VLZ 1642 - there you got 8 Direct Outs and 4 Sub-Outs - so you got to record 12 tracks and monitor them over the mixer - it's the pricyest mixer i know which offers these possibilitys... Cheers Rudy

jonah · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 2:09 pm Post subject:

Oh, sorry, I thought you were going to use a patchbay.