Digital 'home recording'- at home and away?

squidlips89

New member
Hi all!

Basically what I would like to know is some good options for recording/mixing at home AND playing and recording in a live setting. I think there would be a fair amount of overlap, where the things I use for performing live could also be used for recording live, and at home.

What I would really like is if I could plug my inputs (microphones, processors, keyboard/midi controllers) into a mixer which also acted as an audio interface going to a laptop, back to the mixer, out to the monitors/PA. If the mixer had sufficient preamps for a good live sound and okay recording that would be a bonus. If I had to get a seperate interface that would be a negative, but it might be a better option.

My laptop is decent (MSI GX720) and I have similarly spec'ed desktop (which has an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 soundcard) but I'm considering selling the current desktop and getting a Macbook Pro which I would use Logic Studio for recording and playing. MainStage looks like something I would be able to really take advantage of but I'm not really set on any of this.

I will definitely be getting a Fractal Audio Axe-Fx processor for use on guitar, bass, maybe even vocals occasionally both live and recording at home. I also have a BBE DI-100x which I've gotten good results from so far, maybe keep it for bass, acoustic- that sort of thing.

I will also definitely need a few microphones- I was thinking a Marshall MXL V67G, Shure SM57, and Shure SM58 to start, maybe a Shure SM7b and EV RE-20 down the road- but really I would really like microphones that work great in a live setting as well as okay at home at the moment.

Monitors and sound re-inforcement I can discuss in another thread. The same goes for keyboard/MIDI controllers- even microphones don't really need to be in here.

What I'd really like to know is what is going to be my best option for combining mixers, preamps, compression, audio interface etc (the 'heart' of the chain reall) for digital 'home recording' at home and away? :)

Maybe I don't need a mixer, maybe I can just get a really good interface and use a midi controller with parameters assigned to Ableton Live on the laptop or something? Someone kick my ass in the right direction please? :D
 
Nice.
There are lots of stand alone units that would work too but I wouldn't want to see them getting bumped around in pubs etc..
The Zoom R16 takes up very little room though.
 
Some really great suggestions. Alot of this gear is new to me but some of it looks very promising!

Before I get further into some questions about what has been suggested so far (USB 2.0 vs Firewire, the difficulty of using a unit with no faders live, etc) I wanted to clarify which of these mixer/interface units could take an input, interface it to the laptop (say into Guitar Rig or something like that) and take back the input without noticable latency? Or if I wanted to use Ableton Live attached to a midi foot controller for some looping functionality?

The Presonus StudioLive and the Tascam M-164UF look the part, the Samson Zoom R16 maybe, but the MOTU units for example- wouldn't it be quite difficult to adjust the levels of all the tracks without a dedicated knob atleast, let alone fader?

If I were single or dual tracking at home but I would want to record atleast 4 inputs when using this live, so I'm not sure USB 2.0 is appropriate?
 
Yeah definitely go firewire. USB may technically be capable, but it chows a LOT of cpu to do it.

Mackie Onyx series also has an add-on firewire interface that'll stream all the channels from any onyx mixer to your DAW, and function as a standalone mixer if you don't have a computer connected. It costs in the same ballpark as the Presonus mentioned above. You have to buy the Onyx mixer and a ~$450 firewire card.

If you're looking for something cheap, there's the Phonic Helix series mixers.. Kinda like Behringer, cheap and low end but gets the job done. I have one myself, it's actually pretty nice, but I never move it, I never even unplug and plug cords into it... If you're going to be on the road doing field work with it, I'd get the Mackie or something a little more durable...
 
Again, just to clarify (this is my real question at the moment) are you saying all these mixers/interfaces could take an input loop it through a laptop without noticable latency?
 
I'm definitely not opposed to doing the research, I just don't know what I'm looking for in the features or specifications that will let me know whether it's possible and what the latency would be :)

I'm pretty much sold on firewire just so I can record more than a few tracks at once.

I'm fairly sure I want something with faders or atleast dedicated knobs for each channel


ONYX looks good, as does the StudioLive, and I've also been looking at the Tascam DM-3200, but I really don't want this to be about these units or specific reccomendations so far as much as what it is that I'm actually looking for. Thanks so far for all the great responses. :)
 
... I'm pretty much sold on firewire just so I can record more than a few tracks at once...

When it comes to an audio interface, is there any performance difference between USB and FIrewire?

I didn't think that there was any difference. :confused:
 
Firewire has a more consistent speed. USB's speed is based on burst speeds. Plus USB puts a bigger strain on your processor.


This is the corect answer :)

USB quoted speeds are the maximum data burst speed possible however sustained throughput is always (Much) lower and is affected by whatever else you have going on on the machine. Also USB share bandwidth with all the other USB ports (Even if they are not in use) so depending on how much system resource you have you may not even be able to get that maximum burst speed anyway and finally USB really prefers to packet data and send when it's most convenient to the sytem resources rather than stream data and audio forces it to stream which can lead to more pops and clicks on badly resource allocated systems. CPU hubs and processing is also handled by the CPU which takes away cycles that you could be using for your audio processing

Firewire has its own independant chipset (TI preferred) and so does not lean on the CPU. FW speeds are also thoughput speeds not burst so you can be confident that what you see is what you get and that (So lng as you have compatible chipset) you won't get dropouts, pop and clicks because the bandwidth suddenly dries up (as can be the case with USB)

The upside of USB is that it is far less succeptable to compatability issues at the expense of bandwdth, FW is more tweaky and can give you issues if you don't have the chipset the audio interface manufactureres recommend but when it is set up correcly will give you far better bandwidth (hence more simultaneous inputs at higher sample rates without pops, clicks or dropouts)

Now if you are doing only 1 or 2 tracks of recording at a time it really doesn't matter what you pick, even USB 1.1 will probably give you enough bandwidth to stream the audio. Firewire doesn't give you better quality audio than USB by the time it gets to the point of choosing wich communication protocol is used the audio has already been converted to ones and Zeros by the A/D converters which in similar age equipment from similar manufacturers will likely be the same in both their USB and FW devices.
 
Not to sound like a broken record or anything, but I still don't know what I'm looking for in the features or specifications that will let me know whether it's possible to loop through a computer back to the mixer and if so what the latency would be.

I would imagine there would have to be a way of finding out rather than emailing each and every manufacturer? :)
 
Not to sound like a broken record or anything, but I still don't know what I'm looking for in the features or specifications that will let me know whether it's possible to loop through a computer back to the mixer and if so what the latency would be.

I would imagine there would have to be a way of finding out rather than emailing each and every manufacturer? :)

I think latency is going to be a function of your computer, not the hardware. If you got a smokin fast computer you can tweak your latency down to just about zero, ie not noticeable. All the mixer/interfaces listed above receive the signal and route it to the outputs immediately. How fast your computer sends the signal to the interface is the question. How much horsepower the software fx need is probably going to be the determining factor. Midi has no latency. Any perceived latency in midi is the computer quick generating the requested audio and sending that to the outputs. If you're just using midi to control patches on your fx units or something, that will be instant.
 
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