Need help finding a recording setup that makes sense

S

Saxaholic

New member
Hello,

I am mainly a musician (still in university) and am trying to get a home studio going on the side, mostly for 1-man projects. My projects are either more tratitional Jazz (Sax, E-Piano, Drums[sampled, not recorded], E-Guitar/-Bass) or fairly experimental Electro-Jazz-Mix (Sax, E-Piano, analog Synths, DrumMachine).
This means I am always only recording one instrument at a time and only the Sax is recorded with a mic. However, all my audio (recording and otherwise) is running through my monitors. So for composing, practicing, listening to music ect. everything needs to be able to run through the monitors without my Laptop (macbook) attached (I only use my Laptop when I have to - so only for actually recording/mixing stuff). Another problem is, that for the electronic stuff I run audio signals from the daw into the synths to use them as an "effect section", so I'd need a few outputs on my interface to facilitate that. I also plan on incorporating guitar-effect-pedals the same way.
This means, I need at least 4 line ins for e-piano, synth and drummachine (this means 2 for the drums, 1 for synth and 1 for ep), 6 would be better since I am looking to add another synth and would like to record the e-piano as stereo (it has stereo-effects on rhodes ect.). I also need at least 1 mic in (which ideally should double as an inst. in). My e-piano has a stereo line in, that just routes the audio to the line out together with it's own audio, so that might be a possibility to use one line in for two instruments (but I don't know how bad this is for the audio thats getting routed through).
So the way I see it, I could either get a 8 in 8 out interface with standalone capability or I get a small mobile interface and let the snyths run through a small analog mixer first. The third possibility would be to get a mixer with integrated audio interface.
In the end, I'd like to have a solution that sounds good, is expandable and does not break the bank. I think the first step would be to decide which type of setup is the most sensible choice, so I can then look into the specific components needed.

I hope you can help me with this,
Michael

Edit: This probably should have gone into the newbie section...
 
'Stand alone' for practicing - unless you're going to have your Mac hooked up to it, you won't have the DAW capability, just the in/outs of the interface - how is that going to work?
 
mjbphotos said:
'Stand alone' for practicing - unless you're going to have your Mac hooked up to it, you won't have the DAW capability, just the in/outs of the interface - how is that going to work?
Click to expand...

That's all I need. I just need to be able to use the instruments through the monitors. I don't need daw capability for that.
 
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The A&H ZED10 or bigger sound right up your strazzer!

4 mic/line inputs and a further 2 stereo line inputs. Two of the inputs are high Z so you don't need extra DI boxes (in fact they are 10 meg and therefore suit peizo acoustics as well) . Some onboard effects you might like. USB 2 track recording when you need it. Ok, 16 bits only but a very GOOD 16 bit system. You could of course tack on an AI at a later date and there would be none better IMHO than the NI KA6.


Dave.
 
The venerable Presonus FireStudio has the number of inputs you need and will operate in stand-alone mode.

Some interfaces won't work stand-alone because (a) they get their power via USB, and/or (b) they depend on software sitting on the computer.
 
Saxaholic said:
That's all I need. I just need to be able to use the instruments through the monitors. I don't need daw capability for that.
Click to expand...

Ok, when you mentioned 'practicing', I assume you meant practicing along with pre-recorded tracks; you also mentioned running DAW effects.
 
Michael, you mentioned "expandability"?
The ZED mixers can have their XLR line output attenuated to mic level so they can feed into another mixer or indeed an AI.

Dave.
 
mjbphotos said:
Ok, when you mentioned 'practicing', I assume you meant practicing along with pre-recorded tracks; you also mentioned running DAW effects.
Click to expand...

Yes, I basically meant just practicing piano (my e-piano has no internal speakers). With the effects I meant, that I would route audio into the synths (osc on 0) and use their effects. Either from the DAW, if it is something I recorded or through an insert slot on the interface/mixer. But I don't really need that when I'm not recording.

I will look into the small Allen & Heath mixers and the Presonus FireStudio
 
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