multiple mics & aw16g

[cerulean]

I am thinking of purchasing an aw16g to use as a onsite multitrack (record live performances, transfer them to Sonar and do a final mixdown) --

few questions:

1. I noticed the aw16g (as wel as most standalones) only has 2 XLR inputs .. is hooking up more than the two as simple as buying an XLR female to 1/4" male connector and hooking in the XLR cable + mic? Are Line matching transformers necessary? (doesn't appear to be by the aw16g's pdf manual (pg 33) but just checking) --- also, is any brand adapter better than another brand? Any recommendations on places to buy these from?

2. Is the aw16g the most ideal unit for this application? (I don't see myself doing a signifcant amount of mixing on the unit .. just mainly for recording the performances -> writing tracks to WAV's -> importing into Sonar to do final mixes)

3. When recording / monitoring through the aw16g -- can effects be applied but not recorded (so I get the raw audio to import into Sonar but have a colored monitor mix) I'm assuming this is possible . just asking..

 

[PeteHalo]

1. You can connect dynamic mics to the 1/4" jacks with suitable cable or an adapter. You'll lose the benefits of balanced input by doing so.

2. The AW16G is definedly not the most ideal unit for your purposes. The Fostex VF160 or the older VF16 OTOH is. It has the ADAT interface that makes it a perfect companion for a computer based studio. It's so much easier to transfer tracks between computer and recorder when you can do it by simply plugging in two optical cables than burning data to CDRs or not to mention using external scsi devices. The ADAT interface gives you also the ability to use the recorder as a recording mixer so you'll have the option to overdub directly to computer without having to first track with the recorder and then do the wav transfer. I have the VF 16 and its connected to a RME Digi986 PST soundcard in my computer running Cubase and it's a pretty powerful and flexible combo. And if for some reason you'd need to record more than 8 tracks simultaneously then you can get an external ADDA interface like the Fostex VC- 8 (about $200) to gain another 8 analog inputs.

3. At least with VF160 it's possible. Even when I track directly to Cubase I can apply VF's effects to both the audio signals going to computer and also to the signals coming from Cubase.


4. For the most cost effective solution I recommend that you try to locate a second hand VF 16 and upgrade the OS to the latest version 3.12 which gives you all the features of the newer VF160 except for the internal CDRW option which is IMHO quite obsolete if you do the transfer thru ADAT i/o. You'll also need an Adat equipped soundcard but the total cost should still stay well below $1000. One more thing, for recording media AW16G uses the 2.5" HDs which cost about 4 times the more common 3.5" HDs with same capacity that the Fostex uses.