Equipment Upgrade Advice, Using a DAW

[mtardif]

Hey all, Currently I do all of our tracking with an M-Audio Duo (2 in, 2 out) straight into Sonar running on a 3.2 P4, 2 gigs SDRAM, and dual 7200rpm 80 gig hard drives.

Usually track drums and bass simultaneously, track all other parts individually, and then mix in the box, mainly because in my apt I don't have the room for much equipment. I'm building a house that will be done and the end of this year and the wifey let me have my own music room/studio So this is what I'm looking to do and I'm not sure what gear or setup to do it with.

I'm looking to be able to track about 8 parts simultaneously straight into Sonar instead of buying an external HD recorder considering I've got a crapload of space in my pc. I'll be using Sonar mainly for wav editing, also some effects, but want to be run some rack effects and mix down externally to tape/cd recorder.

Minimal what I (think) need is:
- 16 or 24 channel mixer (don't think I can afford a 32)
- audio interface to run from the mixer to the pc all separate tracks, and the ability to send those tracks back separate to the mixer

Need advice on which mixer cause I've heard too many reviews and my head is swimming in the options. I started looking at the Motu 2048 as a possible audio interface, but I'm not sure. Any help would be great.

[mtardif]

well, the more researching I do, the more I'm leaning towards just picking up an HD24 for tracking, transferring the waves to the pc for editing and back to the HD24 for final mixdown. But I'm still looking a mixer if anyone's got any ideas.

[Teej]

I've owned both Mackie and Behringer. Neither are studio quality, but not back for hobbiest work (i assume you're like me and just tinker with this). If you can afford $1000, the Mackie 1604 VLZ is a nice board. For quite a bit less, the Behringer UB series is a major improvement over older Behringer models. They have a 24 (?) channel board for around $400.

Hope this helps.


tj

[mtardif]

TJ, Thanks for the advice...definitely want to stay away from Behringer. I've got a couple of their 16 channel mixers now out in our garage that keep crapping out. Also their built in mic pres tend too introduce a bunch of noise.

I'm seriously considering getting the Mackie 24 8 buss because it's got most everything I'm looking for with room to expand down the road. We'll see, it's a little too much money for me right now. I'm definitley looking at the 24 channel boards now.

[Teej]

There's never anything wrong with saving up until you've got the money, bud.



tj

[mtardif]

HAHA, saving money. It's a great concept, unfortunately rarely followed by myself. Usually I'm saving money to pay off the things that I never saved money to buy in the first place! And to top it off, GC just bumbed up my limit, not good!