Absolute newbie w/ newly acquired Delta 1010LT

[davus]

Here's my question. I bought this thing thinking "great, I've got two built in pre's and 8 channels of in and out, I can eventually expand and record up to 8 or 10 tracks simultaneously!"

Now reality strikes. What the heck kind of mixer do I need that will send individual channels into the RCA ins on this card?

[crankz1]

Originally Posted by davus

.... What the heck kind of mixer do I need that will send individual channels into the RCA ins on this card?

Any .... that offers direct outs or inserts on at least 8 channels.
Then just grab up on 8 of these and some RCA cables.
Try and keep them short though. Less chances for interference.

[davus]

Originally Posted by crankz1

Any .... that offers direct outs or inserts on at least 8 channels.
Then just grab up on 8 of these and some RCA cables.
Try and keep them short though. Less chances for interference.

Would you be so kind as to recommend to me a couple of mixers that have direct outs or inserts on 8 channels? Like I said, I'm an absolute newbie.



Thx

EDIT: Budget is definitely a consideration for me. I.E., the lower the price the better...without getting into complete garbage that is. If I need to spend $500+ or $1000+ to get a reasonably quality mixer with the capabilities I'm looking for, that's fine....I just want to know what I'm doing.

[tedluk]

Originally Posted by davus

Here's my question. I bought this thing thinking "great, I've got two built in pre's and 8 channels of in and out, I can eventually expand and record up to 8 or 10 tracks simultaneously!"

Now reality strikes. What the heck kind of mixer do I need that will send individual channels into the RCA ins on this card?

What are you trying to record? If you are using instruments that are line level (i.e. keyboards and such) you can simply go directly in to the soundcard's inputs. If you're trying to record mic's then you're going to need mic pres. You can either get a dedicated 8 channel mic pre or a mixer that has them built in.

What software are you using? Understand that a mixer is probably not a necessity. All the multi-track sequencers offer software mixers. The reason people use mixers is to gain additional inputs and inexpensive mic preamps.

Ted

[crankz1]

A member by the name Deepwater, on this forum, is a Soundcraft dealer (among other manufactures) and he could pry get you a good price on a Spirit M series mixer. Search his name in the member list and send him a message.
I would opt for the M12, because you never know when you may need the additional channels.

[davus]

Originally Posted by tedluk

What are you trying to record? If you are using instruments that are line level (i.e. keyboards and such) you can simply go directly in to the soundcard's inputs. If you're trying to record mic's then you're going to need mic pres. You can either get a dedicated 8 channel mic pre or a mixer that has them built in.

What software are you using? Understand that a mixer is probably not a necessity. All the multi-track sequencers offer software mixers. The reason people use mixers is to gain additional inputs and inexpensive mic preamps.

Ted

It will be a combination of the two. Let's just use as an easy example the classic recording a drum kit using a seperate mic for each drum and another mic or more for cymbals. I want to be able to do that using my 1010LT. Seems like a nice mixer with direct outs would do the trick. I was actually looking at the Soundcraft M-series and they look sweet, plus they have direct outs for each channel I believe.

The other option would be what? Individual preamps for each channel?

[davus]

Originally Posted by crankz1

A member by the name Deepwater, on this forum, is a Soundcraft dealer (among other manufactures) and he could pry get you a good price on a Spirit M series mixer. Search his name in the member list and send him a message.
I would opt for the M12, because you never know when you may need the additional channels.

Thanks, I will keep that in mind.

[crankz1]

Yeah .... you could go the route of individual pre's. That could get rather expensive. The nice thing about a mixer is that you then have the option of mixing outside the box. Analog summing vs Digital summing.
There are also the dedicated 8 channel mic pre's from the likes of Studio Projects, among numerous others, but they can run just as much as a good mixer.

[tedluk]

Generally speaking, you won't get as good of mic pres in a mixer as you would in a dedicated box. At least not for the same money.

I'm just throwing out options here.

I wanted to make sure that you understood that using a mixer isn't the only possible way to get signals into your computer.

Ted

[davus]

Thanks everyone!!

[Bulls Hit]

Check out the Yamaha MG12/4.
Good quality pres, will do everything you want for under $200

[davus]

Originally Posted by Bulls Hit

Check out the Yamaha MG12/4.
Good quality pres, will do everything you want for under $200

So how would I use the inserts for sending individual channels to the Delta??? Is it as simple as plug in a 1/4" into the insert on the mixer and convert it to RCA for the Delta and I'm ready to go?

Why would I need direct outs if it's that simple? What's the advantage?

Thanks guys. You really rock. I tried posting a similar question on another recording forum and I got 0 responses.