How do i use my ext. Rack gear with my Digital recorder??

[Red Dog Studios]

hey guys,

just to say im not a newbie...lol.. i've made probably 200 recordings within the last year..but i no almost nothing about the whole AUX thing and using outboard effects so im trying to make my self learn because i know it can be used for alot of cool things.


here's my question. I have a Roland vs-2480 DAW, i've been recording on it for a little over a year and i love it, the effects are pretty good too, but i also have this rack mount of about $1000 worth of pre-amps, eqs and dynamics that i used to use before i bought the Roland, and i hate to see that rack stuff sit in my studio and collect dust. The piece that i would like to use most is the ART TPS pre-amp, but alot of times im lazy and i would just rather plug the mic right into the roland insted of climbing behind the rack and hooking up the pre-amp.

well the other night i got to thinking when i was moving some stuff around. "AUX SENDS" i turned the roland around and located the following jacks: "AUX A and B left and right" and i found these cables that spilt into 2 ends with "Tip" and "Ring" on the ends of them. i've heard a while back that these cables are used for AUX sends, or inserting effects, but im not sure if that's true, like i said i know nothing about this field.


Anyways sorry for the long post, if your still here then thanks so much for reading and i hope you can help me out!


Zeke

[Big Kenny]

aux aside,
Run your mics through your rack gear and into an A/D converter, then go digitally into the Roland. If there is no Digi in, just run it in mic-rack-line and keep the Roland pre turned all the way down. There will be some degredation of signal but I believe it will br negligible.

[Red Dog Studios]

hey bro, thanks for the reply. I have ran mics through the rack gear before, that's what i used to do. But now i have a snake that runs to the live room, to the control room, straight into the recorder, and i just think it would be easyer to have the rack effects set aside on the AUX so i can use it when i need too and not have to unplug crap and re-rout stuff ya know?


I just gotta figure out how to do it ..... haha but thanks for the help man.



Zeke

[MOFO Pro]

You don't want to run your pres, eqs, and compression through your Aux bus, Preamp takes mike in to line in on the desk, EQ and Compression will be inserts on the individual channels...I'm not sure if the that roland has inserts, but it certainly sounds like you've got the cables...

[Red Dog Studios]

ah ok, yeah i figured that about the pre-amp, thats the main thing im wanting to use. There should be a way i could send some kinda signal out of the 2480, into the preamp and then back into the 2480 and then asign that chain to any given track or tracks wouldn't there?

[specsGa]

Originally Posted by Big Kenny

aux aside,
If there is no Digi in, just run it in mic-rack-line and keep the Roland pre turned all the way down. There will be some degredation of signal but I believe it will br negligible.

Hook mic to pre-amp and run to roland input, if it will accept the signal. Check manual first.

To use aux sends and returns I suggest reading up on the manual, it will tell you exactly how to implement effects. From my understanding you need inserts for outboard gear but first check your manual.

[amra]

A preamp is supposed to be the first thing in the chain after the mic What you are talking about is using the preamps from the 2480, then out to another preamp then back in. NOISE and more NOISE is what you are going to get. Everyone is telling you the right way to do it, which is Mic > Rack mount preamp > Line in on your 2480, bypassing it's preamps. Now your art preamp is effectively the preamp for that channel.

For your effects, the Aux/Send will work great, but a preamp is not an effect....

[Red Dog Studios]

im not talking about using the preamp for the reason it is suppost to be used. The ART has some settings on it that i use AS effects, just because it's not labeled as a reverb, limiter or delay, i still can use it as an effect, the noise can be taken care of because i've seen this done before. for example, theres a really cool sound you can get from a drum kit if you record it dead, then run it through a pre-amp, then compress the shit out of it. im not wanting to use the pre-amp in the AUX channel or Insert channel AS a pre-amp, im wanting to use it as an effect, which is something you wouldn't normally do, but then again George Martin was never suppost to touch the tape and reverse it acording to EMI policies.

What im saying is, step outside the box for a minute. theres a way to do what im trying to do, and that's what im trying to figure out. it's simple i know. run a signal from the 2480, to the pre amp, then back to the 2480, but i just have to figure out how to do this on that system.


like i said, keep in mind that im not trying to use the pre-amp AS a pre-amp, im using it to get a type of effect out of it that i've done once before on another system and have seen it done plenty of times.


zeke -