32 Channel Live\home Recording

[armandolivesoun]

What would you suggest as my audio interface to record 32 channels LIVE ? PCI, USB, Firewire ?

I have looked at
- Peavey mixer (USB)
- Moto 24 (PCI)
- Presonus Firestudio Light pipe & Digi Max Fs
- Macnkie Onys 1640 (Fire wire)
- Alesis HD 24 (Hard disk)

I would really like the ability to have 32 channels at my disposal and be able to record them to computer \ hard drive. YOur infomratino is greatly appreciated

[Rod Gervais]

I never really cared for the HD if only because the editing is destructive - oh sure - you can undo cut and paste commands - but if you do an actual redub of a recording - that stands - it cannot be undone.

However - I am curious how you do 32 track recording with a 24 track recorder?

Rod

[suprstar]

I dont know of any 32 channel interfaces that come in a single unit. I think you'll have to do something like get several interfaces with lightpipe outs, such as 4 of these:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/?sku=240408

and connect them to a single interface that takes all the lightpipe connections and sends them to your PC via firewire.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FireStuLP

You'll end up with a small rack of gear to accomplish this.

[TimOBrien]

Piggy-back 2 of these and you can have 48 channels at once:

http://www.motu.com/products/pciaudio/24IO/

[NewAgeMuttLange]

+1 on the Dual MOTU 24i/o... Good flexabilty on the pre-amp front and I've always thought PCI was the way to go with recording to computer..

if you decide on lightpipe pres you could get a MOTU 2408 and have 8 analog ins/outs and 24 digital ins/outs.. one rack space plus your pre amps..

(..and I just happen to have one for sale!)

-Paul

[armandolivesoun]

I truly appreciate all of the ideas. I know there is no single 32 channel mixer with Fire wire capabilities which makes it though. My initial thought was to purchase two Alesis HD 24 (Hard disk), record LIVE and then take it home and transfer the recorded session to a computer via Fireport1394(Alesis) . Once it is in the computer I would use a Recording software to do my editing \ Clean ups etc.. per track. I just feel like saving & transferring music from one Hard drive (Alesis) to another ( computer) might effect the sound quality. .

I think I will do some additional research on the firewire-lightpipe (Motu\Presonus) & PCI (MOTU 24i/o). PCI seems to be a bit older technology but if it does the job then I’m all for it. Besides I keep hearing that the USB mixers currently available are not very reliable. I had the opportunity to test some of them at the NAMM show however it is an exhibition where everything seems to work fine until you take it home.

Thanks

[avieth]

Originally Posted by armandolivesoun

I just feel like saving & transferring music from one Hard drive (Alesis) to another ( computer) might effect the sound quality. .

It won't have any effect on the sound quality. That's one of the big advantages of digital audio, you can make a perfect copy of it.

[keane]

Post as many times as we can.

[ivanparas]

I use 2 Alesis Multimix 16s and daisy chained them together via Firewire to get 32 tracks. Firewire can take up to 63 simultaneous sources through one port. Works like a charm.