Audio setup - pro's/cons.

[babylon303]

Hullo all... Am new to this forum, but have been recording for years on and off..

I have a DAW (Cubase) based setup at home. When I had my old studio set up, I'd route all my synths/keyboars through channels in my mixing desk, along with my PC, then the main outs on the desk would go to my amp.

Now, I've set it up so that all my gear goes through my desk, then the outs go to my PC, which mixes both my synths and Audio together, then goes out to my amp.

Can anyone offer pro's and con's to each method of setup, and which would be more preferrable?

Thanks!

[KineticSound]

Originally Posted by babylon303

When I had my old studio set up, I'd route all my synths/keyboars through channels in my mixing desk, along with my PC, then the main outs on the desk would go to my amp.

Now, I've set it up so that all my gear goes through my desk, then the outs go to my PC, which mixes both my synths and Audio together, then goes out to my amp.

Babylon,
Welcome to the boards. Nice to have you with us.

I'm a little confused... when you say "along with my PC" in your old setup, are you indicating that the mixing desk went into the PC interface for recording, and then back out of the computer into the desk during mixdown?

When you say "mixes synths and audio together", I assume you're playing back MIDI sequences on a synth that is sync'ed to your audio recording... is this correct?

Assuming both of the above, I don't think there's really a wrong way to do it. Assuming you're using an analog desk, you might pick up some convenience in the PC's ability for mix automation and the ability to use plug-in effects on the submix coming out of the desk. On the other hand, if you're using outboard effects, those might be easier to route from the desk.

Either way, it sounds like one unit is going to end up creating a submix for the other... the synths are mixed on the desk, then fed to the PC mixer to be combined with your recordings there, or the PC mixer sends a submix of the recorded audio to the desk to be combined with the synth playback.

[mikemorgan]

I prefer to think of the DAW as a tapedeck when wiring the desk. It has inputs and outputs just like my analog decks had. Of course the routing can get way more creative when you factor in the plugins and softsynths. So I run the daw through the board for larger projects.

On a smaller scale I'll run instruments directly into the DAW and eliminate the Mixer altogether. This shortens the signal path tremendously, but does require mixing in the box, which can get tedious for mousers like me.

[babylon303]

Originally Posted by KineticSound

Babylon,
Welcome to the boards. Nice to have you with us.

I'm a little confused... when you say "along with my PC" in your old setup, are you indicating that the mixing desk went into the PC interface for recording, and then back out of the computer into the desk during mixdown?

When you say "mixes synths and audio together", I assume you're playing back MIDI sequences on a synth that is sync'ed to your audio recording... is this correct?

Assuming both of the above, I don't think there's really a wrong way to do it. Assuming you're using an analog desk, you might pick up some convenience in the PC's ability for mix automation and the ability to use plug-in effects on the submix coming out of the desk. On the other hand, if you're using outboard effects, those might be easier to route from the desk.

Either way, it sounds like one unit is going to end up creating a submix for the other... the synths are mixed on the desk, then fed to the PC mixer to be combined with your recordings there, or the PC mixer sends a submix of the recorded audio to the desk to be combined with the synth playback.

Thanks for your reply - just to clarify - my 'old' way was
Synth 1 to input tracks 1+2 on the desk (L&R),
Synth 2 - tracks 3+4,
Synth 3 - tracks 5+6,
PC Audio output(i.e DAW), tracks 7+8

Main audio outs would go to my amp, but I had my alt. out routed back to my audio (Delta 66) ins so I could bounce MIDI tracks (or VSTi's/audio with FX) to a new clean audio track.

Now I'm experimenting with...
Synth 1 - tracks 1+2
Synth 2 - tracks 3+4
Synth 3 - tracks 5+6

Main outs on the desk go to PC in.. PC out to amp. No use of alt.out because (as I understand it) my full-duplex soundcard can bounce the VSTi tracks down internally in the PC.... which is my main query really - i do bounce VSTi's & very FX'd tracks to audio to clear RAM/CPU headroom, so need this to work. I'm presuming this will work... Guess there's no harm in trying!

[KineticSound]

That sounds right to me... essentially just submixing the 3 synths on your desk, then the desk goes into the Delta, gets mixed with your VST tracks, then the whole shebang goes directly out to the monitor amp. Should work fine.