Hi everyone, I know this is incredibly lazy but I have gone through some of the other threads and already have an idea of what I need to make music on my computer but I'd appreciate it if someone could give me a complete idea of what I need for everything I want to record.
Basically I am going to be getting a new PC this year and finally getting something modern and up to the task of recording music. At the moment I am using a Focusrite Scalett 2i2 audio interface which outputs to a pair of M-Audio AV30 speakers and some Audio Technica ATH-M50 headphones. Because I like to record lots of different instruments (guitar, Microkorg, Korg Volca's, Kaossilator's, iPad, Monotribe, Monotron's...) and I'm likely to get more as time goes on (probably a Microbrute next and one day the new Korg MS20 Desktop kit) and because my audio interface only has 2 inputs, I have connected my old Tascam M-06 mixer to the inputs of my Focusrite. This leaves me with 6 channels on my mixer to connect the various instruments to for recording. Also connected to my mixer is my Zoom G3X multi-effects/looper pedal. This is connected from the mixer's effects out to the G3's guitar input and then the G3's output is connected back into the mixer's effects return input. This is because each of the mixer's 6 channels has it's own effects knob so I can add effects from the G3 to each channel separately or altogether and determine how much of the effect is in the mix.
So it's quite a complicated setup and causes some problems, mainly hiss from the mixer (this is heard more when my Focusrite's inputs are set to instrument rather than line) and also when I am recording (I use Mixcraft btw), obviously everything from the mixer will record to one track in my DAW. I also have to unplug one of the Focusrite's inputs from the mixer (the mixer is connected to both inputs for stereo sound) if I want to use a microphone direct into the audio interface. I know connecting my instruments direct to my audio interface will give much better quality but as my Focusrite only has a couple of inputs, this isn't always possible.
So, I would like to know whether I should get a mixer with an audio interface built-in so I can just connect that straight to my new PC and then all my instruments into the mixer or should I get an audio interface with more inputs than my current Scarlett's 2 or again go for a mixture of both but with a better mixer?
I'm going to be getting a PC with an Intel i7 CPU and probably 8GB of DDR3 RAM but I might upgrade to 16GB later on and Windows 7 64 bit (possibly Windows 8 but I'm not convinced by it).
I'd really appreciate if people could help narrow my setup down and give me a definitive idea of what to get. Oh I also have a USB MIDI keyboard for controlling/playing VST's etc so I don't know if any audio interface with MIDI connections would be better or to just connect the keyboard direct to my PC's USB inputs.
Thanks for any help and sorry for the lazy and long post.
Basically I am going to be getting a new PC this year and finally getting something modern and up to the task of recording music. At the moment I am using a Focusrite Scalett 2i2 audio interface which outputs to a pair of M-Audio AV30 speakers and some Audio Technica ATH-M50 headphones. Because I like to record lots of different instruments (guitar, Microkorg, Korg Volca's, Kaossilator's, iPad, Monotribe, Monotron's...) and I'm likely to get more as time goes on (probably a Microbrute next and one day the new Korg MS20 Desktop kit) and because my audio interface only has 2 inputs, I have connected my old Tascam M-06 mixer to the inputs of my Focusrite. This leaves me with 6 channels on my mixer to connect the various instruments to for recording. Also connected to my mixer is my Zoom G3X multi-effects/looper pedal. This is connected from the mixer's effects out to the G3's guitar input and then the G3's output is connected back into the mixer's effects return input. This is because each of the mixer's 6 channels has it's own effects knob so I can add effects from the G3 to each channel separately or altogether and determine how much of the effect is in the mix.
So it's quite a complicated setup and causes some problems, mainly hiss from the mixer (this is heard more when my Focusrite's inputs are set to instrument rather than line) and also when I am recording (I use Mixcraft btw), obviously everything from the mixer will record to one track in my DAW. I also have to unplug one of the Focusrite's inputs from the mixer (the mixer is connected to both inputs for stereo sound) if I want to use a microphone direct into the audio interface. I know connecting my instruments direct to my audio interface will give much better quality but as my Focusrite only has a couple of inputs, this isn't always possible.
So, I would like to know whether I should get a mixer with an audio interface built-in so I can just connect that straight to my new PC and then all my instruments into the mixer or should I get an audio interface with more inputs than my current Scarlett's 2 or again go for a mixture of both but with a better mixer?
I'm going to be getting a PC with an Intel i7 CPU and probably 8GB of DDR3 RAM but I might upgrade to 16GB later on and Windows 7 64 bit (possibly Windows 8 but I'm not convinced by it).
I'd really appreciate if people could help narrow my setup down and give me a definitive idea of what to get. Oh I also have a USB MIDI keyboard for controlling/playing VST's etc so I don't know if any audio interface with MIDI connections would be better or to just connect the keyboard direct to my PC's USB inputs.
Thanks for any help and sorry for the lazy and long post.