Sending my mix from my computer to my board...

[Chris Fallen]

So when I track I track through all those good preamps, etc. I want to send my tracks out of my delta 1010 to mix on my soundcraft m12. Won't sending them back in the line in use the preamps of the m12, defeating the purpose of using the good preamps to track with?

I dunno. I'm interested in trying that out and wondering if that is a problem.

 

[Phyl]

Any mixer gain stage - whether it's a pre-amp or line in - has the potential to add color to your sound. If you run your signals through a high end pre-amp and then send them to a low end, noisy, cheap ass mixer, you are indeed defeating what you set out to do.

What constitutes a low end, cheap mixer? I don't know. Your ears are probably your best tool. Try mixing inside your DAW, then compare the results with mixing using your outboard M12.

 

[TexRoadkill]

A good test would be to set all the software faders to 0 and all the mixer faders to 0. Then do a software mix and a hardware mix. Compare and decide which sounds best.

If you want to use outboard gear then that can influence the decision a lot. In that case you might try doing a full software mix and a full hardware mix and comparing.