G'morning from Australia!
I've been having a think about the best way for routing things and actually found a helpful section on mutitrack recording in the Soundcraft manual for your mixer: (I've edited out the bits that don't apply and added some notes specific to your set up)
· Connect input sources and set gain as described above. Set the C/Room & Phones source to MIX. (Since you want up to six sources at once, put these on channels 1-6 on the mixer.)
· Check that the GROUPS TO MIX button is released.
· Connect the direct outputs on the eight required channels to the recorder inputs. (Use the TS quarter inch jacks that Arcadeko mentioned. For "recorder" substitute line level inputs on the back of your Edirol. I notice that inputs one and two on the Edirol have mutliple uses and switches...if these become a problem, just use 3-8, though it shouldn't matter.)
· Connect the recorder outputs to the 4 stereo returns. Route the returns to MIX. Alternatively, if only one or two
tracks are being recorded, the machine outputs could be brought back to spare mono inputs and routed to a group
for monitoring. (Again, substitute "Edirol" for "Recorder". I'd bring the two main outputs to inputs 9 and 10 on the mixer. Since these are balanced at both ends you can use two cables with quarter inch TRS jacks at both ends. Conversely, it should work with "instrument cables" like the other ones if you just want to buy all the same.)
The C/Room & Phones will now be listening to the monitor mix, or, if selected to Groups will carry the source mix. Note
that the balance of these mixes will be essentially the same. (For your use, don't use the control room out on speakers...it'll cause feedback. Just use the headphones.)
(Basically, since you're feeding the direct outs, you can use the main outputs of the mixer for your headphone monitoring. Use Reaper to mix together the pre-recorded tracks on your computer and feed them to channels 9 & 10 on the mixer as above--this will let you mix the output of your computer with the new "live" stuff you're recording. If you plug your headphones into the mixer, that should be your monitoring. The one drawback is that the faders on channels 1-6 will affect the level going into your Edirol so you'll have to find a compromise for your monitor mix.
If this becomes a problem, the other option is to use the Aux channels to create your monitor mix. This would actually work even better but would require you to buy a headphone amp to plug into the Aux outputs. If the first method becomes too problematic, we can talk you through that.)
Hope the above helps. Good luck recording!
Bob
