PA board same as control boards?

[beatlefreak]

I'm setting up my room as a studio and am in the process of setting up the computeer. After that though I need to get a control board. Will a regular PA system 8 channel board do the same thing? If not what are some good control boards for the money?

 

[TexRoadkill]

Mixers and control surfaces look the same and perform some of the same functions but in a comletely different way. What do you need to do? Then we can say what is best for you without listing all the possible differences.

The biggest difference is that most mixers have preamps and a lot more flexibility for connecting with outboard gear but they wont all interface with your computer that easily.

Control surfaces are made to talk with your computer but they usually don't handle as many channels of real audio and aren't as flexible with outboard gear.

What is your budget?

 

[beatlefreak]

My budget is not that much but can be if it needs to be?

I want to be able to connect a board to a computer so i can run 4 mic's and 4 quarter inch hook-up's. I just need it to be a connection for the iunstruments to the computer. I'm getting a delta 44 soundcard to if that makes any diffrence at all.

 

[TexRoadkill]

I would hold off a purchase of a soundcard or mixer until you know exactly what you want and need. There will be advantages to different combinations and some stuff only works well with certain software. Know what your entire recording setup is going to be before you start buying or you may have to buy some stuff twice.

If you just need some preamps then any mixer will individual channel Inserts or Direct Outs can be hooked up to the 4 inputs on the Delta. A good compromise might be a digital mixer because they usually can use MIDI to have the mixer faders control your software. Roland, Tascam and Yamaha make some cool small digital mixers that will do it all but you would use a different soundcard that has a multi channel digital connection rather than the Delta.

Any control surface that has mic inputs/preamps will usually have a way of getting that data to the computer through USB, Firewire or it's own soundcard.

Since you didn't mention budget it's hard to be specific. Personally I would go with something like a Soundcraft M4 to go with the Delta but you will not have any MIDI control over your software. You could get one of those small USB controllers but they usually only have 2 mic preamps. Using both together would be a decent option but at that price you might as well get a good digital mixer that will do it all.

If you can throw out a dollar range than people can give you more specific recomendations. "not that much" can mean different things to different people. Prices can vary from $65 to $30,000.