Newbie requesting advice

[smithers138]

I am looking to setup a small home studio to record my guitar / vocals. I also want to be able to Mix in midi synths and drum tracks. I also would liek the interface to be useable as a mixxing board.

What I have already:
Computer - Alienware m17x with max upgrades: pc power should not be a problem
Software - Sonar 8.5: I alreay used another copy of sonar with an edirol single track unit I bought a long time ago and I like the Synths and a sequencer.
Midi interface - Edirol UA-4fx: I had it and it works... one less thing to buy.
Monitors: Okay I am cheap (saving for pieces as I can afford them) I had a spare yamaha amp and a couple decent speakers so I am currently converting to RCs and running through my amp.
Board - Healix Board 18: I love the audio quality / routing for live but the firewire is an absolute piece of junk if it does connect i get non stop drop outs. Luckily the store I bought it from will take it back and give me credit towards another mixxer.
Possible Boards: (what I really need advice on)
- Yamaha MW12CX around my price range can be used with our without the pc present.
- Helix board 12 plus - USB 2.0 instead of firewire??? maybe better anyone have any experience.
- mackie ProFX 8
- Mackie Onyx 820i

Any other suggestions???? Thanks in advance

 

[smithers138]

Answering my own post with another question. I have the option of replacing the helix board 18 with a brand new helix board 18 MKii for the same price I payed for the original one. Anyone ever use the helix board 18 Mkii and does anyone know if the firewire interface has been upgraded in the Mkii, I downloaded the driver for the Mkii and the AISO drivers files are a different size from the regular helix 18 as are most of the other files so i am hopeful.

 

[smithers138]

Okay i am goign to reply to my own post again just incase anyone else is wondering about the helix boards.

I received my helix board 18 Mkii and it works well, last weekend I ran 3 shure mics 3 guitars a room mic a keyboard and a bass into it and laid down some pretty transparent tracks.

- I think the pre's are really clear especially for the price

- I still can't get the effects working, if i set the level really high the sig light(showing theres a signal being received by the effects processor) lights up, but at any normal level it does not.

One thing bugs me, if I select the firewire as a source for the ctrl room (monitors/headphones) it does not work. With all the routing options I can take the firewire input from the computer send it to the second aux then solo aux 2 and it makes its way to the control room.

one of the plus's for using it as a mixxing board is all of the routing options, stereo main aux 1, 2, 3.

Also I like the fact you can send any of the signals to the firewire pre or post fader, also can send them to the head phones / monitors pre or post fader. I like to turn the gain up to get a nice fat signal in sonar then send the post fader signal to the headphones or output to get the appropriate level. Pretty cool feature IMO. As for reccomending it I am not sure, it is definately cheaply built but it is also cheap to buy and as a piece of starter equipment it is going to suite me well until I can afford better.

 

[Chili]

I've been using the Helix 12FW for a couple of years and have not had any problems. Well, accept when I tried to update teh driver with the wrong one...

I still can't get the effects working

Did you turn the effects up on the individual channels?

One thing bugs me, if I select the firewire as a source for the ctrl room (monitors/headphones) it does not work. With all the routing options I can take the firewire input from the computer send it to the second aux then solo aux 2 and it makes its way to the control room.

I have mine set the same way and it works. I do not have anything connected to the Main Outs, so I don't use them. I run speakers off the Ctrl Rm Outs. I leave Assign to Main off and for Control Rm Source, I have Main L/R selected. Works fine like this.

I love the flexibility of the Helix boards in regards to recording.

 

[smithers138]

I've been using the Helix 12FW for a couple of years and have not had any problems. Well, accept when I tried to update teh driver with the wrong one...



Did you turn the effects up on the individual channels?



I have mine set the same way and it works. I do not have anything connected to the Main Outs, so I don't use them. I run speakers off the Ctrl Rm Outs. I leave Assign to Main off and for Control Rm Source, I have Main L/R selected. Works fine like this.

I love the flexibility of the Helix boards in regards to recording.

yes I turned up the Aux 3 efx up and I do get sound out of the aux 3 efx channel but with no effects. the only thing I wanted to use it for was maybe applying a little reverb live. This sound correct?

Edit: Since you are using a helix board you would know this.. Am i wrong in saying the pre amps are surprisingly quiet for the price??? I mean I had one cranked to 3/4 on my buddies acoustic cause it has a junk pickup and there was no hissing at all

 

[Chili]

yes I turned up the Aux 3 efx up and I do get sound out of the aux 3 efx channel but with no effects. the only thing I wanted to use it for was maybe applying a little reverb live. This sound correct?

Edit: Since you are using a helix board you would know this.. Am i wrong in saying the pre amps are surprisingly quiet for the price??? I mean I had one cranked to 3/4 on my buddies acoustic cause it has a junk pickup and there was no hissing at all

In the effects section, there's a knob to turn up the effects send. Other than that, look through the manual, it's there somewhere.

Yeah, I think the pre's are quiet, sound good. I don't think they're stellar, but we didn't pay much for the board. I also think other interfaces with built-in mic pre's within the same price range are going to have similar sounding pre's. I wouldn't be surprised if they use the same components.

 

[suprstar]

I've been using a helix 18 mkii for a couple years now, never had a single problem with it.

Except one time, for about a week I thought I had some dead channels, but then I realized I just forgot to unplug the insert cables from the back when I took my rack fx off it.... I guess that's not the board's fault....

 

[vijsolo]

Hi there,

Looks like this thing will suit your needs.
Zoom R16 Multi-Track SD Recorder Interface and Controller

This is very versatile gear. works as a stand alone multitrack recorder, a decent audio interface and a Controller for DAW. And the price is awesome!

Check this one certanly

Cheerz!!

 

[suprstar]

Yeah, we were just talking about zoom r16's in another thread, looks pretty spiffy. Too bad it's usb, your cpu will take a much larger hit, you better have a beefy pc.

 

[TeyshaBlue]

Yeah, we were just talking about zoom r16's in another thread, looks pretty spiffy. Too bad it's usb, your cpu will take a much larger hit, you better have a beefy pc.

I'm running it on a laptop with a Celeron. It's hitting it but no problems so far. Just finished a 9 track tune...running 6 reverb plugs, 2 eq plugs, a Sony enhancer plug , 1 compressor plug and a multi-band comp plug across the main buss. No problems at all, but the cpu will hit 80%. A more capable processor could easily halve that which he probably has in that Alienware.

 

[TeyshaBlue]

The Zoom R16 does not have any 64 bit drivers available. If you're running a 64 OS, then this is not the interface for you.