Connecting two mixers - not daisy chained but working in parallel - to four inputs of audio interface

No actually I may not have explained myself. Each of those four Computers will have dedicated dedicated audio interfaces and.DAW with midi controller. So each can work independently. They will be common elements like effects processors and dynamic processors. Besides one of the computers will be solely dealing with soft synths and virtual instruments. In case you are interested I can list down my full set of equipment that I have assigned to each computer on paper, just to give you an idea. Nearly half of these devices I have had since ages. Maybe 10 15 25 years, some I bought recently and perhaps now is the time for me to integrate them into a proper home studio.

Having said all this , I do really expert help in setting up this system seaimlessly.
 
Here's a list of my devices in case it interests.


A. COMPUTERS
PC1:
Windows 10
Presonus Studio One v6.0
Presonus 1824c audio interface
Presonus control surface ioStation 24c

PC2:
Windows 10
NI Komplete
NI Maschine Mikro MK3.
Reaper
Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 4th Gen
AKAI MIDIMIX MIDI Controller

PC3:
Windows XP
Sonar XI
Adobe Audition 3.0
Wami Rack 192X
EMU-1212M
Behringer BCR 2000 control surface

PC4:
Windows 98SE
Voyetra Digital Orchestrator Pro
Soundblaster AWE32 with onboard 32MB RAM
Echo Audio Mia 2496
Montego II Home Studio card

B. CONSOLES
Behringer Xenyx2442FX
Studiomaster Club 2000 102

C. OUTBOARDS
Behringer MDX2600 x 1
Behringer MDX4600 x 2
Behringer Virtualiser Pro x 1
Behringer ADA8000 x 1
Behringer SRC2496 x 2
Behringer DI800 x 2

D. PATCHBAYS
24 channel Balanced x2
24 channel unbalanced x1

E. INSTRUMENTS
Three MIDI sound modules
3 MIDI Keyboards
Acoustic Guitars
Electric guitars Hawaiian
Digital pianos x2

F. SYNC
ART SYNCGEN
DOREMIDI MTC-20 (LTC-SMPTE)
MOTU POCKET EXPRESS (SMPTE)

G. MIDI INTERFACES

MOTU POCKET EXPRESS
MOTU 5X5 MIDI INTERFACE
ESI ROMI/O

Yes, the objective is to network the computers via all the three methods simultaneously: via MIDI cables, via ethernet using an ethernet, switch and via time code either over ethernet or using ADAT cable AES EBU.

I am also using AV Access USB to Ethernet because there are long distances involved between my computers in a rack and all my controlling devices. I bought two of these converters from AV ACCESS and a third one from the Chinese market. These together gives me 12 USB ports. I do also have a KVM and intend using only the K and M function.

I have 5 monitors 22 inch. Looking for a software that I know can convert 4 monitors into a vidiwall.

The system specifications for each of the computers:
1. PC1 (assuming it will be master in a master slave sync configuration):
ASUS TUF GAMING B560-PLUS motherboard with integrated LAN (two ports)
Intel Core i7-10700 Processor
64GB RAM, 3200. MHz
One 7200 rpm HDD 2 TB + One SSD 1TB (system drive)
2. PC2:
ADVANTECH AIMB-705 motherboard with integrated LAN (two ports)
Intel Core i7-7700 Processor
32GB RAM
One 7200 rpm HDD 2 TB + One 5400 rpm HDD 1TB
3. PC3:
ASUS P5PE-VM motherboard with one integrated LAN
Intel Pentium 4 Fast Processor
2GB RAM
Two 7200 rpm HDD 500 GB
4. PC4:
IMI845GV-3ISA motherboard with one integrated LAN, three ISA slots and two PCI slots
Intel Pentium 4 Processor
2GB RAM
One 5400 rpm HDD 256 GB
High speed router is at a distance in another room so I’m using multi port high speed Ethernet switch.
 
I fear a world of pain getting that lot to sync up! I don't think audition has any external sync does it? Reaper and the Presonus probably could be got going, but I've no idea how to share sync this way. SMPTE would be the obvious one, but while MIDI can send and receive controllers, in the way you've probably got the Behringer BCR2000 connected, you'd need some kind of MIDI splitter - like my 8X8 to send out the MIDI data where it's needed. In my system, one PC went to this and it sent up to 8 outputs, plus I had 3 inputs connected to it. If you dedicated one computer as master, then you could presumably concoct a system where all the others monitor the MIDI they receive and use that to trigger playback modes like stop play, rewind etc? I'm just not certain that Audition will respond in this way. The only other thing I can think would be a streamdeck and perhaps some custom code that would send the required codes to multiple computers when you hit play on it?

Probably way, way above my skill set to be fair. Good luck
 
You are far more experienced and skilled from what I have gathered so far.

As for Audition, I don’t intend syncing it. Audition will be used strictly for mastering so it doesn’t really need to sync. Besides, I’m not even sure whether to use Audition at all or not. It’s an old version that I have and may not even run in newer systems.
 
sumitsimlai said:
Is the configuration of having two mixers running in parallel something out of the world, and not possible or not advisable, and if not, why not\?
Click to expand...
It’s fine - but why would you - It complicates the setup unnecessarily.
sumitsimlai said:
If the above is plausible, what could be an audio interface that would give me four balanced line inputs with indepedent gain controls?
Any help would be highly appreciated.
Click to expand...
You have a Scarlett 414 Interface? That handles 4 balanced inputs.

I saw your diagram - what are you trying to accomplish - state your end game in clear terms.
 
This makes my head hurt :) As above I dunno what the possible end game might be. If I kinda understand where you're coming from, I don't. There are about a gabillion ways that aren't costly to get where you're going...I think?

Again...what's the purpose here?
 
Hello Rob and others, I am finally getting somewhere with this two mixer setup. I just bought myself a second Behringer 2442 mixer (the first one is 10 years old) in order to get double the channels, identical features, double the direct outputs for recording and 8 sub groups instead of four, so effectively a 32 channel mixer set using two 16 channel mixers (poor man's studio :LOL:).

As I said earlier, I do not intend using one mixer as a sub mixer daisy chained to the other because one reason is just multiplying the gains and effects (or to leave them at zero - so practically not putting the mixer to full use) and for another reason which is to keep it simple.

Once all the 16 outputs from the mixers are recorded onto my computer using the audio interface, the output from the audio interface is to be then sent back into the mixer channels for mixing, effects processing and finalising the mix for mastering.

During the recording and mixing stage, I intend using the monitor speaker / control room outputs from the Berries, but then there was a problem of how to deal with two stereo monitor outs. One way, I read on Reddit, was to use something called ART SPLITMIX4, a passive mixer with multiple options of summing and splitting. The four inputs are stereo, so I would still have two channels free. Specs are good, input and output impedances are at acceptable levels.

SPLITMix4 – Four Channel Passive Splitter/Mixer – ART Pro Audio

artproaudio.com artproaudio.com

Only drawback is the 12 dBu (max) insertion loss with the ART, which perhaps I should be able to compensate by turning up the power amplifier volume. Since the monitoring channels are separate from the Direct Outs, the Main Outs and the Subgroup Outs, there is no risk as such of spoiling the recording levels. However, there could be a risk of hearing a "false" volume level, probably different from that being recorded.

Input monitoring on the audio interfaces can be done visually using the interface display screen.

The foregoing is only a summary of my thoughts after what I read online. I have no experience of this but I sincerely do want to achieve what I have to.

I shall be grateful if someone can chip in with his / her experience on similar setup.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top