Control Interface Questions

[mrplow]

Hello, can someone help a fellow musician that's new to the Home Recording world?

I'm thinking of buying a control surface, specifically the Behringer BCF2000 or the Mackie Control Unit, and have a questions:

1) Is a soundcard w/MIDI required to use a control surface? Right now I am using an Omni Studio (Breakout Box w/Delta 66 Card) as my main recording card, and it does not support MIDI. However, I also have a SB Live! I've left in there that can support MIDI. Is it still possible to use the control surface to mix tracks recorded through the Omni Studio?

2) Is there a control surface that has the full knob set (can't think of a better term) for all the EQ, trim, etc. functions typically seem on a mixing board? I basically would like to see all the EQ settings for each channel at once, and not have to toggle between channels using buttons to adjust different EQ knobs.

3) Is there are a control surface that doubles as a digital mixer?

4) When using a digital mixer, is it possible to just connect an external drive directly to mixer for recording (sans computer).

Thanks,

Ron

 

[cpl_crud]

1) For the BCF- I don't think you need midi. From memory it's a USB device. The MCU, however, is MIDI based, so you'll need an interface that can support full duplex (ie in and out at the same time).

2) Yes. From memory the BCF has 1 trim pot per channel, and the MCU has 3 (although I may be wrong on teh MCU). These are usually programmable in yourt software. Additionally, both ranges have an "add on" board that supplies a number of trim pots (all programmable). I can't remember what hte behringer is called, but the Macike version is the C4 Extender. A downfall with the C4 (and all af the MCU extender boards) is that you need a seperate MIDI in/out to run every additional extender board.
As for the control of the recording, that's really up to your software/hardware config.

3) Most digital mixers these days have some form of midi/usb/firewire interface that lets you use it as a control surface. The yamaha ranges have this functionality, and they recently also bought out Steinberg, so you can expect to see even greater compatilibty between cubase and the yamaha consoles. However, whilst a digital mixer can be a control surface, the opposite isn't true.

4) Yes, if you are willing to buy a Hard Disk recorder. However, these usualy start around the USD2000 mark, so you're better off getting a computer in most circumstances.

However, after re-reading your post, I think you're missing a couple of points.
What software do you intend to use to record/mix your music? Do you really know the difference between a Control surface, and audio interface, and a digital mixer? What exactly do you intend to do, and have you looked at other options like multitrack DAWs?

Please fill us in with a bit more info so we can help you better

 

[mrplow]

Thanks for the informative reply. What I am trying to do is have 2 setups:

1) Bedroom recording, me laying down 1 track at a time into a computer, adding some effects in the box, then doing the final mixdown using a control surface or physical mixer.

2) Portable recording for band auditions/rehearsals, record up to 8-12 tracks simultaneously onto a HD, dump to a computer, then doing the final mixdown using a control surface or physical mixer.

After rereading your post, should I be looking for a standalone recorder instead that has decent A/D converters and a decent mixer?

 

[cpl_crud]

A standalone would be good in that instance, however I can't really comment on which one would suit you, as I don't use them (I use hard disk recorders and do most stuff outboard).

Maybe if you search these forums and google for standalones, then you can get a better opinion.