Drum + M-Audio 1010?

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wombar

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Hi All,

Well I've been playing around with a Yamaha MG16/6fx for the past few months to record drums in my band and so far its done admirably. I bought a set of 7 drum mics and was just feeding the signal from my mixer into my PC as a stereo channel.

Of course it's got to the point now where I want to split all the mics off onto a separate channel and therefore need a new sound card to do this. I've been looking at the M-Audio 1010 with the break out box because it seems like a good deal and would do most of what I want.

However having talked to a few people they say that I need pre-amps for the mics, would I be able to use my mixer to do this? I'm pretty sure that on the back there is an input jack above all the XLR inputs that says insert. Would I basically need to run a jack lead from this to the 1010's break out box or have I got it completely wrong?

Basically I'd love to keep the cost down and not have to buy a dedicated pre-amp unit, I've been looking at a firepod but they're a little pricey if I can buy a 1010 and do it the way I've described above it'd be ideal.

Thanks a lot people :)
 
wombar
I have 2 Delta 1010s and can attest they are good convertors and it is easy to use.
If your mixer does indeed have inserts at each mic input you can run from there to your Delta and not have to buy other preamps.

The only issue will be cabling.(perhaps)

Some insert jacks will simply let you stick a 1/4 guitar cable in it which will defeat the signal going through the rest of the mixer and send it straight out the insert. Some wont let you do that but lets you insert the cableonly till the tip 1st clicks into the jack (it wont be fully inserted) which taps the send portion of the insert plug only.This generally works, but the connection is not very solid and can be pulled out rather easy.
You may have to get insert patch cables (stereo 1/4 splits to 2 mono 1/4 inch) and use the send portion to your Deltas ins and the return portion plugged into the deltas outs. This will allow playback from the delta to reurn into your mixer as well.

tom
 
M-Audio Delta 1010

To answer your question, Yes you can use your mixer board as a pre-amp in conjunction with the Delta 1010. I do this using an Allen-Heath Mix Wizard 16:2. I connect the mic cables to the XLR Inputs on the mixer and then I connect the mixer and the 1010 using 1/4" patch cables from the individual track outputs to the inputs on the 1010. Works great!

Am considering getting an additional 1010 so I can track upto 16 tracks at once.

One thing you should be aware of is that some mixers have better mic pre amps than others. This could adversely affect the quality of the recording if the pres are weak. This is another area for improvement in my studio down the road but for now it works to fit my budget and present needs. It is definitely better than mixing down 8 tracks into a single stereo input. You will see a definite advantage by doing this over what you are presently doing.

Good luck!
 
Thanks for your replies guys.

Well I've got home and tried the output and it works as expected. Although you've got me thinking that perhaps it might be worth getting a separate preamp unit because perhaps the yamaha ones aren't the best.

So far I have the following options.

1. Get an M-Audio 1010 and then connect it through my Yamaha MG16/6fx.

2. Get the 1010 and then buy a separate preamp unit such as this http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--STOPROPR8 Would still need to buy 8 new cables tho to go out from the preamp unit.

3. Bite the bullet and get something like a fire pod http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--PRSFIREPOD Very expensive but I would image is probably worth it in the long run.

I don't know, any advice would be great from you guys. Does the 1010 have more features or is the firepod likely to be better technically. Ideally if I'm spending this amount of money I need to have something that is pretty versatile and can be connected to pretty much anything.

Cheers
 
Your cheapest option is just get the 1010 and hook it up to the mixer.

I've fund the pres on my MG mixer to be very quiet unless you really wind them up.

The Firepod unit looks nice, but it makes your mixer kind of redundant
 
Well I've priced everything up and the 1010 will cost me £350 for the card and then ~£40 for the cables. I won't need really long ones as the break out box is going to one the same stand as my mixer. It's not going to be portable but then I don't have a decent laptop at the moment and don't really plan on getting one.

The firepod would cost £560 and then another £10-15 for a firewire card. I assume that it basically does everthing the m-audio does but is just more portable, correct?

I think that the 1010 is probably going to get my vote in the end because it's going to cost me £200 less and I don't think that I need the portability, which is the main reason for the firepod being more.

I've not really decided yet tho so you might see me on here saying that I've bought the firepod in 2 weels :)

Let me know what you guys think, any and all opinions are welcome.
 
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