Hardware Compatibility

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thehouseofshawn

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I was wondering this, for I would like to keep my interfaces and add upon them with multiple Firewire Ports, or PCI cards, in the future when I would want more input on a more powerful computer...etc.

Does Cubase let you select multiple input sources? I don't own it yet to test it out or anything; as I might have said before in a post: I'm looking up info on what I want/need.

If different interfaces run differently (i.e. 96khz, 129khz....) does this mean using multiple ones for recording wouldn't work through different input selections? If I am sounding dumb, please let me know...a screen shot or something. Just wondering what kind of expandability I could be doing later down the road. For, if I buy a MOTU 896HD or the FirePod that I like, I'd like to see if I could continually use them until they broke down. ...Or had the money to give them away :D

As always; Thanks!
 
Okay, well...If I were to transport between two systems that both used the same version of Cubase, could I add or edit the audio on them, even though the interfaces might be different (FirePod on the laptop, maybe something along the lines of multiple PCI interfaces on the tower)?

|If any help, I appreciate|
 
Yeah you will be able to open and add/edit material on different machines.
You just need to be certain that they all are set to the same project properties (bit depth and sample rate) and that the different soundcards/interfaces support those properties.

As far as your other post ... I would stick with an interface whose driver supports adding more of the same type of interface, as to avoid driver conflicts.
 
Most of the things I see that I would have multiple A/Ds connected to a computer with would be probably with a PCI (this is talking later down the road) so that I can connect many of them. I've seen specific events on here that said multiple Laylas with PCI could be linked together easily (they only give reference to two...if I wanted even more, would that be possible?)
Most of the interfaces though only have 1/4" jacks for the analog inputs. How do I say, take a Mic signal into it...most of the audio I will ever be working with is analog mic and instrument outs...and maybe a MIDI keyboard, I don't understand about the SP/DIF or ADAT Lightpipe and how it can be used with analog instruments or the other digital jargon I don't understand. Do these with 1/4" jacks not have preamps on them and require a separate preamlifier?

|A Little Confused|

:An Hour Or So Later:
Well...I found out that MOTU has their HD192 (Or 24I/O) that can be expanded by one PCI card up to 4 units. That's 48 (96) inputs at once max (analog stuff I'd use anyways) I think that is plenty enough for quite some time. They even have the mic/line input on them as well. You'd need mic preamps right - What would be recommended for this?
 
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Yeah .... for any line level input that you want to connect a mic to, you'll need some form of preamp. Be it a dedicated preamp or pre-amped channels of a mixer and their respective inserts or direct outs (of course the mixer would have to offer that type of routing flexibility).

As far as SPDIF and ADAT Lightpipe ..... they are both digital I/O that require external gear that contains it's own A/D converters and respective digital output.
SPDIF is a digital standard for transmitting two channels over a single coaxial line (well, there's also other forms such as optical).
ADAT Lightpipe is capable of transmitting eight channels over a single fiber optic cable.

Take for instance my MOTU 828mkII ..... It offers 20 inputs and 22 outputs.

2 front pre-amped IN's (self explanatory)
8 rear line level IN's (used with any form of gear that offers line level output ... mixers, preamps, sound modules, keyboards and what not)
8 IN's via ADAT Lightpipe (used with any gear that offers ADAT Lightpipe output .... I use an Octane for 8 more preamps) Even an ADA 8000 would be suitable for the ADAT Lightpipe I/O.
2 IN's via SPDIF (same deal as ADAT .... requires gear with SPDIF output)

2 out's via the mains
2 out's via the headphones
8 line level out's
8 via ADAT
2 via SPDIF

All of the IN's and OUT's can be used simultaneously (of course, providing you have some digital gear to utilize the digital I/O). And like other MOTU gear, I can chain any of their other FireWire interfaces in with the 828 for increased I/O capabilities should I ever need more than 20 IN's and 22 OUT's.
 
Thanks bud...if I come up with something else I'll post.
 
Well, connecting through a lightpipe (Also known as ADAT right?) is a nice cheap alternative. What is the debate between 96kHz and 192kHz? Is there any audio samples that I could hear myself. Or is it really anything to snuff about?
 
I'm sure you may be able to search out Google for some samples of recordings done at different sample rates and see if you can tell the difference.
I only ever sample at 48kHz and am pleased with the results. Not to mention the standard for ADAT is a maximum of 8 channels at 44.1kHz or 48kHz or 4 channels at 88.2kHz or 96kHz.
All in all .... I don't worry to much about higher sample rates, specially in the genre that I'm mostly recording (hard rock/heavy metal).
I guess if I where wanting to capture all of the subtle nuances and transients of say a symphony orchestra .... I may elect to sample at higher rates.
 
owel said:
Quasar wrote:
Is there a difference that can be heard between for example a recording sampled at 96Khz versus 192Khz in the final cd?

Not unless your hearing goes up to 48Khz and 96Khz....

But most humans only can hear up to 20K, some up to 22K... which means theoretically, 44Khz sampling rate is enough. Anything over 44Khz sampling rate, that's just making the higher freqs more accurate (so to speak from a digital perspective). From an aural perspective, few people can tell the difference.

And of course, once you transfer that CD creation to MP3, I read that everything above 10K or 12Khz is shelved by the compression. So all that 96Khz recording you did went to nothing.

And no matter how you slice it, the CD will always be at 44.1Khz sampling freq.
Click to expand...
He sounds credible.
http://studio-central.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3318&highlight=24bit+16bit
 
crankz1 said:
All of the IN's and OUT's can be used simultaneously (of course, providing you have some digital gear to utilize the digital I/O). And like other MOTU gear, I can chain any of their other FireWire interfaces in with the 828 for increased I/O capabilities should I ever need more than 20 IN's and 22 OUT's.
Click to expand...

What do most people commonly use the outputs (that often exceed the amount of inputs) for if they are just recording it to the computer? Maybe I found another gap in my intelligence...
 
External effects processing, analog mixing/summing, separate monitor mixes or anything you could think to use multiple outputs for.
 
crankz1 said:
External effects processing, analog mixing/summing, separate monitor mixes or anything you could think to use multiple outputs for.
Click to expand...

1)What is summing?

2)Why would you want to have external effect processing if you're just recording it anyways? Or does that fall under the category of getting a dry signal in the computer and using plugins, while catering your favorite guitarist to a whole lot of distortion for the feeling of things?
 
Summing is .... well ..... summing ;)
Think of a mixer. You have multiple channels going in on that mixer. The mixer then sums (adds them together) all of those input channels to two outputs (or multiple output busses if the mixer is so equipped and you route the channels accordingly).
I guess I should have said analog summing. Basically doing your mixdown of multiple tracks in the analog realm via a mixing desk or a summing box.
Depending on the number of outputs an interface has, will determine how many tracks or groups can be mixed or summed analogly (is that a word?) :confused: :D
If all you ever intend to do is use plugins and mix in the box (use the software mixing capabilities), you won't have much use for multiple outputs other than maybe some separate monitor mixes.
When I speak of external effects processing, I mean using external hardware effects instead of plugins. And yes, record it dry and then send it back out to a hardware effect and re-record that hardware processed track/group.
Why would you do this?
99.9% of the time, a quality hardware effect will sound much better than any plugin of the same type of effect. The only drawback is the additional D/A and A/D conversion, unless of course you stay in the analog world by adding the effects and mixing down (analog summing) at the same time.
 
Why don't you just plug into the hardware effect and that into the interface instead of going through the output and back into an input somewhere else?
 
If it isn't too much trouble, maybe a diagram would help
 
thehouseofshawn said:
Why don't you just plug into the hardware effect and that into the interface instead of going through the output and back into an input somewhere else?
Click to expand...
If you're happy with the way it sounds, then you can .... but there will be no reversing it after the fact.
This stems from the whole point of recording dry and adding effects in the mixing. Now there are instances where you will record an effected signal, like with an electric guitar running through some stomp boxes or a multi-effects unit or some slight compression/gating on drums and vocals (to control dynamics of less than stellar performers).
Whereas effects such as EQ, delay, reverb, additional compression/gating and what not are typically added during mixing to give the individual tracks their own sonic characteristics and space to fit within the context of the mix.

As far as a diagram of any sort ... I'm sorry but I don't have one. Anyway, that would be entirely dependent on the gear being used and the method.
 
So...the kind of stuff that I'd want to be recording would be the acoustics of what I have...without much of recording dry stuff (recording jazz always seems to me like recording all at once; that way you can feel things) so all that would associate is a mixer at the most?

I like a setup I talked about in another forum for mac users:
category2.gif

Is this possible? Is it how it's usually done in an instance when I want real-time control of the microphone inputs and EQ? (Plus multiple interfaces to facilitate the need for a 24-track mixer)

That's all I'm confused about. It seems like I've figured everything else out that I've questioned but this.

And if you want to know what category 1 is:
category1.gif


And how would you go about recording a dry signal into the computer but also recording the same signal with outboard processors too? Or am I lost in translation?
 
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