How best to use my equipment - older stuff

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spectre1275

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Hello, new guy here.
I've got a raft of older stuff, and am wanting to get my kids interested in recording, as well as do a little myself.

I'm looking for advice on how best to use my equipment, and what I might be missing that I can save up for - not able to put a lot of $$ into new stuff at this point.

Goals:
Reduce or eliminate moving cables around - I'd like a system can can keep most/all of my sound devices plugged in
Make playing live with any of the instruments easy for my kids - basically turn a power strip on, and start playing
Make choices that will allow me to start recording but give me room to grow if my kids start picking it up (so, equipment I can build on.
My experience is with old skool physical boards - not a lot of computer background, though I understand the concepts of DAW's and the like.

Here's what I have:
Yamaha KX88 controller
Sequential Six-Trak (analog syth with midi in and out)
Roland MT-32 sound module
Kurzweil Micro Piano module
Electric Guitar
Electric Acoustic Guitar
2 microphones (XLR)
GarageBand on an iPad 1 with camera kit
4 channel Peavey head with 15" cone and horn cabinet
Topping TP20 amp (Topping TP20-MK2 MKII TA2020 Class T-AMP Digital Stereo Amplifier, 13W maximum per channel into 8 ohms.) bought on a whim, don't know what to do with it...

Questions:
What's the best way to connect the KX88 and sound modules, with the micro-piano being the most used sounds?
What can I/should I use the TP20 amp for? Should I get some bookshelf monitors and a 6 or 8 channel mixer board, and get rid of the head/amp?
Should I get a physical board, or go with a sofware DAW?

Thanks!
 
Hi!
Are you planning to record just on iPad or can you use a regular computer?
How many channels/instruments are you going to record at once?
 
iPad for now, but would like to move to a PC based system in the future. I think 4 inputs to record (keys, guitar and 1-2 mics), but am thinking in terms of audio - perhaps don't need that many if using a DAW?
 
You only need as many simultaneous inputs as signals that are going to be recorded at the same time. For example, if you are recording yourself playing keys (stereo = 2) at the same time as a guitarist (1) and you both are singing (1 + 1) you would need at least 5 inputs.
 
Y'kow what Specs'?
This is one, rare occaision that I would say start with a usb mixer. There is only one I can seriously suggest, the Allen and Heath ZED10 FX usb.

First off it will fill the prime function that you wanted, connectivity. 4 bloody good mic pre amps and two more stereo line inputs should cater for all your kit. Two of the mono line inputs are high impedance (10 meg!) so suitable for DI guitar, even peizo pickups.

The usb recording side is limited to 16bits but it is a very good 16bit system* and you can always fit a decent sound card in the PC or get a 24bit interface in the future, the ZED will still be there to manage your inputs.

*I have never tried an iPad recorder but I bet the ZED 10 is at least its equal?

Dave.
 
Thanks for the advice Dave - can you expand on why you normally don't recommend a usb mixer?

There's a good chance I'll be picking up a used Dell laptop as well, which might change your advice (or maybe not!). It's a 3GHz duo core running 64-bit Win 7, 8G of RAM and 118GB of free disk space. Standard on-board sound card, and I'm expecting a 5k rpm drive.

Scott
 
spectre1275 said:
Thanks for the advice Dave - can you expand on why you normally don't recommend a usb mixer?

There's a good chance I'll be picking up a used Dell laptop as well, which might change your advice (or maybe not!). It's a 3GHz duo core running 64-bit Win 7, 8G of RAM and 118GB of free disk space. Standard on-board sound card, and I'm expecting a 5k rpm drive.

Scott
Click to expand...
I don't normally recommend mixers at all but since you have all that gear to "rationalize" it makes abundant sense to me in your particular case...USB mixers specifically? Well the cheaper end of the marker (Behringer 4 mic inputs £93) tend to review as poor in the noise department re the usb side, especially the usb signal return. I will confess I have not used my ZED 10 very extensively on usb but the system is well integrated into the mixer and certainly records at at the limit of 16bit capability, i.e. CD quality(I could run you some tests over the weekend if that would help?)

One fly in the mixer ointment and the Dell. MIDI implementation. I am assuming that the Yamaha controller is a MIDI usb interface? I have tried to get a user manual from Yamms but they insist you sign up. Well stuff 'em! I have SOOOO many logins for SOOOO many things I am NOT going to get another one JUST to varder a bloody manual for a third party! (no offence Scott!) .

If it is a MIDI interface you are golden, if not you might want to rethink the ZED10. The mixer is listed here at £170 and for about that sum you could buy the only Audio Interface I know and love. The Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6. This would give you 2 mic inputs and 2 more line ins plus MIDI and S/PDIF(of course you can always buy a cheapass 30quid mixer to expand the two line ins. Remember tho' that you still have a maximum of 4 tracks in and out).

That laptop should smoke it Scott! The slower HDD spin speed would only be an issue if you wanted to score the next Pirates. Keep the drive well de-fragged and as clear of crap as you can, i.e. dump music files off to external storage as you make them. If perchance the Dell has usb 3.0 a suitable external 7,200 drive could be used in the future, usb 2.0 will be fine for archiving but maybe not for live recording (never tried!).

There are some tweaks and optimizations that PCs tend to need to get the best audio performance out of them but you have enough to think about ATMO!

Dave.
 
Ok, was thinking last night and came up with a few more questions - I got some good advice for getting the sounds from my older equipment into a DAW.

Now, if I want to tweak the data in my DAW, and then have it play my midi equipment, do I need something more than the USB mixer? I'm expecting that there needs to be a connection between the DAW and one or more midi cables to accomplish this, so what would this look like?

Thanks!
 
spectre1275 said:
Ok, was thinking last night and came up with a few more questions - I got some good advice for getting the sounds from my older equipment into a DAW.

Now, if I want to tweak the data in my DAW, and then have it play my midi equipment, do I need something more than the USB mixer? I'm expecting that there needs to be a connection between the DAW and one or more midi cables to accomplish this, so what would this look like?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Ah! Now this is what I meant about the Yamaha. I know it has a usb port on it but that does not automatically mean it is a fully fledged MIDI interface. If it is you could do several things.

Record MIDI from the unit into the DAW.
Edit that data.
Play the data back into the Yamaha.
Connect other MIDI devices to the Yamaha(via DIN leads) and have it send the data to the DAW.

If it is not an interface you have two choices.
1) Buy a usb MIDI interface lead. I have never tried one but have read of problems.
2) Buy an Audio Interface with MIDI DIN ports on it. This last would be my strong reccy' since you would get 24bit operation and, if you chose the Ka6, very low latency.

Dave.
 
Hello,

I hope you don't mind me adding my 2pennies. I think that whatever configuration you eventually wind up with, a MIDI/usb convertor is gonna be a must have to allow for stability and growth. It may be a one time set it and forget thing. With that in mind take a look at my fav for MIDI

MOTU or Mark of the Unicorn. Just google and you're there.

They offer everything you could want in every price range. I have used MOTU's MIDI, analog/digital convertors, Daw and well just about everything for recording and playback.
And in over 30 years I've never had a problem with any of my MOTU gear. They work with Mac/Pc just fine. The deeper you get into it, they even allow adjustments for lag,sync and as I said depending how far you go, you must always buy with the intention of possible growth when buying.

You are at the beginning of a wonderful journey. Especially if your kids get involved. I used my Roland sampler way back when the kids were young to add sound effects to their bedtime stories. They loved it and still remember it after all these long years.

I hope you get whatever works best for you, and, being new here myself I have found that the site is very helpful to anyone who asks.

Music is in the key of Love. And what better way to add to your Love than to use music.

To your creative future,
Tom
 
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