Sending a mix out of the box, then back in.

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jimmy77611

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I'm using a MOTU 8pre, which has 4 outs. Is it possible to send a mix or instrument out of the outputs to outboard gear, and then record it back into the 8pre simultaneously? I tried, but got some feedback and phasing issues. What am I doing wrong?
 
i thought that you were generally supposed to keep a/d/a conversions as minimal as possible...???

but then again what do i know, im a dumb newb :(
 
Generally when recording something back into it, you should mute the new track so that it's not being sent back out and back in again...

Just a guess but if it's feedback i'd say that's what it is.

And the phasing is probably a result of your unprocessed track mixing with your
new track and due to the time taken for the gear to process the signal, it can
delay it by a few miliseconds. Hence, phasing
 
I don't know Sonar - maybe someone who does can pipe in.

I use Logic - hopefully the concepts are similar. The most straightforward way to do it is to use a stock plugin called "I/O" - I select an output [or pair of outputs] that I'm *not* using for anything else, and an input [pair] that I'm also not using - then Logic sends the track to the output (which I have connected to my outboard unit(s), and accepts the signal coming back from the unit(s) on the specified inputs. The plugin has latency correction that accounts for the latency that's introduced by the process, and you can set the input and output gain to compensate if necessary.

Is there something like that in Sonar?

KingOfPain's right - it does involve a new D/A - A/D conversion, so if you have bad converters, you have to consider that you're degrading quality. It's also kind of a pain in the ass, because of the extra cables and stuff.

But if your converters are decent, and you can't get what you need from a software plugin (and you can get it from outboard hardware), then why not? I have a song that bounced through outboard EQ and a compressor, and I've been unable to completely replicate the effect with plugins, even though the outboard gear was fairly low end. Not to say the outboard-bounce was unambiguously better - just different.
 
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