Signal chain...how do I do this?

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JasonBird

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Hi there,
I did some track recording last night for a friend of mine. We recorded the tracks dry into Sonar. I have some Behginger rack gear that I'd like to use now instread of software plugins. A Tube Composer, and a Tube Ultrafex . How do I route the tracks through these and does it matter what order? I'm guessing that I can just take the outputs from my RME Multiface and run them to the inputs on the rack gear? Sould they be in series, and what order? Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I turn off the power to the unit , it will just bypass it? Do most people just leave all the stuff hooked up, and then turn it on as needed? Have had the gear for a while, but I'm just starting to learn how to use it....Thanks for your advice in advance!
Jason
 
Your on the right track. Just use some outputs to send to the effects and use some inputs as the returns. Record the inputs for your wet effects tracks. I woudn't run them in series. Parallel would be more flexible but it just depends on how many I/O's you have.
 
whats the differnce between running paralled or in series???
 
Hey there Tex....OK I thought that would be how to do it....doing it paralell though has me slightly confused....I have 8 inputs and 8 out puts....is there a need to do more than one effect at a time? Hard to ask when i'm not sure....bear with me....is it common to take the signal out , run it through a compressor, then to an eq, then to say an aural exciter, and then back to a new track? Can you monitor the changes in the sound as the effect is be applied, like preview it. Once you find it, then record it to a new track? I can see thsat i'm going to have to do some experimenting.....have to do it tomorrow though....too late now. SWMBO is ready for bed.....later.
thanks, Jason
 
Gitokr- Parallel means the different processors are running side by side with independant signal paths.

Serial means that the outputs of one processor go into the inputs of the next.

Parallel setups are more common for studio work and give you the greatest flexiblilty. Serial is usually only used for live instrument effects like a guitar or keyboard rack.

Jason- There are many ways to do it and whatever works is the right answer.

You should be able to monitor the effects as you apply them to the signal. You should be able to assign an AUX out in you software to one of the hardware outputs going to the effects. Then you assign how much of the track is being sent to the effects with the AUX control on that tracks virtual mixer. This way you can assign multiple tracks to the same reverb or delay. Set your processors to 100% wet. Record that 100% wet track and you can adjust the overall level of effects in the mix by turning that track up or down. During the mix you will mix in this wet effects track with the original dry tracks. This works best for reverb, delay, flange etc.

EQ and Compression are a little different because usually you want to completely replace the original track with the new processed track. In this case you would usually use a BUSS to send out the individual track and then record that new track. When you mix you would mute or delete (make sure you have a backup) the original track and only use the new track.
 
tex- how exactly would you run your recording rack parallel like what plugged into what?
 
If you are using a mixer than it's most common to have your Aux sends wired to the inputs of the effects and have the outputs of the effects wired to the effects returns or spare channels on the mixer.

On my system I only have 3 effects processors. Aux 1, 2, 3 each go to a different one and stereo returns 1-3 are the seperate returns for each.

The wiring is the same for a soundcard. Each output goes to a seperate processor and each processor is returned through a seperate input. This is the type of flexibility that makes analog mixing much easier than computer/daw mixing.
 
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