Studio rack effects pointers please!

[mixsit]

..I have been wondering how the 'effect send' ports on the back of tascam actually come into play... I mean I knew to a certain extent that other external hardware could be connected to the 2488 hence why I wouldn't be asking about rack effects in the first place.. so it begs the question how would I connect it all up if i was to buy the Art Vla II and an effects processor to work with the 2488???..

Right. You will need to find the unit's options to send out analog, and come back in, (or SPDIF as in some effects boxes) and likely record that as a new effected track. (Questioning this as I don't know the unit and there may be other options.)
And in the case of time alignment sensitive tracks -round trip delay to deal with.
Thus all the questions earlier..

 

[mixsit]

Mikeyprs I had a PreSonus Comp16 compressor. It actually sounded very good.

The down part is that it's all presets. Because of that I wouldn't recommend it in a studio situation unless you came across one real cheap.

The good part is that whoever figured out the presets knew what they were doing and it does sound very good and is a useful little box.

Just on a side note, I tried using the BlueMax for a while (.. several + years ago
Seemed like a nice comressor but for the way it was set up the max threshold settings were still too much comp' (if you wanted a little off the top' as often is) with normal input levels. Damnedest thing. I gave up on it.

 

[Mikeyprs]

Hey guys,

I recently just bought an Alesis Peq-450 rackmount Equaliser and i have no frigging idea how to hook it up to my tascam all i know it has something to do with the 'effects send' outputs on the tascam and the inputs/outs of the alesis, but the back of the alesis is rather confusing.. at least to me anyway as its the first time i personally have used rackmount gear

Thanks in advance dudes!!

 

[Mikeyprs]

Actually no need to worry now, i managed to find the right manual for the Equaliser and as it turns out i'll need to buy myself some insert cables.

on another note however, i would like to know if anyone can suggest a rackmount stand of some description that could hold the tascam at the top of the stand and then i can put the alesis underneath with room to add another rackmount effect processor despite there are only 2 'Send Effects' ports at the back of the tascam 2488???

and finally could some explain what 'side chaining' is exactly? =S

thanks in advance for ya time =p

 

[dintymoore]

The cheapest rack stand I've come up with is made by using two pieces of 2"x2" lumber of equal lengths. Just put them on the sides and start screwing your devices into it. Put the deepest, heaviest unit on the bottom and leave some space between the units.

 

[VESSEL2020]

Yamaha SPX90,..like dinty said early on

Swear by those units...

for everything.

And like Moresound said,..they can be had for cheap these days.

 

[Brumus]

reverb is certainly paramount as long as your signal from source to console is pure and of high integrity (good cables, shortest runs, proper settings -10 vs +4 etc)you will also need a room EQ to flatten your space so your monitors are true, a digital delay or two is great, especially when they are the real thing, instead of a cartoon of the hardware on a computer screen, the Roland SDE3000 and Korg SDD2000 are two of my favorites. the TC D2 is in my guitar rig, but could serve very well in a studio too. a parametric EQ is used less frequently for 'surgical' EQ'ing (taking a buzz out of a floor tom, changing vocal color, fixing the snap of a snare etc) or for more intentional disfigurement from the original source (like trying to make a guitar sound like a banjo etc) and then of course you may want a pair instead of a single channel. the KlarkTeknik is superior i think its # is DN410, but the Rane PE15 or two of them are good too in my opinion.
i stay away from the bargain brands..anything from the Harmon family is a solid choice - bang for the buck/higher resell value.

so my vote is in order of importance: room EQ-reverb unit-delay-stereo comp-ParametricEQ-tube pre(not really FX)
let us know what you buy!!

 

[Brumus]

rack rail is not that expensive, splurge and buy a pair of 16U rails. its easier to install and remove rack gear with machine screws rather than wood screws. Dinty is right to suggest 2x2 instead of 2x4, and, if you have to build a support structure (cabinet) for the 2x2's then u might as well make it an inch wider and use metal rails, youll be glad you did.

my first rack was made of plywood, had a old Tapco reverb (mono) and an Effectron delay, plus the EQ and power amp. as long as things stayed where they were, no problem...as soon as i wanted to move things add things remove things, the attachment points were problematic. now, 100 rack spaces of gear later, i dont think theres anything that isnt screwed into a metal rack rail

re: side chaining, you can sidechain the EQ to your compressor sidechain circuit so that the compression/downward expansion is frequency-dependent, that is, process will only affect specific frequencies.