Taking the plunge into Computer recording.

[Adam Greene]

Greetings All,

Wasn't sure where to post this, but I have so much to learn about computer Daw recording I will try here. I am not new to digital recording. For years I have been using a Yamaha AW4416 with nice results. Very stable, up to 16 tracks simultaneous recording at up to 24/48. It is an aging platform however - came out around 2000 - and the only real fix for a major problem is to go out and buy another used one - Ebay usually has at least 3 or 4 listed. Anyway as fewer and fewer good ones are available - the handwriting is on the wall. Not for just the AW line but others as well. I tend to overexplain things, so as not to bore you I will try to describe my problem.

I bought a used Toshiba Satellite. 750 gb hdd (my first upgrade will be to install an ssd and use this as an external storage drive). Intel core I7 (3rd gen.) 2.3 ghz. 8 gb ram. (at the same time I will install 8 more gb). Windows 7 hp (64). I bought a new Focusrite Scarlette 18i8. Mainly for the 8 anolog ins and the 8 adat ins. I have been sincing the AW4416 as MTC master and loading old project tracks into Reaper to practice remixing and to eventually archive. I have an 8 channel TDIF interface installed in the AW. They make an ADAT card, but at present I do not have one. Have had, and sold 2 in the past. (I have to buy and sell to fund most of my studio hobby). Anyway, picked up an older MOTU 2408 MK2 about a year ago. It has a standalone mode. You can plug in 8 analog inputs and it will output tdif, adat, and spdif simultaneously. The converters in this thing are very good also. It also can take any of those digital inputs and convert them to analog as well as the other formats at the same time. Here's my problem, when i go from the AW into the MOTU, with tdif, then adat out of the motu into the Focusrite, with the AW as workclock master (Bnc to the motu) then slave the Focusrite to the digital input (it has no bnc connections) everything appears to sinc. It says locked anyway. But when I play audio, after a few seconds, the GUI for the 18i8 does not see it as plugged in anymore. As a matter of fact, the computer does not recognize the 18i8 anymore. I have to stop playback of the AW - turn off the 18i8 and it will reset again until I hit play on the AW. After a couple of tries, I decided to go spdif out of the AW directly into the 18i8 and it all worked fine. It took several passed, but the MTC sinc worked like a charm and I was able to load 2 full projects into reaper. Then I tried to use the analog input to the MOTU with the adat inputs to the 18i8 and just record some test tracks and that worked like a charm. It seems like a clocking problem or something. I don't see that there would be anything wrong with the 18i8. I contacted Focusrite support, but they never respoded. Has anyone here had similar problem and have any possible solution? I really don't want the extra expense of buying a $200 adat card for the AW, as there is lots of other stuff i need (want). I hate to idea of loading 2 tracks at a time. My wife already tells my I love my studio more than her.

Thanks for any input.
Adam Greene

 

[Armistice]

I had an AW4416 until about 2 years ago and made the switch to PC recording. I backed up all my existing AW songs onto CDs, then ripped the individual .wav tracks from those CDs via the "AW Extract" program on my recording PC, and just stored them there and called whatever I wanted in whenever I wanted it.

I then gave away the AW4416 as it took up too much space. Sounds like you're trying to do the same thing, in a much more complicated way to me. Move the .wav tracks over and bin the machine.

 

[Adam Greene]

I had an AW4416 until about 2 years ago and made the switch to PC recording. I backed up all my existing AW songs onto CDs, then ripped the individual .wav tracks from those CDs via the "AW Extract" program on my recording PC, and just stored them there and called whatever I wanted in whenever I wanted it.

I then gave away the AW4416 as it took up too much space. Sounds like you're trying to do the same thing, in a much more complicated way to me. Move the .wav tracks over and bin the machine.

For some reason, I couldn't get the AW extract program to work. I think it is a problem with the cd writer in the AW however. The computer would not recognize the loaded files. If I could get the ADAT sinc to work, I believe this would be faster. I actually have most of my work stored on hard drives - not CDR's. Most of the songs are under 12 tracks. I would fill up a hard drive - archive it and plug in a new one. Crazy I know, but that's how I did it. Thanks a lot for your input. I am going to try the aw extract again. I am not real great with computer programs, but I am learning every day as i dive into computer daw recording. Thanks so much for your input.
Adam Greene