the meat-n-potatoes of a "rack"

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dontouch

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So I have a very basic digital recording setup: a PC,a firepod, a power conditioner. What would be some sensible things to add to this setup? Thanks.
 
Basic rack = compressor, parametric equalizer, digital reverb
 
What Digi_dude says.

But . . . you really don't need any more than you have . . . perhaps maybe a headphone amp.

All the other stuff can be done in the box
 
True. You get a larger variety of processors in DAW plugins.
 
I had two 4U racks on top of each other, filled with an assortment of bits and pieces.

It looked pretty good: all those knobs and shining flashing lights.

But for recording purposes, it had little relevance.

I rationalised the gear; kept what I wanted for live mixing (now just a single 4u rack) and put the rest to pasture.

For recording purposes, all I have now is: firepod, headphone amp & a Roland Sound Canvas (which I hardly ever use now).
 
It's easy to rationalize gear. I've nearly filled three 10U racks that way. Then again, I gave up on computer recording and went with cassette. So I do need at least one decent compressor, eq, reverb, and patchbay.

I almost bought a Sound Canvas the other day too, then remembered the original idea was to have an all-Casiotone orchestra. :cool:

It all depends on your budget. If you have cash to burn or just like to collect exotic electronic devices for the pretty lights or whatever, buy all the gear you want. If you're on a tight budget, you need to plan carefully and try before you buy to see if the unit fits in with the overall sound you're trying to achieve. If you're looking for the least noise, distortion, and coloration possible, you'll probably find there's a VST that does the job as well or better than a hardware unit.
 
For, me, the meat and potatoes of a rack are preamps, because you can't beat really good ones with any plugin. An A-D converter (more cheap channels). A cheap FX box (used mostly to turn line inputs into coaxial S/PDIF (more channels), and building headphone mixes for vocalists. A couple of amp modelers (I use them live quite a bit) A good strobe tuner. A clean, quiet power amp (powers my monitors live, and feeds speakers the output from the modelers for mic'ing. A headphone distribution amp or two. And- the aforementioned compressor (sometimes I really do want to compress going in, and an EQ, for the same reason. I wish I had a parametric EQ, but I get along OK with a good graphic unit. A rack drawer. for adaptors and odds and ends, and enopugh power strips/conditioners to feed all this crap. -Richie
 
Richard Monroe said:
I wish I had a parametric EQ, but I get along OK with a good graphic unit.
Click to expand...

It's convenient to have both. I have an SAE 1800 I'm not using. You have to futz around with the switches to get them to make contact, but I'll send it to you if you want it.
 
Diggy-You're a gentleman and a scholar. I'm tied up right now, but I'll send you a PM tomorrow.-Richie
 
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