Too Weird To Understand

[Bonz]

After talking to a Mackie Tech Support Agent, I found myself thinking that this is all too strange. I tell him that I have a Mackie CR1604 which all of my instruments are plugged into and out of that the signal goes to my Delta-66 box then into Cubase then out of the Delta to my Stereo for monitoring. I also tell him that I have a rack-mounted Reverb Unit (M-One) that I like more than the Cubase reverb so I want to record certain items especially the drums through the reverb which will get recorded on my tracks.

So this is what I get from Mackie ... " You can't use an outboard processor in the way that you want unless you patch it to a channel and do a few other things in order to record the effect onto Cubase".

So I have 2-channels taken up by my reverb unit because I'm using stereo. Please correct me if I'm wrong but don't most boards allow the insert of processors going into buses inserts or alt returns that would give you the effect you want and if you happen to be recording thru a computer based software, you will get that effect onto your track and if you don't want it, you can simply turn it down?

 

[dwillis45]

You should be able to "print" reverb effects to Cubase as you record. But if you record "dry" (no reverb) and want to add reverb later, you would have to do that using a Cubase effect or by sending tracks out of your computer back to the mixer and back into Cubase. It doesn't sound like your system is currently configured to do that since the outputs on your soundcard just go to your stereo.

 

[Bonz]

Well basically yeah because when I edit tracks, I like to hear what's coming out from Cubase without it going thru the board. Should I need to use up channels to place a reverb in the mix?

 

[dwillis45]

Well basically yeah because when I edit tracks, I like to hear what's coming out from Cubase without it going thru the board. Should I need to use up channels to place a reverb in the mix?

The ideal way is to record "dry" adding eq, compression, and effects during mixdown. In the case of a DAW, that assumes that you have good plugin effects or decent DA (Digital to Analog) conversion so that tracks can be sent to and returned from an outboard device. If your converters are cheap or you don't like plugins, you may end up using effects up front. You can't change what's been recorded but with a little practice you can get by. Again, it's not ideal.

In your situation I would experiment. Try recording a track with a reverb up front in your signal chain. Then record the same instrument dry and try whatever plugins you have available on your computer. Finally, try setting up your system so that you have some channels running out of the computer back to the mixer. Compare all three tracks and choose.

 

[Bonz]

In your situation I would experiment. Try recording a track with a reverb up front in your signal chain. Then record the same instrument dry and try whatever plugins you have available on your computer. Finally, try setting up your system so that you have some channels running out of the computer back to the mixer. Compare all three tracks and choose.

With my drums I really like the Verb up front .. the M-One gets some real smooth plates which I haven't been able to achieve with Cubase. As for my guitar, I generally play through a Line6 Pro box and as for the keyboards, the inline effects present on the individual patches seem to be wet enough for me.
Only thing left to record dry with is vocals which I don't do very much of since I'm a jazz fusion musician.