Want to record to HD. Please help

  • Thread starter Thread starter enemyofthesun
  • Start date Start date
E

enemyofthesun

New member
I have recently purchased a mackie 24 channel mixing board and I also own a pretty good rack of outboard fx, comps, preamps, finalizer etc., Yet instead of going the standard DAT route I really want to find a way to record to a harddrive so I can take advantage of the editing features that programs like Cool Edit
have to offer, but I want to be able to use all of my outboard gear (fx etc) in conjunction with the HD based system. Can this be done? What PC hardware would I need besides the computer? I know I need to have channels in as well as channels out but thats all I know....
 
It can be done. BUT the possibilities are enless.

You need a good soundcard. With the gear you have (That Mackies an 8-buss right?) youll need one with analoge ins. probly 8 of them if you want to keep your tracks seperate. Theres been a shitload of discussions about soundcards.. so check the last 20 days of posts for that. then we'll talk more.

xoxox
 
I appreciate that, but specifically what I am intersted in knowing is :

How do I keep all 24 tracks seperate and dynamic. (that is totally independant of each other) when they are on the hard drive and still maintain control over them from the mixer.

I am not wanting to go overboard but I realize there is some hardware to purchase and am prepared for that.

Any input would be great. Thanks
 
Cool Edit will keep all the tracks separate - up to a total of 64 tracks, I think, but how many tracks you can record simulataneously will depend on your soundcard's breakout box. My Wave 8/24 will take 8 channels at one time, for example, but I haven't heard of a card that has more channels than that.

As far as I understand it, when tracking with Cool Edit, the only function your mixer serves is that of preamps for each channel - in other words, you *don't* control them from the mixer, you route them through the mixer. And when mixing, you can do that all in Cool Edit without a mixer (although the mixer is necessary if you want to use outboard effects like reverb or compression).

Hope this helps.
 
basicaly what dobro said ... a soundcard with a decent breakout box , about 8 ins and 10 outs is the biggest ive seen ... ive seen some of the bigger production type gear with a few more ins ... but im sure you would certainly pay for it .. If your on a budget , the Guillemot ISIS card is quite good value... next up is something like the Layla by event (quite nice , has rack mountable breakout box) i think this retails for about $2000 AUS .. Like dobro was saying all your mixer can do is whatever it usually does before you send your tracks to the recorder..after that it cant do too much ... well i spose if u want to relay back through the desk so , like dobro said , u can use all that gear you have.. I have seen something out there , but once again im sure you would pay for it , it was a mixer for your pc... must just plug into your soundcard .. i'lld say you would get that with it ... Has anyone used this , or has anyone heard of it ?????? Looks quite good, fully automated too .. i just cant think of the name of it .. if i remember ill let u know.. But really with a good pc and some decent software youll be quite surprised at how much you can actually do in the digital realm.... anyway good luck !!!
Spider
 
(dobro slaps forehead)

I learned that from Monty.

Enemyof the sun: if you're still following this thread, I made a mistake in my previous post when I said the mixer only preamps the signal to the hard disk. I've since found out it can also EQ and pan the signal, if you know how to do it (which I didn't at the time). Duh.

I wish Animaniac could see this - he thinks if you've got a lot of posts to your name, you know a lot of stuff.
 
As far as the hardware it's pretty much as the other guys have replied, however, in my experience, simplicity is good... I use a simple sound card that has a "stereo in" plug and then use the panning on my Boss BR-8 to record L or R chnl on my hard disk one (or 2) at the time, as desired. When I'm done inputting my 6 or 8 trks I mix them using software with great results and sound quality. This can be more time consuming though because you have to record 1 to 2 trks at the time, but I find it simple so it doesn't cause me any head haches. Good luck.

Pippo

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by enemyofthesun:
I have recently purchased a mackie 24 channel mixing board and I also own a pretty good rack of outboard fx, comps, preamps, finalizer etc., Yet instead of going the standard DAT route I really want to find a way to record to a harddrive so I can take advantage of the editing features that programs like Cool Edit
have to offer, but I want to be able to use all of my outboard gear (fx etc) in conjunction with the HD based system. Can this be done? What PC hardware would I need besides the computer? I know I need to have channels in as well as channels out but thats all I know....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top