Hi folks,
I'm a little late to the discussion, but I hope can get some feedback on a similar situation. I'm looking to pare down my modest stationary studio gear, so that I can take it out for some mobile recordings of gigs & family functions (with karaoke). I would really like to reduce my trips to carry my equipment to three trips. One for the racks, another for the speakers, & another miscellaneous bags, stands, etc. I've spent way too many late nights/mornings hauling heavy ass gear up & down two or three flights of stairs & I'm not getting any younger.
I think I'm going to fleabay my Mackie 1642 & Delta 1010 to get a Presonus Firepod. In addition to that, I'm thinking about trading in
my Line6 Pod 2.0 for a V-Amp Pro rackmount for portability & to also take advantage of the SPDIF out on the V-Amp & the SPDIF in on the Firepod. I'd eventually like to get the Podxt because of the record-over-USB feature, but it would depend on how much I like the V-Amp Pro.
I have pieces of a rackmount PC that I've procrastinating on putting together, mainly because I'm not satisfied with the rackmount case I got. It's 4U high (I'd like to get that down to 2 or 3U) & more importantly, it's 22" deep, not including the rack handles. All of the SKB cases I seen cannot accomodate that size. Hmmm...I thought about going with a laptop, but I couldn't figure out a way to deal with connecting everything together without super long cables or some wireless video device for feeding a karaoke monitor. I figure I'll bring along a laptop in addition to the rackmount PC in order to VNC into the PC to control it via the laptop.
So, given that background, I have a number of questions regarding a mobile recording studio. I apologize in advance since my questions may span multiple forums, but I figure since someone is already on the topic of mobile recording, this would be a good place to add to the topic.
Questions:
1. Is an external hardware mixer necessary to interact efficiently with the Firepod? I would want to do all of my live mixing within Sonar 4
2. Is the V-Amp Pro (rackmount) based off of the older V-Amp or the newer V-Amp 2?
3. Where can I find a portable case, similar to an SKB, that will accomodate rackmount PC cases? What's the maximum depth that an SKB case can hold?
4. Should I just stick with my Delta 1010 & buy a cheap set of rackmount preamps (like the Behringer ADA8000, can't afford better than that)? That way I'll get to keep my Mackie 1642 for in-house studio projects.
5. Is there a decent wireless rackmount unit that offers at least two wireless mics for the budget-minded musician? Or do all budget wireless mics end up in a Spinal Tap/airport debacle?
Well, that's all that I can think of for now. Thanks for listening/reading my ramblings.
Thanks,
jawgee