I'm attempting to set up a recording system for my church. We will be doing Christian type music as well as choir recording. Anything from 2-16 tracks. I've got my PC and I've been looking at recording interfaces such as the Aardvark Q10 (until I found out they folded) but I'm really interested in using a mixer instead of a box of preamps that feed into the PC and then mixing in there. I'm just use to the feel of faders under my fingers, know whut ah mean?
My point of confusion on all this is this:
In the old days you'd plug all your mics into the mixer then route the signals to whatever track(s) you wanted of the tape machine. It was simple. But alas, times have changed. If I go with a digital mixer as the front end to use for the mic preamps and routing for recording, do I need an interface to route the mixer direct/bus outputs to the PC or is there a firewire connection that can be made directly from a digital console to the PC that handles the routing? What about multiple tracks from the PC back into the mixer for mixing? I'm pretty sure the answer is that I'm gonna need the interface but I just want to be sure about it.
Thanks guys!
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If I go with a digital mixer as the front end to use for the mic
If I go with a digital mixer as the front end to use for the mic preamps and routing for recording, do I need an interface to route the mixer direct/bus outputs to the PC or is there a firewire connection that can be made directly from a digital console to the PC that handles the routing?
If you go firewire you don't need the converters. You will need a mixer that can send the data via firewire though. There are quite a few out their, the Mackie Onyx series and Tascam FW1884 come to mind. The FW1884 might be a good choice for you as the mixer is also a control surface for your DAW software.
Good Luck
I liked the Mackie Onyx until I realized that it doesn't allow y
I liked the Mackie Onyx until I realized that it doesn't allow you to actually control the audio through your software on the PC. It's not a DAW controller but more of a mixer with a firewire output. Then I found the Tascam DM 2400. This thing's got the preamps AND I can bring already recorded audio back into it and control the software via knobs and faders. It seems to be going for around $2K. Oh yeah, then there's the SSL AWS900!! :-P
If you get a firewire 8-channel mic preamp, normally you'd open
If you get a firewire 8-channel mic preamp, normally you'd open up your software (Cubase, Samplitude, whatever) and assign inputs to the tracks you want to record.
Windows will see it as 8 mono (or 4 stereo) sound cards for the most part.
Just a different way of skinning the same cat.