Production How to incorporate an analog mixer into a digital system

[Jayson]

I have been making music on my computer for awhile now, but I miss the tactile feel of have a large mixing board at my finger tips.

I have been thinking about picking up a Mackie 24x8 mixer but not sure how I incorporate it into my set up.

I currently run Pro-Tools as my main app.

Any suggestions on how to go about doing this? I'm all ears.

[DJansen]

Re: How to incorporate an analog mixer into a digital system

I have been making music on my computer for awhile now, but I miss the tactile feel of have a large mixing board at my finger tips.

I have been thinking about picking up a Mackie 24x8 mixer but not sure how I incorporate it into my set up.

I currently run Pro-Tools as my main app.

Any suggestions on how to go about doing this? I'm all ears.

Well, one thing would be nice to have using an analoque mixer in a digital enviroment, and that is a multi I/O Asio sound interface with low latency... this way you would be able to route all your internal mixing busses of your protools set to the external mixer channels, via the master or via groupbusses u would be able to record the final mix back in your DAW...

[Jayson]

Re: How to incorporate an analog mixer into a digital system

Any interface you would recommend? Been searching around for a bit and not really coming up with much

[kingpin7714]

Re: How to incorporate an analog mixer into a digital system

how much are you looking to spend? There's a lot of sound cards, I use a motu 828, but there's a whole slew of choices ranging from cheap to really expensive.

[Jayson]

Re: How to incorporate an analog mixer into a digital system

I don't want to break the bank,but I don't want it to sound like garbage either.

Between 1500 to 2000 I'm guessing it would take, any suggestions?

[DJansen]

Re: How to incorporate an analog mixer into a digital system

I don't want to break the bank,but I don't want it to sound like garbage either.

Between 1500 to 2000 I'm guessing it would take, any suggestions?

It all depends on how much in and outs u want to have? Most interfaces have a maximum of 8 analog outputs and the rest of the outputs is almost always digital.
Another important thing to think about is if u want to record your track at once from your analog desk or if you want to records multiple signals from your mixer independently. In that case you will need more inputs too!

But if i am reading your post properly, u actualy just want to have hands on control within your mixing process, wouldn't it be a better idea to just buy a controller so you can mix with that? I bet digidesign has some nice controllers on the market for you that will do the job, no hussling with routing signals, but still u can mix everything with hardware!

In my situation i have a Focusrite Saffire which has 8 analog outputs and 2 digital, i connected those to my digital mixer which is also connected to my DAW by midi,
So i can control my software faders with my hardware faders.

Most of the time when i start a project i devide all my sounds to my 5 stereo inputs of my hardware mixer, so i can easily mute/unmute them, give them some eq, compression, later on the process of creating the track, more and more is brought back into my computer and i maintain only one clean digital signal to my mixer, but that is the way i work.

[Jayson]

Re: How to incorporate an analog mixer into a digital system

I was thinking about a Digidesign C|24, but that's about 10 stacks and has less channels, while a Mackie 24x8 has more channels plus 8 busses.

Just seems like a more viable option at the moment to get what I'm looking for as far as large scale consoles go.

[Jayson]

Re: How to incorporate an analog mixer into a digital system

Also, I'm trying to get more out of the box and add more hardware to my studio and possibly get to the point where I can record bands and more or less just use Pro-Tools as a tape machine just for recording and editing.

[DJansen]

Re: How to incorporate an analog mixer into a digital system

If u want to increase the amount of hardware, u should definetly go for a multi i/o soundcard like a focusrite or any other high quality brand.

[Jayson]

Re: How to incorporate an analog mixer into a digital system

Thanks mate, appreciate it a lot!

[diegoff]

Re: How to incorporate an analog mixer into a digital system

Apogee Ensemble (itīs proffessional, better than a Digi 002) 8 analog ch out, and the chance to add more hardware via optic port.

Not so expensive: Motu soundcards are great. Yo have 8 analog ch out, and also the chance to add more Motuīs, or ADATs for increasing outputs.

If you add an analog mixer, try using external effects (such as reverbs and delays), cause thereīs a big difference in the dinamics of the final mix. I added my mackie a little time ago, and I love the result. Now Iīm looking for a Lexicon reverb.

good luck!