I guess the question is how many tracks will you ever need to record at once in realtime? i.e. you have 8 mics, a synthesizer, a DI box or two...what else? Of course I can't make this decision for you, but how large will your "project studio" projects be? 10 piece salsa band? 3 piece rock combo? Jazz quartet? But in the end, the only use for many physical inputs with a digital system is the ability to record to many tracks in realtime. After that it's just overdubs and post. -l[e^2] ------------------------------ http://www.fallingforward.net/ people experimenting with music, art and technology On Sat, 9 Aug 2003, Mr. Spock wrote: > Hello all, > > I received the RME HDSP Digiface PCI card I'd ordered, but for some > reason they only sent (and charged me for) one of the two Frontier > Tango24 8-channel A/D-D/A convertors I'd requested. So, this got me > thinking "maybe I only need 8 channels of I/O, and can do the rest in > Ardour". > > Many musician friends using Macs say they do most of their stuff in the > computer nowadays. One guy said he'd probably not even have a mixer, > just preamps, although how would you do headphone monitor mixes? > > I was wondering what people's opinions are on this: > > Should I get the other Tango24 while they're still going cheap, > or spend the 300 pounds elsewhere? > > A long-term glint-in-the-eye idea was to one day get a CLM DB8000S: > > http://www.clmdynamics.com/db8000_frame.htm > > ...8-channel M&S-mic-pre/limiter/A-D for input to the HDSP, so giving > 16in/8out, or 24in/16out with a pair of Tango24s. But is this amount > of channels overkill for a project studio? I won't have even eight mics > for some time yet, although I will eventually need to be mixing lots of > recorded tracks. > > I'm also wondering that mixing like this: > > Ardour tracks--> D/A--> mixer+FX--> A/D--> Ardour--> D/A--> monitors > > ...seems rather convoluted; would it compromise quality or sync (comb > filter effects, etc.) to be adding the extra A/D conversions? But I > suppose that's how everyone records to ADAT machines with analogue > desks. > > However, If I can do more stuff internally in Ardour, that's good. > Trouble with that is, that I would miss the hands-on twistability of > an analogue console where each channel's parameters are laid out for > the tweaking. Can Ardour be used to route FX sends out of one ADAT > channel directly to analogue outboard, then back in again? > > > I don't even have a mixer yet, nor proper monitors, although the recent > 'how to build a studio' thread helped lots: > > http://eca.cx/lau/2003/06/0170.html > > > What I'd really like is a simple fader box with 16 or 24 moving faders, > and little else, to save my mouse-miles when mixing. But all the control > surfaces I've seen are either way too complicated (with lock-in unfree > software) or don't have moving faders. > > Any ideas without spending $20,000 on a digital desk? > > > Malc >
