APC40 + firewire soundcard to LIVE band

[marciocabezas]

hello,

Im gettin an APC40 next week, and as a begginer I need some help to choose my setup. I would like to rercord some bass lines, voice, guitar, to work on with the APC, so I was wondering what would be a good solution..

I use a SONY VAIO VPCCW17FX with a onboard (lame) soundcard.

An external soundcard is the way, right? so, I have my eyes on the presonus firebox, but I dont know how they work together, since the firebox is a firewire device. is it possible? Also, my firewire port is not a Texas Instruments, (is a Ricoh 1394 OHCI), and I have read a lot about problems with any other port that is not a TI.

Or a usb soundcard, like a M Audio works fine?

Im planning to play the apc40+midi keyboard along with a live pop/rock band, any idea about how to sync the band drummer (the real one) with the apc40? is it possible to send the click(metronometer) to him?

theres a lot of questions =] any help or experience I'll be greatful, thanks!

[LeifonMars]

Don't know the present state of M-Audio cards, but I've seen folks ranting about them a lot. For USB card my recommendation would be RME Fireface UC, but RME costs double.

[atlaskk]

You can either get a firewire interface or USB interface, although firewire provides less latency.

Once you understand that the APC40 is just controlling midi data and not actual audio, you can take that out of the equation. Just hook it up to your computer via USB and voila, your done. The interface is going to be a little more tricky. Assuming you get a cheaper interface, like a M-Audio FireWire Solo (I used to have one of these), you'll only have one set of stereo outputs. Any sound you make in ableton (controlled with or without the APC) is going to go through these ports. You would need a seperate output in order to send a different metronome mix to the drummer.

[LeifonMars]

any idea about how to sync the band drummer (the real one) with the apc40? is it possible to send the click(metronometer) to him? !

There are a lot of ways to send click to drummer: Let's say your soundcard would have 4 outputs, then you could route master to 1/2, and make mix of master+click track to 3/4, and connect these output of 3/4 to a headphone preamp (or whatever) for drummer.

This can be achieved in a few ways, but easiest would be using a dedicated return track for this (output to ext., channel 3/4). Then just open the sends of tracks you wish your drummer to hear accordingly. The output of click track should be "sends only".

[LeifonMars]

You can either get a firewire interface or USB interface, although firewire provides less latency.

I wouldn't take that granted anymore.

[darkcatt]

I did M-audio, presonus, and the whole gammit.

If you have the money get an RME. It is a world of difference and your recordings and playback will sound monumentally better.

[marciocabezas]

thanks for the answers

If you have the money get an RME. It is a world of difference and your recordings and playback will sound monumentally better.

There are a lot of ways to send click to drummer: Let's say your soundcard would have 4 outputs, then you could route master to 1/2, and make mix of master+click track to 3/4, and connect these output of 3/4 to a headphone preamp (or whatever) for drummer.

yeah, the RME its way beyond my budget. I got the part of sendind the click to the drummer, so there is any soundcrd that worths, with 4outputs for around $300? (or a bit higher)

plus, its possible, using APC40 and a sound interface, to apply live effects like echoe, control EQ and stuff to instruments playng live in a gig? whats the best way of doing this?

any videos about this?

thanks again for the replys and sorry for my english, Im brazilian

cheers

[darkcatt]

You can try finding a used Presonus Fire Box, stay away from the new ones the drivers suck

[marciocabezas]

ok, sorry for non response, now Im with an APC40! spending hours on it.

You can try finding a used Presonus Fire Box, stay away from the new ones the drivers suck

seems like the firebox is out of line, cant find anywhere online. I dont like the idea of buying somethings out of line. dont know if means something, no support, bad aceptation or maybe its a good time for buying at a low cost...

the question is: I definitely need a soundcard. As I said, I plan to play along ableton/apc40 with a rock band, so low latency and at least 4 (mono)IN/OUTs are needed. Ive been looking to USB and firewire options:

M-AUDIO PROFIRE 610 AUDIO INTERFACE(firewire) round $339
M-AUDIO FAST TRACK ULTRA AUDIO INTERFACE(USB) $320
PreSonus FireStudio Mobile 10x6 FireWire Recording System $299

what you guys advice or recommend? are there any going out of line that you possibly heard about or somenthing...heheh

many thanks

[LeifonMars]

ok, sorry for non response, now Im with an APC40! spending hours on it.

You can try finding a used Presonus Fire Box, stay away from the new ones the drivers suck

seems like the firebox is out of line, cant find anywhere online. I dont like the idea of buying somethings out of line. dont know if means something, no support, bad aceptation or maybe its a good time for buying at a low cost...

the question is: I definitely need a soundcard. As I said, I plan to play along ableton/apc40 with a rock band, so low latency and at least 4 (mono)IN/OUTs are needed. Ive been looking to USB and firewire options:

M-AUDIO PROFIRE 610 AUDIO INTERFACE(firewire) round $339
M-AUDIO FAST TRACK ULTRA AUDIO INTERFACE(USB) $320
PreSonus FireStudio Mobile 10x6 FireWire Recording System $299

what you guys advice or recommend? are there any going out of line that you possibly heard about or somenthing...heheh

many thanks

Well, as I said earlier, M-Audio has bad reputation. Have you looked at e.g. Motus products? Here's one that might suit your needs: http://www.thomann.de/fi/motu_audio_express.htm.

[marciocabezas]

hm, yes I liked that motu. thanks for that!

btw this week Ive had a chance of trying a m audio fast track 4x4 and I couldnt make it work.

the mic we plugged in was fine, but sound from ableton was heard only by the headphone and thru computer speakers. tried using ASIO and pc driver, realtech high def..