New Hardware Advice

dtkbigdawg · Post by **dtkbigdawg** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:05 pm

Hello all, I have been perusing the forum, but haven't seen an advice post like this as yet. I will keep looking, but in the meantime I will post it here.

I got a taste of Ableton from a friend and was very impressed, so I will be a buyer very shortly.
My band is 8 people. Three vocals, 1 bass, 2 guitars, 1 keyboard and 1 drummer. At the bare minimum, that is 13 inputs (drums are at 6). What I am looking for is a device that will handle 13 simultaneous (and preferrably XLR) inputs that I can use in conjunction with my PC and Ableton.

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

dtkbigdawg · Post by **dtkbigdawg** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 12:14 pm

Nothing? Is there no hardware to use for this?

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 12:20 pm

Yamaha 01v/96 with mLAN card.

It may seem pricey, but then remember that you're getting a 16 in/out 24-bit/96kHz soundcard, a MIDI controller, and a very capable mixer with plenty of mic preamps and tons of no-CPU-sucking effects, dynamics, EQs/etc. They're tough as nails, too. No cheap 'n nasty Chinese Behringer/M-Audio-style toy plastic construction. I dropped my 01v, and didn't even dent it. Plug in a pair of powered speakers, and your entire band's PA is done.

All down a single Firewire cable!

http://yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/Content ... 88,00.html

Now with downloadble add-on effects:
http://yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/Content ... CT,00.html

divonic · Post by **divonic** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 4:24 pm

I would suggest a sound card that has at least 8 additional in and outs via ADAT. You will also need a AD/DA converter like a Behringer ADA8000. I have a EMU 1820 which has one ADAT i/o of 8 additional ins and outs which is plugged into a behringer ada8000. This gives me 10 XLR (or Line) inputs and 6 line only inputs. plus 8XLR outputs and 8 Line outputs, All balanced. (plus a seperate headphone out)

I haven't used this setup to record more than a few ins simultaniously, I use it for the mulitipul outs. So I can't tell you how well it will work. Last I checked the mixer software for the EMU is PC only so no Macs. The connection is PCI. It costs about $500

Another suggestion would be the RME fireface800 it has 4 XLR inputs on the front, 8 line inputs on the back (2 of which I believe are duplicates of two of the front inputs) Plus 2 ADAT i/o giveing an additional 16 ins and outs. plus you can purchase a second fireface and link them together.

A RME fireface800 and 2 behringer ADA8000s would give you 20 XLR inputs plus 6 additional line inputs (I think) I'm pretty sure that you can use the fireface with both Macs and PCs and it connects via Firewire. It costs about $1500

BTW the Behriger ADA8000 costs about $225

Links:

Behringer ADA8000: http://www.behringer.com/ADA8000/index. ... m?lang=ENG

Emu 1820m: http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp ... oduct=9871

RME Fireface 800: http://www.rme-audio.com/english/firewire/ff800.htm

overdub · Post by **overdub** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:12 pm

8 simultaneous analog inputs mic/line- straight out of the box
8 additional via adat lightpipe
and spdif

you van get a total of 18 simultaneous inputs going with this baby - and it's a great controller/mixing device too

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:15 pm

1500 bux will also get you a Behringer DDX3216 mixer, the ADT1616 ADAT card, and the Frontier Dakota 16-channel ADAT card.

It's basically the same input/output capabilities as the Yamaha, but cheaper. And like the Yamaha, it's a 16-channel recording AND a 16-channel (more if you use digital inputs) PA solution in one box, without the hassle of extra boxes and fiddly cabling (been there... done that!)

SubFunk · Post by **SubFunk** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:20 pm

most of 8 I/O interfaces can be chained without a hitch or ADAT. for that is best to go into a professionel studio / audio supplier.

there are plenty of options to choose from. depending if you want say mic pres build in or whatever other parameter[s] you need / want.

unless you give really excact specifications. your comp and sort of mics, how many direct inputs you want / need. [or are you working with DI boxes only] etc, etc. i can't give a specific answer.

only that if you have a little money to spend and you are looking into quality check RME. they have several options which will give you 13+ inputs in very good quality.

SubFunk · Post by **SubFunk** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:20 pm

SubFunk wrote:most of 8 I/O interfaces can be chained without a hitch or ADAT. for that is best to go into a professionel studio / audio supplier.

there are plenty of options to choose from. depending if you want say mic pres build in or whatever other parameter[s] you need / want.

unless you give really excact specifications. your comp and sort of mics, how many direct inputs you want / need. [or are you working with DI boxes only] etc, etc. i can't give a specific answer.

only that if you have a little money to spend and you are looking into quality check RME. they have several options which will give you 13+ inputs in a very good quality.

SubFunk · Post by **SubFunk** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:21 pm

oops, sorry double post.

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 9:12 pm

The other advantage of the 01v/mLAN is that all you need is a laptop, and you've got a complete 16-channel studio.

Makes multitrack recording your live gigs easy, as you're using the mixer for your PA anyway.

MathematiK I · Post by **MathematiK I** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 9:42 pm

I own a MOTU 24i/o and can record large bands with it (largest was 4 vocs, 2 horns, 2 kbds, 5 mics on drums,acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass and 3 string inst. playing live, and also managed to squeeze in a stereo reverb ) of course you will need a mixer too (for pre's)....
but it WILL give you 24 channels (24/96khz) simultaniously (you'll need a strong PC)...and it has 24 outs too so you can give each player a different cue mix regardless of how many aux you have on your mixer... very sweet feature
I am very satisfied with mine, I was worried that it wouldn't live up to my expectations but it did...gives me great results!

SubFunk · Post by **SubFunk** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 2:23 pm

hambone1 wrote:The other advantage of the 01v/mLAN is that all you need is a laptop, and you've got a complete 16-channel studio.

Makes multitrack recording your live gigs easy, as you're using the mixer for your PA anyway.

just make shure you check the sound of yamaha digital mixers [all of them! no matter which model] i don't say it's bad, but they have a very strong typical yamaha 'digital character' so it might be not your cup of tea at all, i for example would never ever in my life use a yamaha digital mixer for recording!!! i hate their sound. the only yamaha mixer i can stand is the analog 3000 as a FOH desk.

then again you might love it, just try to audition them, that's all i'm saying.

mbenigni · Post by **mbenigni** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 2:33 pm

You're going to get pulled in a lot of different directions if you don't specify a budget. There are a lot of ways to skin the cat here. Do you need a mixing surface, or do you prefer something portable/ rack-mountable? Are you going to be using this studio or live primarily (eg. are extremely high-quality mic pres and A/D a priority?)

The first thing that jumped to my mind was to use a pair of Presonus Firepods.

minimal · Post by **minimal** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 2:35 pm

mackie onyx 16 channels, with optional FW card installed, so with one FW cable you route 16 channels into the comp and you can monitor the stereo out of the comp. onyx features nice microphone preamps and a decent EQ.

dtkbigdawg · Post by **dtkbigdawg** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 2:23 am

Thanks for all the replies, folks. OK, to answer the question of budget, I honestly am not sure what we'll want to spend. I'm gathering all of your inputs here and gonna search out the pricing. Then I'll pitch it to the group.

As for the question of how we'll use it. Right now, we're talking about just for the studio and maybe if it's do-able, live gigs. We currently use a TOA 12 channel PA with a Behringer 10 channel for additional inputs. Obviously that gives me amplification, nothing more. So, being at the early stage of this, we'll probably try hard to get things going in the studio (aka as my basement) first and if comfortable enough, then try it when we're gigging.

Again, thanks so much for the replies, I really appreciate it.

New Hardware Advice

New Hardware Advice

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