Spurn wrote:wow. havent checked the thread in some time.
definitely a lot of info/advice given, esp. by you Hades, so thanks.
but yeah steevio thats pretty much what i thought.
i asked the question because i want to get an analog mixer and do mix downs out of the box and like many of us i want an allen and heath zed r16 and its not so much that i cant afford it (they dropped in price a bit recently and also i can get one from a site where i make payments, though it still would be a stretch) but moreso the question i have to pose myself is if this something i really NEED at the moment? ive only been "producing" (if i could even consider myself a producer) for only about 7-8 months now. i have so SO MUCH to learn and while it would be nice to have the high end stuff i know i would want in the future i wonder to myself if id even know what to do with it. but then also its like well ok once i DO know how to use it id already have that high end sh*t id want.
i can often be incredibly indecisive
....
I don't think you need this now in your setup.
if you'll be needing it later simply depends on how you work.
if you find yourself using hardware mostly, then it's always a good idea to have a mixer.
if you mostly work with software and only 1 or 2 synths, then you're better of with just a patchbay and simple soundcard. (simple = only 2 ins and 2 outs, not talking sound quality or price here, only ins and outs)
when I started building the studio, I was a hardware only person, (and softsynths were pretty much crap only in those days), so I figured after a year or two (and having aquired about 2 or 3 synths), that I'd be having about 8 synths in total if I wanted my dream setup.
so I got myself a Soundcraft FX16 used.
it costed me 350 and a trip to Amsterdam to fetch it (not that the mrs minded
)
back then I thought that was a great find, cause they were selling them new for 1200. now they can be had new for a lot less I think.
one channel got smoked a while ago, and a few weeks ago my sub outs quit working, but other than that, it's been serving me fine for all these years.
It's kind of a half joke half wisdom thing amongst homestudio owners to say that you should count the maximum number of channels that you need, and then double that amount to know how many channels you'll eventually be needing.
there is some truth to that because you'll always be needing more gear than you thought, or at least you'll always be
getting more gear than you thought.
whether or not you actually need it all is something else of course, but anyways...
The whole doubling channels thing isn't really that necessary, in my opinion, cause you don't need channels for each piece of kit that you own, really.
If you hook up a patchbay (or two), and use a soundcard with multiple ins and outs, you don't need that many channels in your mixer.
When asking yourself "how many ins and outs do I need on my soundcard?", the sensible answer they'll probably give you is "you'll need as many ins and outs as the number of instruments you'll be recording
simultaniously."
In other words : if you record maximum 2 synths at the same time, you need 4 ins and outs if both synths are stereo.
If one is mono, you'll need 3 in theory, but your ins and outs always come in pairs I think, so that'll never the case, I'm just giving this as an example.
If you record 2 synths and one person singing, you need 5 (so really 6)
and so on....
the key point is "recording
simultaniously"
why ? cause otherwise you just put a mixer inbetween, or even just a patchbay, and you can just pick the instrument you're recording at that moment and hook it up to your 2 ins of your soundcard.
Nowadays I've still got the soundcraft wit 16 channels, a soundcard with 8 ins and outs, and 2 patchbay's.
This works more than fine for me. and it gives me flexibility.
I can always add more hardware, and I have "workaround" options in case of trouble.
Normally I used to record by putting the sub outs to a pair of ins on my soundcard, but since the subs (sub out) got blown, I just hooked up some outs of the patchbay to some ins on my soundcard and I was set to record again.
I don't really like it, but it'll do for the time being untill the subs get repaired.
anyways, what I was trying to say is :
only a few synths and you're not gonna record stuff simultaniously ?
you can do fine with just a patchbay and simple soundcard.
gonna record more than one synth at a time ? get a soundcard with more ins and outs. and get a patchbay as well, the things are cheap and
very useful, they make any kind of setup more flexible.
you get more and more synths and want to monitor (listen to) them at the same time without having to turn on your computer all the time ? get a mixer.
apologies if it all sounds a bit complicated,
it isn't really, but they haven't left me alone here at work (I spent 3 hours typing this bloody post), and if they keep on interrupting me I seem to have trouble explaining a simple thing.
If you're fairly new, I think it's a good idea to wait a bit and see how you work (software and/or hardware).
if you're keeping things small, then you'll probably do fine with a patchbay and soundcard.
If you go bigger and need a mixer, then think about the extra flexibility extra ins and outs on your soundcard + a patchbay give you.
And it's
always a good idea to have flexibility and some spare breathing place for future use.
I bought a soundcard with 8 ins and outs from the start, but never used them much untill the last 2 years or so. But I'm happy I got the extra ins and outs. And with the extra patchbay's I'm very well set for any future add-ons.
