Analog Mixer to DAW Question

[jcpatte2]

So I've had my heart set on the Mackie Onyx 1200F for awhile and now that I'm ready to purchase an interface for my home/mobile studio (I've been using a yamaha aw2816 for rough demos for years) the Mackie is unavailable. In fact, Musician's Friend just changed the ship date from 11-28 to 2-19..... So I've looked at several other interfaces (RME 800, MOTU 896mk3, Presonus, etc.) and I'm still sold on the Mackie if they ever get the thing running bug free and working for Vista.

In the mean time I was thinking of using the pre-amps in my Peavey 24FX mixer to record into my DAW. I'm gonna be using Sonar 8 PE into a Sony Vaio Notebook. Problem number 1 with this set-up is... my mixer doesn't have direct outs. This is easily remedied by using TS cables out the inserts I think. Anyone have any thoughts about this? Problem number 2 is... I don't think I completely understand what all it equipment will be entailed in getting my analog audio into my DAW and back out to my mixer. I know I'll need some form of A/D/A conversion but I'm at a loss for what would be my best option if I choose to go this route. Any input/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Justin

[fmw]

Originally Posted by jcpatte2

So I've looked at several other interfaces (RME 800, MOTU 896mk3, Presonus, etc.) and I'm still sold on the Mackie if they ever get the thing running bug free and working for Vista.

Well, I'd have to say you are loyal indeed if you are dead set on buying something that is buggy and won't work for Vista. There are all kinds of interfaces that work perfectly and with Vista.

I think you listed some of them.

[jcpatte2]

It's not that I'm loyal to mackie or anything. I just really like this interface. I prefer the layout, look, feature set, etc. to the other interfaces I've mentioned here. What I really need to know is how to properly use my mixer with my DAW.

Thanks for the reply

[tacman7]

You can use it anyway that works for you, this is one way:

Your going to need the right number and type of inputs. You want balanced connections, XLR or TRS, unbalanced TS or RCA?

You need a 4 bus mixer and an interface with 4 inputs. That way you can have however many inputs to your mixer and hear any of them in your computer through one stereo pair and then send channels you want to record to the other stereo pair.
So your able to record on one stereo pair and monitor on the other pair.

I used a setup like this for a long time, not as nice as having it all in the box because with a computer you have lots more routing options, and you don't have to change any cables.

[brandondrury]

Problem number 1 with this set-up is... my mixer doesn't have direct outs.

Do you have inserts on every channel? Half normalled inserts will take care of the problem.

That way you can have however many inputs to your mixer and hear any of them in your computer through one stereo pair and then send channels you want to record to the other stereo pair.

What if you want to record 8 channels?

As for the audio interface, I've been very happy with my Presonus Firestudio, but you should take a look at Home Recording Soundcard Wizard / Audio Interface Search Tool

[fortyseven]

Originally Posted by scln

I would like to record the band live. How do I split the instrumentation say channel 1 from the mixer to track 1 of the DAW and so on for each musician? So that I can get an independent recording/mix for each musician.

I would also like to know the answer to this. Please help.

[tacman7]

I would like to record the band live. How do I split the instrumentation say channel 1 from the mixer to track 1 of the DAW and so on for each musician? So that I can get an independent recording/mix for each musician.

Originally Posted by fortyseven

I would also like to know the answer to this. Please help.

As I remember:
Some mixers have a way to get a direct line(forgot what that's called) from the input of each channel so you would bypass the mixer and you could have a recording of the source for each channel. Then you would have to run each channel to it's own DAW input and select each DAW input for each audio track. So you could do a live mix and still be able to redo it later with the source tracks.

[adorian]

Currently you have a built in audio card that is most likely stereo in/stereo out. So you can take an output from the mixer either from the inserts by inserting them halfway or with a special insert cable into the audio card or using a bus on the mixer to feed the daw. You can then bring in the stereo out from the DAW back into the mixer on a stereo channel. You'd probably need some conversion cables to do this depending on the mixer - 1/8 in stereo to 1/4 mono left and right going in and coming out of the PC.

If you're recording 4 musicians you'd either have to submix or get a bigger audio card that can handle separate input for each so you can track on separate tracks. You might use the mixer to submix the drums to a stereo pair.