get in the box - notes to self
this prolonged studio downtime might just be the kick i needed to ditch the big mixing console. i’ve been mostly holding off from doing any real song-writing in the interim, but it has just gone on too long. last week i broke down and got all the computers running in their old, usual capacity as synthesizers. this only amounts to 8 channels of analog audio to monitor, so i can use my current audio i/o (echo Layla) for the task. i’m talking about direct monitoring with the device, in this case- not putting audio into the host computer for mixing and output. i’ll certainly need to do that, but my one greatest aversion to the whole concept is mousing the “virtual mixing desk” on screen. almost as bad would be paging thru banks of channels on a virtual control surface. that is to say, i like the idea of having a real fader in front of me that will reliably and predictably operate on the signal i’ve sent through it when an awful sound is suddenly in need of squelching.
but really, i like doing most of my level matching, eq, fader moves, and mutes in-the-box already. no compromise there. i don’t hear anything particularly nice that the mackie mixer imparts on the signal, so i don’t think i’m loosing anything doing all of my summing in digital. so far i’m living OK without the real faders and busing matrix. but i will need to have my returns from the studio toys end up in the mix, so i’ll need a decent number of inputs. add maybe 16 to cover all the reverbs, delays, compressors, eqs that might want to be heard. and one requirement is that most of my vintage and/or crappy old keyboards must be normaled thru to the mix at all times. add another 16 or so inputs. the rest of my stuff can live on the patchbay.
i still don’t like the idea of relying on one computer to pass every signal in the place to the speakers… or to wait for it to boot just to hear the electric piano… but then again, i really couldn’t count on the analog mixer to present every channel line in at the 2mix, and although that was an enormous pain in the ass, it didn’t kill me.
so i’m figuring out what cheap, old, used pieces i can throw at this project. the shopping list is coming along. more on that later.
