Subject: [linux-audio-user] [OT] Hardware: how many I/O channels are best?
From: Mr. Spock (spock_AT_canopus22.demon.co.uk)
Date: Sat Aug 09 2003 - 19:19:07 EEST
Hello all,
I received the RME HDSP Digiface PCI card I'd ordered, but for some
reason they only sent (and charged me for) one of the two Frontier
Tango24 8-channel A/D-D/A convertors I'd requested. So, this got me
thinking "maybe I only need 8 channels of I/O, and can do the rest in
Ardour".
Many musician friends using Macs say they do most of their stuff in the
computer nowadays. One guy said he'd probably not even have a mixer,
just preamps, although how would you do headphone monitor mixes?
I was wondering what people's opinions are on this:
Should I get the other Tango24 while they're still going cheap,
or spend the 300 pounds elsewhere?
A long-term glint-in-the-eye idea was to one day get a CLM DB8000S:
http://www.clmdynamics.com/db8000_frame.htm
...8-channel M&S-mic-pre/limiter/A-D for input to the HDSP, so giving
16in/8out, or 24in/16out with a pair of Tango24s. But is this amount
of channels overkill for a project studio? I won't have even eight mics
for some time yet, although I will eventually need to be mixing lots of
recorded tracks.
I'm also wondering that mixing like this:
Ardour tracks--> D/A--> mixer+FX--> A/D--> Ardour--> D/A--> monitors
...seems rather convoluted; would it compromise quality or sync (comb
filter effects, etc.) to be adding the extra A/D conversions? But I
suppose that's how everyone records to ADAT machines with analogue
desks.
However, If I can do more stuff internally in Ardour, that's good.
Trouble with that is, that I would miss the hands-on twistability of
an analogue console where each channel's parameters are laid out for
the tweaking. Can Ardour be used to route FX sends out of one ADAT
channel directly to analogue outboard, then back in again?
I don't even have a mixer yet, nor proper monitors, although the recent
'how to build a studio' thread helped lots:
http://eca.cx/lau/2003/06/0170.html
What I'd really like is a simple fader box with 16 or 24 moving faders,
and little else, to save my mouse-miles when mixing. But all the control
surfaces I've seen are either way too complicated (with lock-in unfree
software) or don't have moving faders.
Any ideas without spending $20,000 on a digital desk?
Malc
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