Hardware

jester1234 · Post by **jester1234** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 1:34 pm

im looking to expand my set up but am not sure which way to go,

on one hand i thought about getting a breakout sound card, on the other t thought maybe an analogue mixer.

do i need a sound card if i buy usb mixer? and also how would the mixer perform, im usin fl7?

thesis · Post by **thesis** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 1:46 pm

First thing I would get is a decent soundcard (if you don't have one already). No point getting other gear if your audio is going to be 'bottlenecked' through a bad card.

If you are using FL, I would then go for some kind of controller/keyboard...

jester1234 · Post by **jester1234** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 1:50 pm

iv got an m-audio midi and m audio monitors, gonna get a sub soon tho cos they are shit on bass. i was looking at a lexicon omega soundcard , any good?

thesis · Post by **thesis** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 2:54 pm

Haven't heard of that particular soundcard... anyone?

I just got a Presonus Firebox, its amazing (and portable.. can take it to a mates place, gigs etc)

thenapking · Post by **thenapking** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:25 pm

I have an M-Audio Audiosport 2496 for my desktop which is the bollocks, but for my laptop i;ve got the M-Audio Conectiv which is a piece of shit - latency is not all that, noise floor is high, drivers are always reinstalling themselves & it suffers very badly from grounding problems.
Check the manufacture's website forum before buying anything to see what existing customers are complaining about....

semtek · Post by **semtek** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:14 am

I would advise against spending money on an analogue mixer - it's just not worth it unless you go for something really high end which will give a pleasant edge to the sound. I've heard mixed reviews of usb digital mixers. I'd go for a soundcard, preferably MOTU, Presonus, RME or Metric Halo if you can afford it. You can pick up a MOTU 828 mk 1 for next to nothing on ebay and they're solid as hell. Personally I have my eye on an RME fireface 400 for portability's sake. Then you can invest in a control surface if you want to add some hands-on control. The Behringer ones aren't bad, if you are prepared to struggle with the set up temporarily. Hope that helps...

jester1234 · Post by **jester1234** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 1:42 pm

yea man i was looking at a Behringer mixer its only about £220, the reason i wanted a mixer is so i could buy some hardware reverbs etc.

would i still be able to do that with a decent soundcard?

my budget isnt massive man so i gotta make sure i get it rite u get me lol

the other thing is do mixers have have soundcards built in?

thenapking · Post by **thenapking** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:10 pm

if you're mainly doing this for reverbs check out the SIR plugin. http://www.knufinke.de/sir/sir1.html
This is seriously good, free and offers much more possibilities than a modestly priced digital reverb unit. If you know people with good reverb units you could even go and make impulse responses of those....

jester1234 · Post by **jester1234** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:09 am

il check that plugin out out jus downloaded it. iv already got quiite a few reverbs like acoustic arts n that,

but still can i plug in hardware to a sound card?

twoblacklines · Post by **twoblacklines** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:37 am

i have a creative x-fi fatality pro and soon the breakout box

its ideal, has modes, like audio creation mode where you can force-play at bit rate and it turns everything off for best sq.

speakers wise i have some crappy ones with an inbuilt sub that i cant turn off, and the rear channels on the amp bridged to run a 12" oz audio vector in a 1.2cuft box (need a new one tuned lower).

thenapking · Post by **thenapking** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:38 am

yeah, check out the links section on the SIR site for places to get reverbs from.
you would be able to plug hardware straight into a soundcard and use an internal mixer. you just need to make sure you buy a soundcard with enough ins/outs to do what you want.
one thing i've heard very good things about is the liquid mix which uses impulse responses like SIR to model all kinds of amplifiers/reverbs/echoes etc.

jester1234 · Post by **jester1234** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:17 pm

liquid mix is supposed to be bad man, 450 dollar tho, maybe out of reach.

so a sound card like a m audio delta 1010 would be ok then yea?

jus downloaded some impulse responses they are siiicck BIG UP

thenapking · Post by **thenapking** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:31 pm

yep lack of $$$ is why i haven't got one of those.
the m-audio 1010 is probably fine, and it will certainly fit the bill for what you want. I'd check out the cost of a MOTU 828 mk 1 on ebay or look at the Presonus or RME boxes 2ndhand as semtek said. they will probably be more reliable than the m-audio.

pushre · Post by **pushre** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 1:49 pm

jester1234 wrote:...reason i wanted a mixer is so i could buy some hardware reverbs etc.

would i still be able to do that with a decent soundcard?

my budget isnt massive...

If you are on a budget, then don't know if I would recommend you start buying outboard gear just for reverb...there are plenty of nice VSTi's for that. From my experience, you should would wait until you can do it right before buying a mixer, soundcard, midi interface, etc...you will probably want to expand eventually and sucks to have to sell and rebuy those pieces.

jester1234 · Post by **jester1234** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:01 pm

True say man, mite jus get a soundcard then eh, gonna check ebay jus now, safe 4 da help peeps

jester1234 · Post by **jester1234** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:55 pm

semtek wrote:I would advise against spending money on an analogue mixer - it's just not worth it unless you go for something really high end which will give a pleasant edge to the sound. I've heard mixed reviews of usb digital mixers. I'd go for a soundcard, preferably MOTU, Presonus, RME or Metric Halo if you can afford it. You can pick up a MOTU 828 mk 1 for next to nothing on ebay and they're solid as hell. Personally I have my eye on an RME fireface 400 for portability's sake. Then you can invest in a control surface if you want to add some hands-on control. The Behringer ones aren't bad, if you are prepared to struggle with the set up temporarily. Hope that helps...

do u know if a motu from overseas would be ok to use in the uk? ie pwersupply differences etc?

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