Rig #2 Quality home studio for bands, composers,

[jake the snake]

I have been reading/referencing this site for the past year. Thank you so much Tweak, this site has been by far the most helpful and informative tool I have come across. I will be buying all of my equipment from your sites.

Long story short, I'm a 30 year old musician dabbling in recording since I was a little kid. I got bit by the serious recording bug a year ago and now I'm completely obsessed.

This rig seems to be the best route for my needs... I want to record male/female vocals, guitar/bass, cabs, drums, acoustics and the occasional exotic instrument. I also am trying my hand at compostion scores. I'm about to bear my soul as to what little equipment I have and what I'm planning on purchasing... looking for some opinions/insults/advice etc.

current rig: PC: Dell inspiron 530 desktop, Windows Vista, Intel core 2 duo, nvidia 512 card, 4GB memory,
Interface: Line6 UX2, Plugs: Pod Farm, Addictive Drums Mics: 2 Shure sm57's, 1 Shure beta58A
Monitors: Behringer Ms40 Headphones: Audo Technica ATH-T22, Sennheiser HD 280 pro
keyboard: Yamaha PSR E323 Edrums: Roland TD-10 Sequencer: Reaper

new equipment: I have ordered a new DAW from studiocat: http://www.studiocat.com/2/index.php/Pro_Studio
specs: Intel i7 870 w/quiet cooler H55 motherboard, SATA-II, TI Firewire, USB-3, 8GB DDR3, 750GB & 1TB Hard Drives (32MB),Nvidia dual head video (1GB), 22x DVD/RW w/lightscribe, Windows 7 x64.
Santa brought me EWQL complete composers collection... I guess he wasnt paying too much attention to my behavior this year

plans: Mics: Rode NT1A, Shure Beta 52, pair of Studio Projects C4's, more sm57's. Preamps: Golden Age Pre-73, I'd like an 8 channel for drums but not sure what to get yet.. suggestions?? maybe Focusrite octo pre mk118? Converters: Behringer ADA 8000. Interface: MOTU 896 mk3 + MOTU MIDI Express 128. Monitors: KRK RP8G2 Rokit G2. Controller: Alphatrack

How would you rate this setup? What piece would be the weakest link in the chain? thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated. thanks all. Jake

[SLY_Z_28]

I have a simple one channel presounus TUBEpre...im guessing i can get rid of that because the MOTU or project mix will be far superior?

[hewhoiscalledj]

i really hate getting rid of gear if it works but if you need to do so to fund the MOTU, then you gotta do what you gotta do. i dont have any experience with Presonus so it's not my call. to answer your question though, it would be a redundant piece of gear.

keep it if you can.

[SLY_Z_28]

OK, thanks.

Now, do I need a ADAT, such as the Behringer ADA8000, to run my instrument/vocal mic from the MOTU to my DAW?

[hewhoiscalledj]

Negative ghost rider. The mic plugs into the MOTU and that connects to your DAW/computer. If you needed more inputs in the future, you could use any other interface (MOTU 8pre for example) and use the ADAT lightpipe to connect/chain more.

[SLY_Z_28]

haha thanks! thats good news....still a little confused. the ADA8000 is a ADAT/Mic Preamp. so its all in one kinda thing. but if i wanted to add another MOTU to my MOTU, such as the MOTU 8pre...I would only need a ADAT lightpipe cable to chain them together?

[hewhoiscalledj]

When I refer to ADAT, all i'm talking about is the lightpipe connection. Both the MOTU and the ADA8000 have A/D conversion which takes the analog signal from mics and converts it into digital for your DAW.

Years ago, ADAT was the actual recording system but these days, i think the modern use of the term only refers to the lightpipe that was born from that technology. Someone please corerct me if i'm wrong here.

[Corwin]

Hey Guys (and gals?) I'm about to build THIS Rig (more or less) from the ground (Macbook Pro 15" 7200 RPM 4 Gig ram etc..) up. Minus the Midi Controller (I already have a Clavinova Piano in my room for Midi & a drummer with a Midi Drum Set Controller. So my 2 main purchases aside from Microphones are going to be the MOTU 896 Mk3 as well some sort of Midi Interface.

This is where my questions lays: Will any Motu Midi Interface work with the 896 Mk3? I mean will it link together in MOTU's Cue Mix Program? Specifically I'm needing to go as affordable as possible with the Midi interface as I'll be spending all of my dough on the Motu 896 Mk3. The cheapest Motu Midi Interface I can find is the Motu "FastLane" which has 2 ins/2 outs. Will that do the trick?

Any help would be GrEaTly AppReciaTed!!!

[Corwin]

Sorry, I realize this is a newb question. But I won't be a newb for long, thanks to Tweak and this website and all of the folks here at the forum!!! Anyways, hope to hear from someone soon! Thanks!

[aww-de-oh]

Hi and welcome, Corwin!

Do you have a sequencer program in mind?
This may have more to do with which program you use, than the interfaces themselves.

The generic answer is: yeah, you should be fine. The setup (routing) will be inside your sequencer. I'm not positive (haven't used a Motu in years) but i don't think the CueMix will control the Midi ports (unless there's ports built into the audio interface itself)

Also, as long as your computer recognizes the MIDI interface, it shouldn't matter about the price of the unit.. grab a cheapo MIDI converter and go!

Alot of keyboards and control surfaces these days use USB as the MIDI connection. If your keyboard has the standard 5pin Midi ports (and your AI doesn't have MIDI) than grabbing a MIDI to USB converter should be a good buy.

[SLY_Z_28]

Because this unit can be used as a stand alone mixer...it is essentially just that. a mixer for live use with dedicated presets that you perform before hand so your sound is consistent. correct? And in the studio when plugged into the computer it is also ONLY a mixer unless you have a DAW program that your recording to, yes?