Arturia Spark, NI Maschine, XR20

Wassup ppl?? I have serious GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) and an Ebay addiction. This being said , I picked up a Spark and more recently a Tascam FW-1082. My desktop comp is down, so I have to setup my laptop for the time being. Can I sync my 2500 to run the Spark? I'm not using my DIGI 002 (except as a standalone mixer) anymore, and want to get into Sonar and it's plug-ins. Is it possible? Let's say I run Ableton, I ReWire that to Sonar, now do I use Spark as a VST in Sonar (X1 Essentials) or Ableton (have Live Intro, can't find the disk to re-install, so I picked up a copy of 7 LE)? Does anybody know if the Spark, Maschine issue has been addressed/fixed? Cuz that would be dope to have all 3 running at the same time! Also picked up the XR20, can that be synced to the 2500 or should it go directly in the Tascam?

Another thing, does anybody know where a good synth repair shop is in PA? need to get my Fusion 8HD and Ion looked at, Thanx ppl!! peace

Refresh my memory if you could on the Spark and Maschine issue. It rings a bell but I can't recall it totally. I don't have Spark but I'll install the demo again and try it in Maschine to see what you referring to. (Provided the conflict wasn't hardware related, obviously I wouldn't have the controller)

Generally you should be able to do all you want to do. I would possibly go Sonar ReWired to Live, MPC 2500 as the MIDI master for everything. (It's sounds like you want the 2500 to be the "main brain"). I would probably host the VST's in LIve due to it's easy MIDI routing when you enable "View I/O" in the channel strips. The pull down arrow boxes for the routing are pretty convenient and easier to keep track of.

If you have enough MIDI I/O to cover the MPC and the XR20 going into the computer you should be able to have Live route all the various MIDI. There would always be the option of plugging the XR20 into the 2500 and sending MIDI to it and pass it's audio through to the computer.

I have a set of MIDI I/Oon my audio interface and then 3 more sets on 2 USB MIDI boxes. Personally I let Live be the MIDI "traffic controller" rather than getting into using MIDI thru and stuff on the external gear, unless it's a couple workstations. It's seems easier for me to do the routing in software if the computer will be on anyway.

Hey thanks for such a quick response 1st of all! Ok now to the nitty-gritty. Yeah I was talking about the hybrid version (hardware,software combo). I had heard that it wasn't advisable to have both on the same system running at the same time. And as far as MIDI goes, the Tascam has 2 ins and 2 outs. I also have a working MIDISport 4x4. And if I can get 1 of the 3 8x8s I have working (my laptop is running Vista, don't get me started on not being able to run Maschine 1.8! techs told me to get 7 or go back to 1.7! I'm PISSED!), I'll be golden. This is just a wondering if it's possible scenario since I'm trying to utilize my money instead of having stuff lay around gathering dust. Also, I have an Edirol SD-80, and a MoPhatt, would it be easy to incorporate into the aforementioned rig? If my comp (4g RAM, 4g Dual core AMD chip, Win 7 64-bit 250g HD 1010lt, TC Powercore 1st gen DSP card) was still running some of this would be easier, but I've never used my laptop as the electronic brain before so I'm curious. Oh yeah 1 more thing, you're right as to my desire to use my MPC as the master for everything, cuz I like to have real stuff to interact with! lol Thanx for any and all help!!!

Like I mentioned you could set up that stuff (more stuff now I see that you mentioned the Edirol and the E-MU) with MIDI cables and no computer. But again if the computer is going be turned on anyway why not just plug all that outboard MIDI I/O into the interface(s) going in the computer? You could still have all of the 2500's MIDI outs going into the MIDI interfaces on the computer.

Again I'm just a big fan of how easy Live makes this type of routing. In the case of the XR20 and the 2500 you also have Live's External Instrument plugin which does MIDI and audio on the same track to keep the session a bit tidier.

Sounds like you have plenty of MIDI I/O to set this up either more old school and have the MPC directly connect to the other gear or to have software (Live) handle the routing. (To my mind if the MPC is the MIDI clock master then I don't worry so much about using ITB software to direct the MIDI data. With a DAW as the Master I might feel otherwise)

I don't know if I'd bother updating an AMD dual core, but upgrades to 7 must be cheap with 8 out. I noticed that 7 allocated RAM much better than Vista, you probably saw that before you Win 7 rig went down. But Maschine 1.8 is certainly an upgrade you want like you said.

Yeah the reason for the computer is for the Spark and Maschine and Daw and VSTs. The computer is a desktop and the power supply blew up on me 1 nite when I was mixing on my turntables. I have a lot, and I do mean a lot of gear that I want to hook up and run, but the main problem is USB ports and the need for dongles (like my ilok to rum BPM, Mach 5, Ethno, and Symphonic, not to mention EWQL Symphony or the Steinberg dongle for Cubase or Miraslov Philharmonik), or Torq Xponent and Connectiv. Oh btw I found my Live Intro disk (finally after like 2 months of looking). I guess I just need to buy a new rig! lol But like I said thanks for the input, much thanks!!