Recording more than one track at a time - Numerous equipment need a mixer or what?

Hi Everyone and MPC TUTOR,  I NEED HELP!
Wassssup!
Here is my situation: I have lots of gear but protools has only 6 anolog line inputs in the back.  I would like to record into each of those at the same time without buying an expensive digital mixer.  The Mackie 1642 has 8  mono outputs so that would mean I could in mono record 6 things at once from the MPC- TRITON-XV5050.  Should I get this mixer? It is an analog mixer not digital or should I get the Yamaha o1v which is digital but has I think only 4 ouputs.  I am really trying to save time so I can get to making quality tracks and not feeling so tired recording one track at a time.  How do yall do it?  Help me out!  Please!
My equpiment list is below:

One more thing-I can't use all my stuff unless I am in PROTOOLS and have aux tracks up with record enabled because the mixer below did work for awhile but I can only record one track at a time with it so I have everything hooks up direct to protools with the tubes in between. But I still can't record all at the same time

I have MPC 2000  {No 8 OUTPUT EXPANSION}
Triton LE 2 main outs and 2 left and right mono outs can be assignable
Roland xv 5050 2 main outs- 4 mono out assignable  
2 Presonus tube amps
Stanton  digital 880 turntable
small behringer mixer


Thanks[/color]

SampleQueen wrote:Hi Everyone and MPC TUTOR,  I NEED HELP!
Wassssup!
Here is my situation: I have lots of gear but protools has only 6 anolog line inputs in the back.  I would like to record into each of those at the same time without buying an expensive digital mixer.  The Mackie 1642 has 8  mono outputs so that would mean I could in mono record 6 things at once from the MPC- TRITON-XV5050.  Should I get this mixer? It is an analog mixer not digital or should I get the Yamaha o1v which is digital but has I think only 4 ouputs.  I am really trying to save time so I can get to making quality tracks and not feeling so tired recording one track at a time.  How do yall do it?  Help me out!  Please!
My equpiment list is below:

One more thing-I can't use all my stuff unless I am in PROTOOLS and have aux tracks up with record enabled because the mixer below did work for awhile but I can only record one tcolor=#ffffffcolor=#ffffffcolor=#ffffffrack at a time with it so I have everything hooks up direct to protools with the tubes in between. But I still can't record all at the same time

I have MPC 2000  {No 8 OUTPUT EXPANSION}
Triton LE 2 main outs and 2 left and right mono outs can be assignable
Roland xv 5050 2 main outs- 4 mono out assignable  
2 Presonus tube amps
Stanton  digital 880 turntable
small behringer mixer


Thanks[/color]

Umm, cant u use the protools program to record all 6 inputs at the same time?
I would go like this

MPC L/R Out-------> mixer
Triton -----> 4 asssigned outs-----> mixer
Whatever else---->mixer
Mixer------> Protools.

the analog mixer isnt gonna help u at all, since the behringer analon mixer u got will do the same thing. having a mixer w/ mad outs and a sound card u can only record 6 total trax at a time, u can only record 6 tracks at a time.
the mackie is nice, I like the akai dps 16 (pete rock uses one, and an mpc and thats all).
maybe u should try a roland vs-880 or some other "virtual studio" or, if u wanna keep using protools, get the akai dps. very computer frinedly mixer.
u can run the sounds into the dps16 and then into protools.

Do you own the Digi 001. If so, from all the gear you listed, it seems that those units you're pondering is overkill. With the Digi 001 you have the ability to plug in all your incoming signals (6 in the back plus 2 in the front) straight into Pro Tools. If you dont own the Digi 001, then that Mackie is perfect. Assuming that you will be getting the 8-outs and you still want to record in one take, then the Mackie will definitely be the way to go. I recommend that you spend your money on plug-ins (effects, sound maximizers, compressors & other crap like that) for Pro Tools.[/color]

Thanks for everyone's support.

I do have digi001.


You guys are right.  I need to invest in the 8 output like next week.  I realize that most tracks have way more drums than synth sounds.


Then I guess I will still wait until after xmas to get the mixer.


Thanks for your help.  Do yall have any other  ideas for recording into the comouter[/color]

Pish posh. You can send different midi channels out through a midi keyboard(for the very low price of about $100-$200) And you can record arm more then one track in PT. So just set up your sounds on your keyboard. And send whatever channels you want say drums on midi channel 1, on track 1 on pt, keys on midi channel 2, track 2, etc etc. Now you have the range to record whatever, whenever.Thought i dont really see why you would want to do this unless you have a band or something, or doing drums and you want to multi-track em. You seem to be going a bit over kill for what you want to do. And if you want to do real quality being speedy isnt going to get you there. Slow and steady is the way to be.[/color]

Thanks for your reply,  but you are missing the point.

I may have 6 drum tracks which may be samples etc. That is why I am looking for alternatives.  Now I think I have the one I really need which is the 8 out expansion card.  Only thing is now--digi001 has 6 inputs in the back, so I guess I will send 4 drum tracks at once as well as 2 mono triton le sounds or 1 stereo track to protools.  It is just that Protools has those 6 analog inouts in the back, I guess that is where my frustration is.  See lately,  I had been record lets say 8 tracks one at a time into protools.  4 drums tracks and 4 keyboard tracks.  So that takes much time at least a good 2 hours per song.  See after I spkoe with digidesign they were like hook all your gear up to digi001 and it will work sweet without the behringer hiss and go straight into protools.  Only thing was I noticed after I made studio changes my levels were so low ,  I increased the gain in Protools but it still was low on certain things SO I bought 2 presonus blue tube amps to increase volume from trition le and the mpc.

Crazy Huh?[/color]

I also have a DIGI 001 and an MPC200 (with 8 outs)
And a sound mod (Roland JV-2080)
I ALMOST NEVER record more than 1 track at a time.
The quickest thing to do with your setup would be to
record a loop of each sound into ProTools (4 bars 8 bars whatever the length of the loop is) duplicate the loop over the length of the song. there are a couple of advantages to this 1st you use about 80% less HD space to record the song
2nd its easy to do your breaks you can either just delete the sections you want muted in GRID mode or you can use the automation. This frees up a LOT of demand on your processor
and will also help with the amount of plug ins you will be able to use. [/color]

Yo SoulShadow, that sounds very interesting. So I can compose my song in the MPC. Then, in order to save HD space, you recreate the same song that you composed on the MPC(breakdowns and all) using your method? I don't feel that I'm using Pro Tools to the fullest. That's why I'm asking.[/color]

Thanks alot, serious! This technique is reminescent of the way I compose beats through the "Edit Song Steps" mode on the Ensoniq ASR-10. I'll try this method for my next beat & see what suits me best.[/color]

Thanks for your input,


One thing really quick though is that my songs are not so four/four time so the loops you are speaking of is not that easy.  I guess it just depends what type of music you are doing.
Holla Back with a thought.

Sample Queen[/color]