How to have my MPC 2000xl be the master for my studio

I'm beginning to educate myself on how to produce deep house tracks.

Now my questions are confusing for me but may be easy to you. I've purchased Cubase SX and need to know the following:

1. I have an akai mpc 2000xl, mofx (by electrix) effects unit, warpfactory (by electrix) vocoder, berhinger 9024 ultra-dyne pro, roland vs1680, yamaha tx81z tone generator, roland PC-70 midi keyboard controller and mackie cfx 20 board. Is it possible to intergrate these products with Cubase SX and have the mpc 2000xl master all this equipment? If so any recommendations how to set it all up for recording? Each compenant is midi.

2. Any recommendations on a good sound card that handles eight inputs and midi?

In short:
Sync your mpc to cubase using MTC (midi time code).
Set Cubase sx to 'sync' on the transport bar, and to recieve MTC at 25fps.
Set the mpc to sent midi time code (press shift-9 from the mainscreen) on channel A, and run a midicable from A-out on the MPC, to the computer's midi in. Run the mpc's audio-out, to the computers input.
Insert a couple of blank bars at the start of your sequence, it will take Cubase a second to catch up with the MPC so that way you won't mess up the start of your track.
Solo the track you want to record, arm a track in Cubase and record it. Do this for every track you want to record (of course if you would have an 8-input card you could record 8 tracks at a time).
If you want to record your other soundsources, connect their audio-output to the computer instead, but keep the mpc's midi-A connected to the computer.

Hope this helps, you should also read the helpfiles in Cubase on Timecode and Sync. I cannot give you specific advice on all your other midi-gear, i'm not familiar with most of them.
If i would have a mixer like that Mackie you have, i would try to keep all my soundsources hooked up to it for monitoring, and run a bunch of cables from each induvidual channel (maybe from the efx-sent) to a multi input soundcard.

As for good soundcards, i think the RME makes a good 8-input card, but it's expensive. Stay away from USB soundcards with more than 4 inputs though, they can't handle so many tracks.

you could run it all through your mackie and use mono cables from the inserts on each channel you want into the 8 inputs on the soundcard and monitor from your computer. this way you can select what tracks go to your soundcard at your mixer. not sure if this would be before the eq or after.

elmacaco wrote:you could run it all through your mackie and use mono cables from the inserts on each channel you want into the 8 inputs on the soundcard and monitor from your computer. this way you can select what tracks go to your soundcard at your mixer. not sure if this would be before the eq or after.

Okay, so what your saying is have the 8 outs from my mpc 2000xl go into channels 1-8 of my mackie cfx 20... Then from the insert of the mackie board into the 8 inputs on the soundcard?

I have a roland pc-70 midi controller going into the mpc 2000xl and through my tone generator and 9024. So the audio from the tone generator and the 9024 should go into separate tracks on my mackie board correct? If that's the case how would the sound get into cubase SX if my soundcard has only 8 inputs?

Sorry to bother you with my questions but your advice is greatly appreciated.

ieism wrote:In short:
Sync your mpc to cubase using MTC (midi time code).
Set Cubase sx to 'sync' on the transport bar, and to recieve MTC at 25fps.
Set the mpc to sent midi time code (press shift-9 from the mainscreen) on channel A, and run a midicable from A-out on the MPC, to the computer's midi in. Run the mpc's audio-out, to the computers input.
Insert a couple of blank bars at the start of your sequence, it will take Cubase a second to catch up with the MPC so that way you won't mess up the start of your track.
Solo the track you want to record, arm a track in Cubase and record it. Do this for every track you want to record (of course if you would have an 8-input card you could record 8 tracks at a time).
If you want to record your other soundsources, connect their audio-output to the computer instead, but keep the mpc's midi-A connected to the computer.

Hope this helps, you should also read the helpfiles in Cubase on Timecode and Sync. I cannot give you specific advice on all your other midi-gear, i'm not familiar with most of them.
If i would have a mixer like that Mackie you have, i would try to keep all my soundsources hooked up to it for monitoring, and run a bunch of cables from each induvidual channel (maybe from the efx-sent) to a multi input soundcard.

As for good soundcards, i think the RME makes a good 8-input card, but it's expensive. Stay away from USB soundcards with more than 4 inputs though, they can't handle so many tracks.

Thank you for the response. It's very helpful. I guess my other question would be since I have 20 tracks to work with on my mackie board it's evident that I need to run the audio out on all of my gear into separate channels on my board. For example the 8 channels from the mpc 2000xl into channels 1-8 on the mackie board, the audio from the tone generator into channel 9, the audio from my 9024 (compressor) into channel 10 and the effects into channel 11 but via efx send correct?

From there it's just whatever 8 tracks I want going into my computer for cubase sx correct? Would I be able to have more than 1 8 input soundcard on my computer? And finally would I still be able to run my roland pc-70 midi controller through the mpc 2000xl?

Your response has me very close to the finish line..... If you lived in Syracuse, NY I would hire you to hook all this stuff up for me

ieism wrote:In short:
Sync your mpc to cubase using MTC (midi time code).
Set Cubase sx to 'sync' on the transport bar, and to recieve MTC at 25fps.
Set the mpc to sent midi time code (press shift-9 from the mainscreen) on channel A, and run a midicable from A-out on the MPC, to the computer's midi in. Run the mpc's audio-out, to the computers input.
Insert a couple of blank bars at the start of your sequence, it will take Cubase a second to catch up with the MPC so that way you won't mess up the start of your track.
Solo the track you want to record, arm a track in Cubase and record it. Do this for every track you want to record (of course if you would have an 8-input card you could record 8 tracks at a time).
If you want to record your other soundsources, connect their audio-output to the computer instead, but keep the mpc's midi-A connected to the computer.

Hope this helps, you should also read the helpfiles in Cubase on Timecode and Sync. I cannot give you specific advice on all your other midi-gear, i'm not familiar with most of them.
If i would have a mixer like that Mackie you have, i would try to keep all my soundsources hooked up to it for monitoring, and run a bunch of cables from each induvidual channel (maybe from the efx-sent) to a multi input soundcard.

As for good soundcards, i think the RME makes a good 8-input card, but it's expensive. Stay away from USB soundcards with more than 4 inputs though, they can't handle so many tracks.

What about using the EWS88 MT Multitracking Sound Card?

Sure, if you can afford a soundcard with 20 or more channels, that would be even easier. But since you're used to Mackie-quality, i suggest you shop around a bit for a card with very good sound. I think you get what you pay for with soundcards, just like with mixingboards. So read some reviews on the net before you buy.
You can still use the Mackie for monitoring, and quickly setting up your levels and of course the effects busses come in handy.
You can also keep using that Roland pc-70 like before.

It's really up to you how many channels you want. I strongly advice you to play with Cubase a bit before deciding what gear to get. Some people do all their mixing inside the computer, some still prefer to use external mixers. Cubase sx is a great program, and with all the gear you have will make for a very powerfull package. Computers vs. hardware is a very personal thing, you'll have to try it for yourself.

ieism wrote:Sure, if you can afford a soundcard with 20 or more channels, that would be even easier. But since you're used to Mackie-quality, i suggest you shop around a bit for a card with very good sound. I think you get what you pay for with soundcards, just like with mixingboards. So read some reviews on the net before you buy.
You can still use the Mackie for monitoring, and quickly setting up your levels and of course the effects busses come in handy.
You can also keep using that Roland pc-70 like before.

It's really up to you how many channels you want. I strongly advice you to play with Cubase a bit before deciding what gear to get. Some people do all their mixing inside the computer, some still prefer to use external mixers. Cubase sx is a great program, and with all the gear you have will make for a very powerfull package. Computers vs. hardware is a very personal thing, you'll have to try it for yourself.

Any advise on what soundcards are out there that have more than 8 channel inputs? Or could I purchase 2 EWS88 MT Multitracking Sound Cards to have 16 channels of input?

"So the audio from the tone generator and the 9024 should go into separate tracks on my mackie board correct? If that's the case how would the sound get into cubase SX if my soundcard has only 8 inputs? "

Simple, record tracks 1-8 to your computer, then take the insert cables from tracks 1-8 and plug them in the inserts for tracks 9-16, then record them into your computer on a second pass.

your sound card is fine, mine has only 4 inputs and yet I still record on track at a time.

Elmacaco has got a point, I only got 4 inputs too, and it works for me. But i think J-roc is going to buy a new soundcard anyway, so he might as well get some extra channels right away.
Using two soundcards will probably not work, but some cards let you expand to more channels later.
There's so many multitrack soundcards nowadays, i lost track. You should try to get some unbiased reviews from the net. At least get a card with ASIO drivers, and low latency

Some good brands to get you started:
http://www.motu.com/
http://www.m-audio.com/
http://www.rme-audio.com/english/
http://www.edirol.com/

Narrow down your search first to see what fits your budget, and i'll help you pick out the best card.

Okay.

I'm thinking about going with the ST Audio DSP2000 C-Port Digital Multi Channel Recording System for my audio/midi pc interface with Cubase SX and the MPC 2000xl. I can get it for about $400. Is this a wise choice considering what I need it for?

ieism wrote:Elmacaco has got a point, I only got 4 inputs too, and it works for me. But i think J-roc is going to buy a new soundcard anyway, so he might as well get some extra channels right away.
Using two soundcards will probably not work, but some cards let you expand to more channels later.
There's so many multitrack soundcards nowadays, i lost track. You should try to get some unbiased reviews from the net. At least get a card with ASIO drivers, and low latency

Some good brands to get you started:
http://www.motu.com/
http://www.m-audio.com/
http://www.rme-audio.com/english/
http://www.edirol.com/

Narrow down your search first to see what fits your budget, and i'll help you pick out the best card.

For $400 it sounds like a pretty good card. It basically has everything you need.
Too bad it only has unbalanced -10dBu outputs, but they are pretty noisefree, and at this price you shouldn't expect balanced jacks.
On the plus side, it's cheap. You get a midi interface with it. And it has low latency, and a direct monitor option as well. Perfect!

I can't see anything wrong with this card really, I think it will be a great soundcard for your setup.

Okay here is my complete studio layout. I'm done buying equipment until I start seeing return on my investments. I'm ready to start the lengthy process of CONNECTING and making tracks but need some advice.

Here's the layout:

ST Audio DSP2000 C-Port Digital Multi Channel Recording System
Reason 2.5
Cubase SX
Mackie CFX 20
Roland PC-70
Soundforge 6.0
Electrix mo-fx
Electrix vocoder
Behinger 9024
Yamaha T8IZ Tone Generator
2 Technics 1200's
Gemini CD player
Stanton Mixer
MPC 2000xl
I-omega zip drive
Akai DPS 16
HP computer
2 HP flat screen monitors
Tons of records

First question: I bought the Akai DPS 16 because it was only $400. Do I really need this? Won't Cubase SX serve the purpose? I think I wasted money buying this unit? If I can use it how would it fit into the scheme?

Second question: How would I run the MIDI daisy chain on all this stuff?

Third question: How would I run the audio chain on all this stuff?

Overall I want to connect all the gear properly.

Thanks for any assistance!!!!!

Whew! That's a lot of gear bro!

First of all that dsp 16 is not a problem cause you can always sell it, $400 is really cheap for that thing. Just hang on to it for now, I'm sure you find a use for it somehow.
I'm not an expert on that machine though so i can't help you to much with it. But i'm sure you can record your mixer movements in cubase with it for instance, or just use the effects.

You can use the mackie for monitoring, hooking up your efx units and so on.

How to hook all this up is going to be a bit tricky to explain here.............
Maybe a drawing with all the connections would be the best way to explain really. I'll see if i can do that for ya tomorrow.