By Destinite
Fri Apr 09, 2010 3:24 pm
I've always used software to mix my tracks, but I guess I've always done things the hard way since I don't know anyone else who works with music and I just do things however it works for me, so if I'm doing it all wrong or there's an easier way, please let me know.
I normally have one 1/8"-1/4" cable plugged into my PC's sound card, and the 1/4" part will go into each separate instrument. I'll record the drum track from my MPC as wav, bring it into Reaper, loop it, then switch the 1/4" cable to synth #1, record that into the PC over the looped drum track and record the synth, plug the 1/4" into synth #2...you get the idea. I'm probably making it way harder than it needs to be, but all this plug/unplug mess seems like way too much work and probably a very ghetto setup.
Last night I tried chaining the line outs from one synth into the line in of my Kaoss Pad, then line out from that into the line in of the MPC. Problem is, I can't hear the line in on the MPC unless I'm in record mode, and in record mode, I can't change sequences/mute tracks/whatever...so essentially, the MPC is breaking the audio chain in that way.
I've been told a mixer is the answer. Well, I don't have a lot of bread. I've read that Mackie makes good mixers and they seem to be well-built and sound good, but I'm not entirely sure how many outputs I need. I usually use two synths and the MPC, so (with my noobness towards mixers) I'd assume I need a mixer with 3 inputs (although I think they include inputs in twos, so a 4-input mixer?) - the thing is, I see on these 4-input mixers that only two inputs have eq, and the other two don't, so now I'm confused as to how this works. I notice a lot of these mixers include effects, but I usually add my effects in Reaper, so I don't think I need the mixer effects, unless there's some advantage to that which I'm not seeing?
Can someone please help, and if you can I would truly appreciate it. I apologize if I'm coming off as a total idiot, but I'd really like to know what to look for and need some pointers.
I normally have one 1/8"-1/4" cable plugged into my PC's sound card, and the 1/4" part will go into each separate instrument. I'll record the drum track from my MPC as wav, bring it into Reaper, loop it, then switch the 1/4" cable to synth #1, record that into the PC over the looped drum track and record the synth, plug the 1/4" into synth #2...you get the idea. I'm probably making it way harder than it needs to be, but all this plug/unplug mess seems like way too much work and probably a very ghetto setup.
Last night I tried chaining the line outs from one synth into the line in of my Kaoss Pad, then line out from that into the line in of the MPC. Problem is, I can't hear the line in on the MPC unless I'm in record mode, and in record mode, I can't change sequences/mute tracks/whatever...so essentially, the MPC is breaking the audio chain in that way.
I've been told a mixer is the answer. Well, I don't have a lot of bread. I've read that Mackie makes good mixers and they seem to be well-built and sound good, but I'm not entirely sure how many outputs I need. I usually use two synths and the MPC, so (with my noobness towards mixers) I'd assume I need a mixer with 3 inputs (although I think they include inputs in twos, so a 4-input mixer?) - the thing is, I see on these 4-input mixers that only two inputs have eq, and the other two don't, so now I'm confused as to how this works. I notice a lot of these mixers include effects, but I usually add my effects in Reaper, so I don't think I need the mixer effects, unless there's some advantage to that which I'm not seeing?
Can someone please help, and if you can I would truly appreciate it. I apologize if I'm coming off as a total idiot, but I'd really like to know what to look for and need some pointers.
