Mpc-Triton-rack-track to Cubase question

A while ago i posted a question how to track into a tascam 2488 then into cubase for editing. One of you suggested on just tracking straight into an interface. Since then i sold my tascam 2488 for a tascam fw 1082 to track straight into cubase. I'd like to know how would i go about doing this because i get a little confused due to my setup and dont understand how it would work. let me explain.

Equipment:
Mpc (sequencer)
Ensoniq eps (controller)
Triton rack (source of my sounds)
Tascam 1082 (interface)
Cubase (daw)

My setup:
Mpc midi in #1 to eps midi out
Mpc midi out #1 to triton rack midi in

With these connections i can record sequences on my mpc just fine. here's the thing. my triton rack has only 4 individual outs. so that limits me to only 4 tracks to track individual with audio into the tascam 1082 when i can have up to 16 on the triton rack. so basically what I'm asking is, is midi tracking the way to go? I don't understand how that would work if I'm limited to only 4 audio outputs. How would i be able to hear, solo, mute, and manipulate each individual track through midi?

Is this a matter of the mpc or triton? or both?

How should i go about this?

Am i on the right track with this situation?

Does this even make sense?

That Guy wrote:...is midi tracking the way to go?

That Guy wrote:Does this even make sense?

No. What is 'midi tracking'?

MIDI is NOT audio. What you hear on a cd? That's audio. What you hear on the radio? That's audio. What you record to tape or hard drive? That's audio.
When you hit a key on your controller, and it tells your synth to play a note, THAT'S MIDI. When you have a sequencer play many notes to a synth/sampler, THAT'S MIDI.

Having said all that, what you want to do is completely possible. You just have to understand the basics first.

Your best bet, to be able to have all your tracks recorded AS AUDIO, and separated as individual tracks, is to record them one at a time into your daw. Then, you can go back later and mute/eq/effect each track individually. You will have to line them up to be in correct time with each other (many examples of how to do this on this site).

Think about it this way. Each audio cable you have going from your triton to your interface...that can only carry ONE channel at a time, so if you want to get one instrument by its self, you have to send only ONE instrument down that cable. You cannot later de-mix many instruments sent down the same cable.

The point about using midi is, since it is not AUDIO, you can send information about 16 tracks down one channel, and you can still de-mix this information later. But remember what I said, it's not audio. When you record MIDI you aren't actually 'recording' anything, you are simply transferring the notes into a new sequencer (your daw at this point). When you 'record' midi you will not end up with sound, you will end up with notes that tell the machine to play a sound. The exact same thing as hitting the key on your controller. It just says 'PLAY THIS NOTE'.

Now the advanced details:
You could actually record as many tracks at once as your triton has outs and your interface has ins...whichever has the least. You can take one sound, send it to only one output, and take another sound, send it to only one output, and so on and so on. You can then record all these outputs at once. but, repeating myself here, you have to have one sound per cable/output. You cannot 'demix' them later. This is why some people get the 8-output expander for the mpc...because then we can record 8 separate tracks at once from the mpc.

One other option is to simply use your mpc as a sequencer, trigger the triton, and record the mpc sequence (midi) into the daw. Then, you can manipulate the sequence later via midi...but again remember, there is no sound recorded. You still need to take that midi in your daw, and send it to the triton to hear anything. This might involve some cable hooking/unhooking depending on how advanced you get with the setup.

Good luck, and I'd say stick to recording one track at a time or however many your triton has outputs for...you could probably easily do 4 tracks at a time if your triton has 8 outs. Note that a stereo sound will actually use 2 outputs.

Points well taken.

nogginj wrote:One other option is to simply use your mpc as a sequencer, trigger the triton, and record the mpc sequence (midi) into the daw. Then, you can manipulate the sequence later via midi...but again remember, there is no sound recorded. You still need to take that midi in your daw, and send it to the triton to hear anything. This might involve some cable hooking/unhooking depending on how advanced you get with the setup.

how possible is this approach?

It's totally possible, you just have to remember, once again, that you will basically need to do the other way (record audio) eventually. If you just keep the recordings as MIDI, you will have to have the triton hooked up and configured properly every time you want to play your tracks back. The benefit of this approach, is that you take your mpc sequences into a daw where you can then edit / refine them visually. I don't think too many people do it this way as it involves a bit more setup. Your mpc needs to be talking to your computer and the synth, and then the computer needs to be talking to the synth for playback. You would also need to be able to monitor your synth somehow (audio).

If you want to make a cd, or mp3, or whatever, you are eventually going to have to record some audio. If you want your tracks separate, you can only record as many tracks at a time as you have outs on your synth.

Ok i think i see what you're saying. let me know if I'm wrong. I'm guessing what you're saying is i have to midi in mpc to midi out tascam, midi out mpc to midi in tascam. Set up both the midi on cubase and the mpc (which I"m not entirely sure how to do). then ill be able to edit the midi data then when I'm done to make it into a cd or something i record the audio from the triton rack into cubase. if that's right i have a question. if i wanted to put effects (reverb, eq, etc) on the midi data will it effect the audio coming from the triton rack? or will it not because to do so i would need to do it to the audio?

You are wrong ;].
In the setup you described...where is the midi to your triton?

And no you cannot put put effects like reverb / eq on the midi track. MIDI IS NOT AUDIO. Anything you hear...that's audio. MIDI just says 'play this note at this time'. Take that to heart because you've got to get this difference down solidly or you are in for a long hard ride and a lot of 'midi-headphones' jokes around here. ;]

At this point, I think you need to just forget about recording MIDI, because once you said 'effects' I know you are not talking about midi.

You need to hook your MPC midi OUT to your TRITON midi IN and just forget about midi on the computer. Record as many tracks at a time as you can going triton AUDIO OUT to tascam AUDIO IN, then repeat with another set of tracks.

Advanced info:
To get the midi recording setup to work, you would go MPC midi out -> tascam midi in. Tascam midi out -> triton midi in. You would need to configure Cubase to record midi data on 16 different channels, and you would need to configure your triton to receive midi on 16 different channels (I cannot help you with either of those). Then you simply select MIDI and 1-16A for your midi channel for any mpc track...it's real simple in the mpc, it's what it was designed for.

Now you see, you are taking the mpc midi into the computer, which is then just spitting it back out to the triton...the computer is just 'intercepting it' to record it.

ps. for the record there *are* midi effects but it's mainly good for delay and that's it...and it still is not truly an effect like you are thinking.

Again, points well taken. thanks a lot man you really helped. I'm going to go the recording 4 tracks at a time route. again thanks for the help.