Help me sort out my gear

Hey all, getting a bit confused sorting the setup out and could do with some help. I've been using a mpc4000 with a 1210 hooked up to it. been doing most of my beats on there. Recently though I got Ableton Live and NI and I'm really feeling the NI synths. With them I've been using UAD plugins off a UAD card for mixing, EQ. Controlling the NI/Live with a MicroKorg midi keyboard. I'm only running a basic NIAudio 8 DJ soundcard with this setup tho. I also have a Little Phatty. What I want to do it step it up a bit and sort out my gear into one big setup. So I can do my bass on the LP, my beats on the MPC and all the other bits with NI software. What I'm confused about is the workflow here. I guess I'm going to be doing the mixdown in Live with some UAD plugs. Would it be a good idea to update the soundcard? Would I need to be getting a mixing board to hook all this up to (I may eventually want to use external fx). If I do this am I gonna be able to record all in Live or is it better to go to multitrack? Confused lol.

bluntforcebass wrote: mpc4000 with a 1210..

What's a 1210?

bluntforcebass wrote: Would I need to be getting a mixing board to hook all this up to (I may eventually want to use external fx). If I do this am I gonna be able to record all in Live or is it better to go to multitrack? Confused lol.

Unless I'm looking at the wrong interface the NI 8 DJ seems to have 4 stereo inputs so you shouldn't need to get a separate mixer to run Little Phatty and the MicroKorg to your PC...at least not that I can see. Although you may need to use an adpater like this http://www.guitarcenter.com/Monster-Cab ... 1172792.gc

It also seems that interface has multiple outputs that you could run the Little Phatty and MicroKorg back to the Mpc 4000 if you ever wanted to sample the melodies and chop them up. Regardless of how you do it I would definitely track out everything in Live. Tracking out to Live will give you more editing control and access to better effects processing.

bluntforcebass wrote:Hey all, getting a bit confused sorting the setup out and could do with some help. I've been using a mpc4000 with a 1210 hooked up to it. been doing most of my beats on there. Recently though I got Ableton Live and NI and I'm really feeling the NI synths. With them I've been using UAD plugins off a UAD card for mixing, EQ. Controlling the NI/Live with a MicroKorg midi keyboard. I'm only running a basic NIAudio 8 DJ soundcard with this setup tho. I also have a Little Phatty. What I want to do it step it up a bit and sort out my gear into one big setup. So I can do my bass on the LP, my beats on the MPC and all the other bits with NI software. What I'm confused about is the workflow here. I guess I'm going to be doing the mixdown in Live with some UAD plugs. Would it be a good idea to update the soundcard? Would I need to be getting a mixing board to hook all this up to (I may eventually want to use external fx). If I do this am I gonna be able to record all in Live or is it better to go to multitrack? Confused lol.

Upright, a 1210 is a black Technics 1200.

OP, do you have expanded analog outs on your MPC 4000? There's a long discussion that can be had if you do.

If you don't, the solution is fairly easy. Hook up your MPC from the stereo outs into inputs 1/2 on the Audio 8 DJ & hook up the Phatty into input 3.

The issue you're going to run into is syncing the MPC4000 to the computer, so I'd recommend you get a 2x2 USB to MIDI interface so you can MIDI sync both your MPC and your Phatty.

This way, you can record your drum tracks through the MPC (you would only be able to send them out in a stereo pair unless you got the expanded outs) into Ableton, layer synths, then mix/master with your UAD plugs.

descry wrote:
Upright, a 1210 is a black Technics 1200.

Ah, I see. Speaking of which I need to invest in another GOOD DD turntable. Maybe I'll start a thread asking for help. Thanks descry