By L. Tombstone
Wed Mar 16, 2005 5:09 pm
Sound sources: MPC2000 or 3000, turntables through Vestax mixer, Emu Proteus 2000 and Roland XV5050, and on some occasions Tascam CDRW700 CD burner.
Signal path: Avalon 737SP to Apogee Rosetta.
DAW/Softare: Mac G4, Protools LE with 001 hardware w/assorted plugins, (Waves plugins get a lot of run in my process).
I basically send one of the above mentioned sound sources through the above mentioned signal path, and edit all the captured audio in the above mentioned DAW/Software. The only real exception is if I sample/record from a CD I will go SPDIF direct from the hardware burner to the SPDIF on the 001 interface or one of my MPC's.
Mr. Disco's breakdown on the pro's and con's is pretty on point. However, I find the waveform editing on the MPC's to be tedious and thus slowing the vibe down sometimes. I use the MPC's primarily for the percussion envelopes and the sound they give drums (mainly kicks and snares). Also I come up with better ideas sometimes if I chop drums on the MPC first and then fly them into the computer. But I have also made entire beats not having touched the MPC's at all so there's no absolute one solid way I do things. I usually go where the inspiration takes me at the time.
Hands down though, the computer is clearly the best way to sequence. Doing drops are simple as deleting audio on screen instead of remaking a whole sequence with the change you want. I could go on about the editing flexibility but I think it's not hard to see the pro's of that. What I think I like best about DAW recording and sequencing is that the composition constantly evolves, to the point that when you are done, your beat, track, song, whatever sounds totally polished. When I used to rock ADAT's with my MPC, the mix was different every time. I'd have to track out the beat, EQ it, get the level proportions right, etc. With Protools, every thing is how I left it the last time, so I go in do some sweetening and save it and do more tweaking later. By the time I'm done, there's almost nothing left to 'mix'. So When I finish songs the mixing process is about 10 percent of the work it used to be with ADAT's or other analog setups.
On a final note, I do like the added analog 'life' the Avalon piece adds to my sounds, but the Apogee Rosetta is a big plus for that clean A/D conversion so I'm not relying on the Digidesign hardware for its A/D conversion. I highly recommend some sort of outboard A/D converter regardless if you are using DAW software. WHEW! Too many words, I'm outta here!!! Hope the information helps provide additional insight on the topic.
Signal path: Avalon 737SP to Apogee Rosetta.
DAW/Softare: Mac G4, Protools LE with 001 hardware w/assorted plugins, (Waves plugins get a lot of run in my process).
I basically send one of the above mentioned sound sources through the above mentioned signal path, and edit all the captured audio in the above mentioned DAW/Software. The only real exception is if I sample/record from a CD I will go SPDIF direct from the hardware burner to the SPDIF on the 001 interface or one of my MPC's.
Mr. Disco's breakdown on the pro's and con's is pretty on point. However, I find the waveform editing on the MPC's to be tedious and thus slowing the vibe down sometimes. I use the MPC's primarily for the percussion envelopes and the sound they give drums (mainly kicks and snares). Also I come up with better ideas sometimes if I chop drums on the MPC first and then fly them into the computer. But I have also made entire beats not having touched the MPC's at all so there's no absolute one solid way I do things. I usually go where the inspiration takes me at the time.
Hands down though, the computer is clearly the best way to sequence. Doing drops are simple as deleting audio on screen instead of remaking a whole sequence with the change you want. I could go on about the editing flexibility but I think it's not hard to see the pro's of that. What I think I like best about DAW recording and sequencing is that the composition constantly evolves, to the point that when you are done, your beat, track, song, whatever sounds totally polished. When I used to rock ADAT's with my MPC, the mix was different every time. I'd have to track out the beat, EQ it, get the level proportions right, etc. With Protools, every thing is how I left it the last time, so I go in do some sweetening and save it and do more tweaking later. By the time I'm done, there's almost nothing left to 'mix'. So When I finish songs the mixing process is about 10 percent of the work it used to be with ADAT's or other analog setups.
On a final note, I do like the added analog 'life' the Avalon piece adds to my sounds, but the Apogee Rosetta is a big plus for that clean A/D conversion so I'm not relying on the Digidesign hardware for its A/D conversion. I highly recommend some sort of outboard A/D converter regardless if you are using DAW software. WHEW! Too many words, I'm outta here!!! Hope the information helps provide additional insight on the topic.
Good info dood.. I hear what ya sayin bout DAW though, a lot more tools to play with... Just love the hands on feel of hardware, I suppose once im up to speed with cubase etc will see the benefits more..
