ADAT VS. 8 outs question

Whats up everyone. I have been debating which "8 outs" to get for my 4000. I am very used to the 8 analog outs having used them on my 3000 and my s6000 in conjunction with my mackie 1604VLZ. Now the thing is, I have an EMU1212M which offers 8 channels of ADAT in (YAY!). So my thought is, no brainer, get the ADAT out and lightpipe it into my ADAT in. Cool. But, should I still get the 8 analog outs at all? I mean I know it would be beneficial for monitoring reasons, but I figure for that I can mixdown everything to the L/R outs for monitoring, and then bring them all back up when its time to track....

What do you guys think?

Also, when recording analog you always have to make sure that your indvidial outs (tracks) are peaking at 0. This is easily monitored because you can solo the track and read the level on your DAW. How would you do this with the ADAT option?

TIA.

MaZe

i went with the adat option. i'm using it with an 002. i decided to remove the analog mixer from my home set up. my reasoning is that the mixer i had wasn't high-quality enough to add anything "special" to the sound and would more likely color and add noise to my signal. also my signal will stay in the digital domain when being tracked. If you use an analog mixer, the mp must convert to analog, then when you multi-track, your signal is converted back to digital, thus two conversions instead of none. My setup is very analog on the front end, via pre-amps, compressors and turn-tables. The sound that i get going in is the sound i want to keep.

The draw-back is that you must have the computer turned on and have pro tools running in order to hear anything. sometime you just want t play or bang on some pads without dealing with the machine. (In your case, you won't have this problem if you use the stereo outs and your mixer to monitor.)

As for your levels using the adat card, whatever the signal level is for your sample in the mp is what your signal is going to be in your 1212. its a 1:1 transfer. If you need more level, adjust from the mp. Most of my kicks and snares hit at 0, so adjustments aren't needed. I Don't know this for a fact but I don't think its possible to overload the light-pipe since it will only transfer at a maximum of 0. (At least I don't recall it ever happening.) Correct me if i'm wrong.

Well I just picked up the last ADAT option I could find in my city after calling about 5 online stores and being told they were on back order for 4-6 weeks.

Ive been now reading the 1212M instuctions pretty carefully and its seems as though I would use thei cards PatchMix virtual mixer program on the PC and then route the virtual outputs of that mixer into the virtual ins in my soft. Its seems like a really nice setup if it works properly!

To answer my own question about monitoring to 0, I would do that in PatchMix before I record into the soft. Sounds very nice!

MaZe

hey ddot_SFV

I was thinkin about gettin an ADAT to plug my MPC into a Digi002 and use it as a mixer without having to turn on Pro tools and all that

I thought this could be done with ADAT

maybe it s only with the analog option, I read on the digidesign website that the digi 002 could work as a stand alone mixer, is it only the case with analog inputs ?

tahnks for your help

misterv wrote:hey ddot_SFV

I was thinkin about gettin an ADAT to plug my MPC into a Digi002 and use it as a mixer without having to turn on Pro tools and all that

I thought this could be done with ADAT

maybe it s only with the analog option, I read on the digidesign website that the digi 002 could work as a stand alone mixer, is it only the case with analog inputs ?

tahnks for your help

I think you can do this with the 002 (w/faders). I should have clarified that I was using the rack version. Check digi web site to be sure.

ok I'm gonna check that

Im going to keep the mixer, for now, but you could always do some rough monitoring with headphones I have AKG240S's and they are good to me.

I installed the expansion but didint have time to mess with it that much, what I did realize is that now I have 10 outs and I already had 10 ins on my soundccard. 10 simultaneous recording tracks.......i cant wait.


MaZe

Been hearing a lot grumbling about levels. Copied this from the gearslutz site.


"Myth#3: Record the hottest possible signal without clipping

When we were using 8bit converters, that wasn't bad advise. People seem to think that you need to hit 0 dB to get the *full* 16 bits. Not so. The loud stuff is covered in the 1st few bits. By the time you get to the 16th bit we're talking way way way low level stuff here. If you're tracking in 24 or 20 bit, feel free to leave headroom, you'll end up with 16bits of usable data anyway, there's no need to bludgen your AD and make mixing harder for absolutely no improvement in sound."

NE 1 Know how to set up adat optical to the 002 or logic pro7. I hear mad static....is there a certain way to set it up?

there should'nt be any static with digital things, your problem might be somewhere else (if I'm not mistaken)

about what you said ddot_SFV

"Myth#3: Record the hottest possible signal without clipping

When we were using 8bit converters, that wasn't bad advise. People seem to think that you need to hit 0 dB to get the *full* 16 bits. Not so. The loud stuff is covered in the 1st few bits. By the time you get to the 16th bit we're talking way way way low level stuff here. If you're tracking in 24 or 20 bit, feel free to leave headroom, you'll end up with 16bits of usable data anyway, there's no need to bludgen your AD and make mixing harder for absolutely no improvement in sound."


can anyone confirm or deny this ? (anyione that knows well how digital work ?)