Hardware mixer or control surface question

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Posted by Sonic_c on Aug-13-2008 08:13:

Hardware mixer or control surface question

I come from a DJ background so love the feel of a feel mixer faders not a mouse. Could someone advise me whats best and also answer a technical question I have about hardware.

First the technical question. Can I split all the tracks in cubase to separate audio channels and have them assigned to channels on say a DJ mixer or a mixing desk?

I ask because my soundcard only has one output so obviously I would need some kit. Which leads me nicely onto the second question. Can you buy a soundcard with like 16 outputs and route vsti�s or vocal tracks from cubase to each of these outputs then mix them on a hardware mixer?

OR

Is it best I just buy a control surface for cubase and bypass the problem. Also are control surfaces complicated to install and configure or is it as simple as re-wiring reason to cubase?

All simple questions I just have no experience of it and am looking to upgrade

Thanks

Posted by Vortex_SA on Aug-13-2008 08:31:

i would suggest asking yourself what you really need, and not what you want... do you feel that at this stage you would benefit by a mixing desk or controller? would you benefit more from just a better soundcard or a computer? there are various options about what you asked, you can route every instrument thru different physical outputs and put it thru a mixing desk, and there are midi controllers with faders that can be assigned to the mixing faders on your DAW... but do you really need all that? it sounds a bit unnecessery to me...

Posted by echosystm on Aug-13-2008 08:40:

Ok, firstly, any type of mixer/controller like this is really over rated. Having physical fader control is fantastic for recording, because you NEED to ride faders very often. It's very unnecessary for EDM though. I'm willing to bet you'd rarely use it. Anyway...

I strongly recommend going the control surface route.

The biggest problem with standard outboard mixers is that the parameters aren't recallable. When you change projects, you effectively have to re-mix it. I don't like to work this way. I like to have everything automatically recallable when I open the project. Likewise, another problem is that you're going to forget what channels in your DAW are routed to what mixer channels.

If you really want an outboard mixer, get a digital one that is totally recallable (ie. has motorised faders and memory space). These will be expensive though. Likewise, you'll need to buy a soundcard with lots of I/O, which will be a fair bit extra too.

Conversely, if you get a Mackie Control, you have 100% recallable mixer settings and LCD readouts for every channel, which say what controls are linked to what. You can also control an unlimited number of DAW channels, by shifting accross.

One benefit of having an analog outboard mixer is that it's analog and you can brag about how much moar analog your trax have. FYI: this is a load of horseshit, for the most part. To demonstrate; someone started a thread on here asking how to sound like Eric Prydz. Alot of people immediately jumped on, saying that he must be analog'd up the wazoo and use no less than an SSL... turned out he uses an old laptop with Logic 5.5. Food for thought.

Posted by pwnage1 on Aug-13-2008 08:49:

I pretty much think you shouldn't do it. But if you must i think you should keep an eye out for the korg nano series. LINK .

Now these are still being developed but they are only supposed to be $69.99. For the price even though it is small if you must have faders you should take a look. I am excited for the pad controller especially since there is an Xy touchpad.

Posted by Sonic_c on Aug-13-2008 12:02:

Thanks guys but I think I have uncovered the real question i was trying to ask here. I'll post a new thread as it should be a good discussion.

Posted by Ry Thomas on Aug-13-2008 15:16:

I had an MCU Pro, it was very good