[linux-audio-user] [OT] Hardware: how many I/O channels are best?

[Lee Azzarello]

I guess the question is how many tracks will you ever need to record at
once in realtime? i.e. you have 8 mics, a synthesizer, a DI box or
two...what else? Of course I can't make this decision for you, but how
large will your "project studio" projects be? 10 piece salsa band? 3 piece
rock combo? Jazz quartet? But in the end, the only use for many physical
inputs with a digital system is the ability to record to many tracks in
realtime. After that it's just overdubs and post.

-l[e^2]
------------------------------
http://www.fallingforward.net/
people experimenting with music, art and technology

On Sat, 9 Aug 2003, Mr. Spock wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I received the RME HDSP Digiface PCI card I'd ordered, but for some
> reason they only sent (and charged me for) one of the two Frontier
> Tango24 8-channel A/D-D/A convertors I'd requested. So, this got me
> thinking "maybe I only need 8 channels of I/O, and can do the rest in
> Ardour".
>
> Many musician friends using Macs say they do most of their stuff in the
> computer nowadays. One guy said he'd probably not even have a mixer,
> just preamps, although how would you do headphone monitor mixes?
>
> I was wondering what people's opinions are on this:
>
>   Should I get the other Tango24 while they're still going cheap,
>   or spend the 300 pounds elsewhere?
>
> A long-term glint-in-the-eye idea was to one day get a CLM DB8000S:
>
> http://www.clmdynamics.com/db8000_frame.htm
>
> ...8-channel M&S-mic-pre/limiter/A-D for input to the HDSP, so giving
> 16in/8out, or 24in/16out with a pair of Tango24s. But is this amount
> of channels overkill for a project studio? I won't have even eight mics
> for some time yet, although I will eventually need to be mixing lots of
> recorded tracks.
>
> I'm also wondering that mixing like this:
>
>   Ardour tracks--> D/A--> mixer+FX--> A/D--> Ardour--> D/A--> monitors
>
> ...seems rather convoluted; would it compromise quality or sync (comb
> filter effects, etc.) to be adding the extra A/D conversions? But I
> suppose that's how everyone records to ADAT machines with analogue
> desks.
>
> However, If I can do more stuff internally in Ardour, that's good.
> Trouble with that is, that I would miss the hands-on twistability of
> an analogue console where each channel's parameters are laid out for
> the tweaking. Can Ardour be used to route FX sends out of one ADAT
> channel directly to analogue outboard, then back in again?
>
>
> I don't even have a mixer yet, nor proper monitors, although the recent
> 'how to build a studio' thread helped lots:
>
> http://eca.cx/lau/2003/06/0170.html
>
>
> What I'd really like is a simple fader box with 16 or 24 moving faders,
> and little else, to save my mouse-miles when mixing. But all the control
> surfaces I've seen are either way too complicated (with lock-in unfree
> software) or don't have moving faders.
>
> Any ideas without spending $20,000 on a digital desk?
>
>
> Malc
>