[Scott Dorsey]

In article , Tobiah wrote:

I know that the tactile thing is nice, and we all like
to pull fader knobs up and down, but why add more
electronics anywhere around the computer interface
when it can all be done between the ins and outs?

Okay, IF you do all your processing in the box and there is absolutely no
analogue processing in the chain, there is no reason that you cannot work
today with a HUI or some other interface that is just a bunch of controls
interfaced to the DAW.

And, in fact, if you look inside a modern digital mixer, you'll find that
it's just a bunch of controls interfaced to a DSP processor.

Now, if you're doing analogue processing, and you still want to remain in
the "mix as performance" world where the mix is being done in realtime by
an operator rather than by automation envelopes, going with an analogue
console for mixing the DAW outputs can reduce the number of conversion stages
in your signal path and dramatically cut out on the amount of math you have
to do regarding conversion delays (since two channels with different signal
processing configurations will have different delay times).

I'm thinking more of studio or home recording
situations. Maybe live sound still has a place
for big mixing desks, but do they? Why not a
30" monitor, or that with maybe those midi sliders
that motorize to and fro?

Because in the live sound world it's very important to be able to pull down
a single fader immediately and make very rapid unplanned changes without
wasting several seconds paging through menus.

What are the arguments for having a physical mixer,
and is that industry otherwise in trouble?

I think the whole audio industry has been in trouble for the past decade.
Oh, well.

The thing about analogue mixers is that you can make your own from various
modules... get a 500-series frame, some 500-series preamps, some 500-series
eqs and faders... a little summing and routing wiring and you're there.

Just wondering: isn't the computer all we really need now,
given enough clean in/out ports? The mixers used to struggle
so much when it came to having enough busses. Now, any number
of ins can go to any variety of outs, mixed with the output
from the computer in any combination of ways that you'd like,
and the cost, due to the heavy involvement of software in
the process is a tiny fraction of what it would take to do
the same thing in analog.

A lot of it depends on the kind of work you're doing. Having only eight
tracks is sometimes a great salvation and a force to prevent overproduction.
On the other hand, sometimes it is a serious limitation that makes it very
difficult to accomplish what the producer has in his head.

The technology needed to do pop music and the technology needed to do classical
music, for example, are very different because the production techniques are
different because the demands placed by the music itself are different.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."