Ah. I see. I'll be very interested in the results. Would you be so kind as
to post them once you have some opinions on A/B comparisons?

My initial opinion is that it won't add anything meaningful at all. If it
was recorded in digital and will end up digital, I don't see how routing it
through an analogue stage somewhere in the middle will help. But I'm very
interested in opinions to the contrary and certainly don't have a closed
mind to it.

Oh, and would you let us know what monitors you are using too (or what
everyone will listen to those comparisons on).

In terms of outboard effects/signal processors, I think most things have
been tried. There are VSTi plug-ins for pretty much everything. Check out
www.kvraudio.com if you're ever looking for something.


Rich




"Alan Cassaro" wrote in message
...
I think we're getting a feedback loop going right here. As I stated, and
which
you referred to in your response, "In the past I've been mixing down the
multichannels from my Cakewalk
program, and saving it as a wave file right on the computer". Of course,
this
would INCLUDE bouncing to other channels in either Sonar or Cakewalk.
That's
also an internal mixdown.
The primary reason I want to send my digitally recorded signals
through
my outboard mixer is to add some actual analog warmth, as I feel some of
the
tracks feel a little bit brittle right now. I have a couple of old echo
chambers
I used for many years prior to recording on a PC, some Ashley Compressors,
etc.
I've got a couple of old tape recorders with that old fashioned cheap
"sound on
sound" echo too, that I want to put into the mix. We're doing vintage
fifties
music, and I want to get more of a true fifties sound, although I'm
getting a
pretty nice sound on the PC too. Although I have automated most of the
mixing on
the individual channels of my multitrack, I would still like the
opportunity
to do some real "On the fly" mixes via the external mixer. I know there
are
outboard devices I could buy that would allow me to do this "on the fly"
mixing
on the PC, but that still wouldn't give me an analog mix. I have various
plugins
I use on the PC that "simulate" analog mixes, such as the PSP Vinage
Warmer,
which I love, but in my quest for personal satisfaction, I want the
opportunity
to compare my final INTERNAL digital mixdowns with some final analog
EXTERNAL
mixdowns. They each have a different quality (digital versus analog) that
are
capable of emiting different kinds of emotion in the listener. After I run
some
"blind" listener tests among my friends and fellow musicians, I'll decide
whether to go with the internal or external mixes.
Alan

Rich wrote:

Why would you want to do this? Why not just mix down to two track using
Sonar? It must have a bounce down, or mix down function, or maybe just
exporting from the master fader does it... I dunno, I don't use Sonar,
but
it HAS to have the functionality to mix down internally to a two track
file.
If it's not obvious how, use the help files.

R.

"Alan Cassaro" wrote in message
...


In the past I've been mixing down the multichannels from my
Cakewalk
program, and saving it as a wave file right on the computer. No
problem.
Or, in
the event that I wanted to
use my external mixer and it's mixer, I ran my PC thru my MOTU
soundcard,
and
mixed it all down to my external DAT recorder. That was simple too.

However, the DAT recorder has died, and I can't afford to
to
get
another one at this time.
Although I've never tried it, it seems logical to me that I
should
be
able to send the outputs of channels 1-6 from Cakewalk Sonar on my PC,
thru my
external mixer, and then bring it back to channels 7 and 8 in the same
CakewalkSonar program. Is it possible? Of course, I realise I would
have
to set
it up so as to avoid feedback loops, although I've never had to do that
in
the
past.. In the event that it's not possible to bring it back into
Cakewalk,
would I be able to bring it all back from my external mixer into the
input on
WavLab, or another sound editor, while I'm also running Cakewalk as my
output?.

The only other option I could see at this point would be to bring
my
other
computer from upstairs to use as the "mixdown recorder", but I would
like
to
avoid doing that, unless there's no other way around this.
Any other suggestions that I haven't thought of to solve the
problem
would
be appreciated.
Thanks in advance. The answer may be quite obvious, but I've never
tired
to do this before.
Rave On,
Alan Cassaro