[stv]

I'm playing more and more gigs with our two acoustic ensembles, and
I'm wondering about
the possiblities of using PT LE to simultaneously mix and record.

I haven't looked at the currently available hardware bits in a long
time. I'd need eight preamps
and some way to get the audio into PT, preferably via FireWire.

It seems that by now there ought to be small boxes that could put this
together and allow me
to use my PT LE 7 software and plugins to pump out a live mix without
a hardware mixer,
and to record the tracks down to an external hard drive
simultaneously.

Can this be done? Or do I need to get some other boxes and learn how
to use Cubase LE or
some other software? Do those other s/w things have an array of
plugz, EQs, lim/comprs,
verbs?

Finally, are these other software things (e.g. Cubase LE) more or less
CPU-demanding than
PT LE?

Thanks,

stv

[[email protected]]

On Feb 4, 4:37*pm, stv wrote:
I'm playing more and more gigs with our two acoustic ensembles, and
I'm wondering about
the possiblities of using PT LE to simultaneously mix and record.

I haven't looked at the currently available hardware bits in a long
time. *I'd need eight preamps
and some way to get the audio into PT, preferably via FireWire.

It seems that by now there ought to be small boxes that could put this
together and allow me
to use my PT LE 7 software and plugins to pump out a live mix without
a hardware mixer,
and to record the tracks down to an external hard drive
simultaneously.

Can this be done? *Or do I need to get some other boxes and learn how
to use Cubase LE or
some other software? * Do those other s/w things have an array of
plugz, EQs, lim/comprs,
verbs?

Finally, are these other software things (e.g. Cubase LE) more or less
CPU-demanding than
PT LE?

Thanks,

stv

You don't want to try and do both at the same time. For one thing,
there's latency that you'd be dealing with. Then, what you'd derive
from the one mix (live) might not be suitable for the other
(recorded). You'd be better off getting a digital mixer that has adat
out and using the direct outs to go into ProTools to get your record
feed. If you use a Yamaha digital mixer (01V96 or better) and their
mLan card, you can get 16 direct outs via firewire to any other multi-
track application via firewire. Use the analog outs for your live mix
and the direct outs for your recorded mix because you can always go
back and adjust them. You only get one shot live.

[stv]

On Feb 4, 8:21*pm, wrote:
On Feb 4, 4:37*pm, stv wrote:



I'm playing more and more gigs with our two acoustic ensembles, and
I'm wondering about
the possiblities of using PT LE to simultaneously mix and record.

I haven't looked at the currently available hardware bits in a long
time. *I'd need eight preamps
and some way to get the audio into PT, preferably via FireWire.

It seems that by now there ought to be small boxes that could put this
together and allow me
to use my PT LE 7 software and plugins to pump out a live mix without
a hardware mixer,
and to record the tracks down to an external hard drive
simultaneously.

Can this be done? *Or do I need to get some other boxes and learn how
to use Cubase LE or
some other software? * Do those other s/w things have an array of
plugz, EQs, lim/comprs,
verbs?

Finally, are these other software things (e.g. Cubase LE) more or less
CPU-demanding than
PT LE?

Thanks,

stv

You don't want to try and do both at the same time. For one thing,
there's latency that you'd be dealing with. Then, what you'd derive
from the one mix (live) might not be suitable for the other
(recorded).

Aren't there devices that record separate tracks with level controls
to
a hard drive and simultaneously put out a stereo mix that would be
usable for a live mix? I can do that with PT LE now, and with eight
inputs or less I haven't had any latency.

You'd be better off getting a digital mixer that has adat
out and using the direct outs to go into ProTools to get your record
feed. If you use a Yamaha digital mixer (01V96 or better) and their
mLan card, you can get 16 direct outs via firewire to any other multi-
track application via firewire.

The cost of a Yamaha digital mixer is in a whole other league from an
interface and software. Not acceptable.

Use the analog outs for your live mix
and the direct outs for your recorded mix because you can always go
back and adjust them.

Of course.

You only get one shot live.

Ahhh... not always. We just keep playing, again and again... :-)

stv

[Mike Rivers]

stv wrote:
I'm playing more and more gigs with our two acoustic ensembles, and
I'm wondering about
the possiblities of using PT LE to simultaneously mix and record.

It seems that by now there ought to be small boxes that could put this
together and allow me
to use my PT LE 7 software and plugins to pump out a live mix without
a hardware mixer,

How long can you wait for the sound to come out? That's a potential
problem with
using plug-ins in a live setting. And then there's the issue of
usability. If your
show is one where what you need is an audio funnel rather than a real
mix, that is
where you don't have to operate controls once they're set, then a system
like this
might be workable, but I can't see having to futz with a mouse and a
screen to turn
up your guitar when the chorus gets a little loud. And then there's
always the risk of
using general purpose hardware and your own system engineering skills
rather than
something dedicated to, and tested for the job of passing audio from
input to output
in real time, all the time.

A much better setup for this is a hardware mixer that has suitable
outputs for
whatever kind of recording you want to do. You can get mixers with a
built-in USB2
or Firewire output from each input channel (essentially direct outputs)
available to
a computer for recording, or you can use an outboard audio interface, or
simply
record the main mix if you think that's going to be good enough for your
purposes.

There are a number of venues that are using the Digidesign ProTools
based live
systems, but they all involve a hardware control surface and low-latency
tricks. Probably
more than you want to spend.



--
If you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring and reach
me he
double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo -- I'm really Mike Rivers
)

[Richard Kuschel]

On Feb 4, 5:37 pm, stv wrote:
I'm playing more and more gigs with our two acoustic ensembles, and
I'm wondering about
the possiblities of using PT LE to simultaneously mix and record.

I haven't looked at the currently available hardware bits in a long
time. I'd need eight preamps
and some way to get the audio into PT, preferably via FireWire.

It seems that by now there ought to be small boxes that could put this
together and allow me
to use my PT LE 7 software and plugins to pump out a live mix without
a hardware mixer,
and to record the tracks down to an external hard drive
simultaneously.

Can this be done? Or do I need to get some other boxes and learn how
to use Cubase LE or
some other software? Do those other s/w things have an array of
plugz, EQs, lim/comprs,
verbs?

Finally, are these other software things (e.g. Cubase LE) more or less
CPU-demanding than
PT LE?

Thanks,

stv

It can be done, but there are a myriad of problems. Latency has been
mentioned. You really need two mixes as live sound and recorded sound
aren't the going to be the same mix. How about your monitor mix and
who is going to handle that?

A crash will put you off the stage for about 5 minutes.

Get a decent analog mixer, record from the inserts into an Alesis HD24
and dump the hard drive files into your ProTools LE for your recording
mixes.

Less headache and much better for live sound.

[philper]

On Feb 5, 3:52*pm, Richard Kuschel wrote:
On Feb 4, 5:37 pm, stv wrote:



I'm playing more and more gigs with our two acoustic ensembles, and
I'm wondering about
the possiblities of using PT LE to simultaneously mix and record.

I haven't looked at the currently available hardware bits in a long
time. *I'd need eight preamps
and some way to get the audio into PT, preferably via FireWire.

It seems that by now there ought to be small boxes that could put this
together and allow me
to use my PT LE 7 software and plugins to pump out a live mix without
a hardware mixer,
and to record the tracks down to an external hard drive
simultaneously.

Can this be done? *Or do I need to get some other boxes and learn how
to use Cubase LE or
some other software? * Do those other s/w things have an array of
plugz, EQs, lim/comprs,
verbs?

Finally, are these other software things (e.g. Cubase LE) more or less
CPU-demanding than
PT LE?

Thanks,

stv

It can be done, but there are a myriad of problems. Latency has been
mentioned. You really need two mixes as live sound and recorded sound
aren't the going to be the same mix. How about your monitor mix and
who is going to handle that?

A crash will put you off the stage for about 5 minutes.

Get a decent analog mixer, record from the inserts into an Alesis HD24
and dump the hard drive files into your ProTools LE for your recording
mixes.

Less headache and much better for live sound.

If your band is trying to produce a live album, you'll probably end up
recording a lot of gigs to get a set you like
well enough to put out. So what ever recording rig you come up with
you'll have to make part of your usual setup for quite awhile, so the
simpler you can make it the more likely it will be to happen (esp if
you play in places that have several acts a night, with fast
turnarounds between acts). If your live mixer or monitor mixer has
prefade direct outs devote some rehearsal time to rehearsing a setup
with something like the HD24. Get the setup and settings down so you
can concentrate on playing something you'll want to record. Leave the
PTLE stuff at home for editing and mixing.

Philip Perkins

[RD Jones]

On Feb 4, 5:37 pm, stv wrote:

It seems that by now there ought to be small boxes that could put this
together and allow me
to use my PT LE 7 software and plugins to pump out a live mix without
a hardware mixer,
and to record the tracks down to an external hard drive
simultaneously.

Can this be done? *Or do I need to get some other boxes and learn how
to use Cubase LE or
some other software? * Do those other s/w things have an array of
plugz, EQs, lim/comprs,
verbs?

Latency is an absolute deal killer when going through plug-ins.
Even when going through (just) an in-the-box mix there will be enough
delay that it will detract from the feel, and it won't be "live".

Finally, are these other software things (e.g. Cubase LE) more or less
CPU-demanding than
PT LE?

I don't see how you can make it work live regardless of how much CPU
you have.

On Feb 7, 6:11 pm, philper wrote:

If your band is trying to produce a live album, you'll probably end up
recording a lot of gigs to get a set you like
well enough to put out. *So what ever recording rig you come up with
you'll have to make part of your usual setup for quite awhile, so the
simpler you can make it the more likely it will be to happen (esp if
you play in places that have several acts a night, with fast
turnarounds between acts). *If your live mixer or monitor mixer has
prefade direct outs devote some rehearsal time to rehearsing a setup
with something like the HD24. *Get the setup and settings down so you
can concentrate on playing something you'll want to record. *Leave the
PTLE stuff at home for editing and mixing.

Maybe the new JoeCo USB standalone interface ?
It's made for just this scenario.

rd

[[email protected]]

On Feb 4, 7:37 pm, stv wrote:
I'm playing more and more gigs with our two acoustic ensembles, and
I'm wondering about
the possiblities of using PT LE to simultaneously mix and record.

I haven't looked at the currently available hardware bits in a long
time. I'd need eight preamps
and some way to get the audio into PT, preferably via FireWire.

It seems that by now there ought to be small boxes that could put this
together and allow me
to use my PT LE 7 software and plugins to pump out a live mix without
a hardware mixer,
and to record the tracks down to an external hard drive
simultaneously.

Can this be done? Or do I need to get some other boxes and learn how
to use Cubase LE or
some other software? Do those other s/w things have an array of
plugz, EQs, lim/comprs,
verbs?

Finally, are these other software things (e.g. Cubase LE) more or less
CPU-demanding than
PT LE?

Thanks,

stv

metric halo 2882 use their console software rec panel and dsp mixer/
low latency.