What would you recommend? (order of gear in setup)

[Calcutta Light Horse]

what's up all,
As regards my current setup, i'm positive i'm not using the best method for connecting my gear, but haven't figured out anything better. All recommendations are welcome!

Currently I run my zoom rt-223 drum machine, microstation, and microkorg into my alto mixer. Then I have the mixer's main out going into my microsampler. From there the signal goes to my first kp3, then into my dbx gate/compressor, then into a second kp3, then into my dbx equalizer, then into a, lexicon mx200 effects rack, and finally into my 404sx (and out to my m audio bx5a monitors.

The reason I use this setup is so I can sample/chop/effect my microstation and microkorg sounds in the microsampler, then create a loop on the kp3, compress/gate as needed, loop/chop/effect on second kp3, equalize and add further effects, and finally sample into 404sx. I don't use fx send on mixer as it is mono.

Does this sound crazy to anyone? Any suggestions or possible improvements? As you can see, I dont really use a computer except to arrange my completed tracks from 404.

Thanks for reading

[Ill Green]

Yeah your set-up sounds crazy, but whatever works for you.

To me, it sounds like too much for the sound to travel and too many middle-men. But do you and post up some beats so we can dissect your sonic labrynith.

[cartesia]

sounds OK for when you want to sample things, but I would say a proper mixer (studio style not DJ mixer) with sends/monitor channels/inserts/ etc could offer you a much more flexible routing.. and at the same time keep signal quality higher by only passing things through what they need to..

There will still be choices to make, tradeoffs/etc, but it seems overall it would be better

[ghost ghost ghost]

Definitely cosign what has been said, that sounds like too many cables for my liking and definitely a few too many AD DA conversions going on as well. If you want to get into crazy signal flows you really should invest in a mixer with good routing possibilities.

Until then the microsampler actually has the same looper as the kaoss pad built into its fx section so you should be able to get away with not using that first KP3 at least some of the time

[IIIII]

do you mean only mixer fx send is mono or the whole mixer is mono signal... pretty sure a lot of synth patches on the microkorg are stereo and your missing out on that.

[Calcutta Light Horse]

Thanks for the replies.

Yeah, ill green, i'll post some beats later this week when I get a chance, i'd def appreciate comments/criticism on them!

cartesia, ghost, and IIIII: my mixer is an Alto ZMX862. it is stereo, but the fx send is mono, so i'm loathe to use the fx send for fear of losing depth. What mixer would you all recommend for my situation? Thanks again, and i'll be sure to post some of my stuff shortly so it can be analyzed.

I actually haven't ran into a (noticeable) problem with degradation of sound quality, but i'll let you all be the judges of that when I post some tunes

[IIIII]

i actually lay my tracks down in a tascam 8 track, if i need to send for effects i connect that to the 404sx and the tascam return input is stereo... used to use a mixer plus micron and sr-16 and some other stuff all wired up but ive since dropped that set up and layer in the 8 track. usually only have one or two pieces on at a time now

[ghost ghost ghost]

Thanks for the replies.

Yeah, ill green, i'll post some beats later this week when I get a chance, i'd def appreciate comments/criticism on them!

cartesia, ghost, and IIIII: my mixer is an Alto ZMX862. it is stereo, but the fx send is mono, so i'm loathe to use the fx send for fear of losing depth. What mixer would you all recommend for my situation? Thanks again, and i'll be sure to post some of my stuff shortly so it can be analyzed.

I actually haven't ran into a (noticeable) problem with degradation of sound quality, but i'll let you all be the judges of that when I post some tunes

Yo most people who will actually notice/care about that sort of thing are audiophiles, so I mean it doesn't matter that much, in fact some people run their sounds through a ton of gear specifically to make it nasty so you're definitely not alone and I've heard of much much worse cases than yours. I was really mostly thinking about how you could streamline your workflow which is far more important.

I'm from MPC land and I've always worked in mono with the assignable outputs, when I bought my 404 was pretty much the first time I've ever used stereo for anything other than monitoring so it doesn't really occur to me that stereo could be that important but that microstation has some pretty nice sounds in it so I guess you would want to make the most of that. I used to use Alesis line mixers for working with my adat system, 8 stereo ins, one stereo send and return, they're pretty cheap too, could be an option for you. But it depends on if you're willing to drop the cash just to have a stereo send/return. What I would do is fx send to the dbx/Lexicon, then have the mixer's output run through the Kaoss fx for looping and into the 404. Personally I would not bother sampling your synths to the microsampler and instead just chop up the mixer's output in the 404 but that's personal preference. I just copped a microsampler for cheap and it's a dope machine no doubt, but I'm still trying to figure out what I'm actually going to use it for.

[fauna]

i don't disagree w/ the squared ghost ^^ cuz each person's different, but i'm a huge fan of stereo sampling cuz there's often stuff in the sample that is lost or crushed in mono. but again, to each, a zone.

my only real "concern" w/ the set-up listed (other than the number of things in the signal chain, as mentioned above) is the placement of the EQ at the end of it all. shouldn't that refinement come earlier, and final EQ'ing be done thru the mixer?

[IIIII]

i don't disagree w/ the squared ghost ^^ cuz each person's different, but i'm a huge fan of stereo sampling cuz there's often stuff in the sample that is lost or crushed in mono. but again, to each, a zone.

my only real "concern" w/ the set-up listed (other than the number of things in the signal chain, as mentioned above) is the placement of the EQ at the end of it all. shouldn't that refinement come earlier, and final EQ'ing be done thru the mixer?

yeah I usually keep my nicer equalizer connected to the sample source. instead of keeping your dbx so late in the signal chain you could just eq in a pc program after finalizing in the sx. that gives you a chance to go back and change your eq settings if you change your mind later on... also sx has low mid and high eq that can be quite useful, so you might want to keep that in mind

[Calcutta Light Horse]

Right on, I really appreciate the advice- nothing but good vibes on here! Unfortunately I've been away from home this past week, but i'll try some changes (EQ position, etc) when I get home. Thanks again!

[Unfolding]

my only real "concern" w/ the set-up listed (other than the number of things in the signal chain, as mentioned above) is the placement of the EQ at the end of it all. shouldn't that refinement come earlier, and final EQ'ing be done thru the mixer?

True, if you EQ for a specific instrument too lane in your chain you can take the life out of a sound.

For instance, distortion really needs high tones to bring out harmonics & sound crisp. If you EQ out the high tones after the distortion, you'll get mud. But this is audiophile shit & may not apply to how you're recording, Calc.

A good place to start with learning more about FX placement in your chains is to read up about how guitarists order their FX & follow their lead (pun). Guitar multi FX units normally have fixed paths (ie- compression->EQ->distortion->delay->chorus/flange->reverb) & can be a really good guide to potentially getting more out of your gear.

Curious to hear the results from your mad scientist set up too!

[blavatsky]

A couple thoughts...
For the zoom rt-223 drum machine, I would just sample that into the microsampler or 404sx and sell it, but that's me. Seems like you could just get the good hits out of it and simplify your setup by shedding it.


For the Microsampler (similar to A/D comment above) I wouldn't necessarily use it post mixer as a main spot to split out the audio - I have one and I like it, but i've noticed the sound quality loses something/gains a little whine when coming through it. I would try to work in the KP3 there , I think it has slightly better input/output quality.

If you really like the microkorg by all means keep it , its a good piece but if I were you i would ditch it and look at other cheap VAs - i had one (first synth), sold it and never regretted it.