The Digidesign Digi 003 is a strong value if you need this much mixing and I/O facility. But is it overkill for our reader Lynn?

Gear isn’t everything — but getting geared up is the one hurdle that can hold up beginners. In the Ask CDM series, we’ll be answering at random some of the questions we regularly get in our inbox. First up, Lynn Morgan, who’s ready to make the jump to digital. Lynn writes:

My questions will quickly [make it] apparent that I’m from the old “tape” school of recording. But nonetheless, I do understand sound recording to some degree, having recorded 5 long-play projects in “Guitar City”.

I want to set up a home studio where I can record my own tunes. I’ll use guitar, guitar synth, bass and some keyboards and, of course, my vocals. I want the sound to be totally professional and I want the ability to interface with other users of Pro Tools, for possibly background vocals or drums, etc.

My question is this, What do I really need for equipment? The 003 Digidesign looks impressive but what would I need beyond that?

It turns out Lynn isn’t currently a Pro Tools user, but she added this when pressed:

I want to set up a recording system that will not be outdated in 6 months and sound quality to equal the best out there. The transition from “tape” to digital they say has its advantages and disadvantages. I’m just not sure what I need in the “digital” world to make it all happen.

Good questions — and ones I expect will spur some reader comment, too. But let’s divide this up into some smaller questions and look at it that way. I did intend to answer just this sort of question with my book Real World Digital Audio, but there are some specifics I didn’t get into there, so we’ll look at the specific questions.

This wound up being a huge answer, but I know it’s a very Frequently Asked Question.

What do you need?

I think the best way to begin is to think through what you need to do and work backwards from there. With audio hardware, you’ll want to think literally to inputs and outputs and how much you’ll be recording at a time.

By now you’ve all probably seen that excellent video of Kid Beyond illustrating his usage of Ableton Live. Pretty cool, right? If one had such a system, you could loop yourself playing guitar, beatboxing, etc., all perfectly in sync with programmed drum/MIDI tracks and other performers.

Here’s how to set up your own system in a similar hands-free operation style, for about US$10, without having to solder anything. It’ll take you about an hour once you gather the parts required, or less. No joke.

You will need:

• A QWERTY keyboard, preferably with a USB connector. Otherwise, you’ll have to buy an adapter to fit your laptop, which costs extra. You can get one for $7.50 at AllElectronics.com, but you can find them even cheaper at your local thrift store’s “technology pile.” I got mine for $2.
• A flathead screwdriver.
• Ableton Live. Ed.: Live is a perfect choice here, but you may find this useful with other music apps, as well — or even in a VJ set. -PK
• A free keyboard-mapping utility called Autohotkey (if you’re running Windows). If you’re running Mac, the program to use is calledIKey.

  That’s it. Here’s how to make it go:

  
  

  Above: Steps 1-2. Simple enough.
  

Linux compatibility problems? Wally’s got his DJ gear working on Linux, and broken on Vista. And that makes him MAD. We’re celebrating random rant Friday, so let’s have at it until it gets fixed, ‘kay? He gripes because he loves, I’m sure. His opinions are his own, but I think it is important to be honest about the way users do tend to react when hardware support isn’t in sync with major OS updates — particularly when many of those new operating systems are preinstalled on machines, and licenses are pricey. -Ed.

UPDATED — by coincidence, see the end of the post: drivers just popped up for Vista.

As I’ve written on CDM before, I’m a big fan of the M-Audio Conectiv USB DJ audio interface. It’s a great bang-for-buck device that works really well with my existing collection of MsPinky vinyl.

Unfortunately though, I can’t use it (or Torq) with my new Vaio notebook running Vista (not easily anyway - I’m sure I could do some run-around by installing it as a generic USB audio device and using ASIO4ALL). Why not? Because M-Audio has yet to release drivers for it. Vista hasn’t changed for 7 months. Developers (including M-Audio, I’m sure) have had their hands on it for at least the last year. It’s been out officially for 5 months now.

However, I had no issues getting it up and running on my 8-year-old Linux box. I powered my ancient Dell running FC5 down, connected the USB cable, and booted back up. Sure enough, it was recognized as a USB audio device. A few modprobes and .asoundrc edits later, I’ve got it working with Alsa, Jack, etc.

Echo are the maker of quite affordable, nice audio interfaces; they’re perhaps best known for their ultra-compact PC Card (CardBus) interfaces and, before that, PCI-based interfaces. They’ve gotten into FireWire, but initially in the 10×10 and 12×12 configurations, where there’s plenty of competition. There are far fewer FireWire interfaces that are smaller and less expensive, which is why Echo’s latest could catch some additional attention.

The new interfaces are:

1. AudioFire2: 2 x 2 ¼” balanced analog inputs/outputs, an independent stereo headphone output with volume knob, a removable dongle for S/PDIF and MIDI i/o, an 8 foot 6-pin FireWire cable, a 3 foot 6-pin to 4-pin FireWire adapter cable, and an external 12VDC power supply. US$199
2. AudioFire4: 2 auto-sensing universal inputs with mic preamps, phantom power and trim knobs, 2 balanced ¼” analog inputs, 4 balanced ¼” analog outputs, a stereo headphone output with volume knob, S/PDIF and MIDI i/o, an 8’ 6-pin FireWire cable, and an external 12VDC power supply. $299.

The BCD2000 has been somewhat of a contradiction for me since purchase. On one hand the hardware is fantastic; robust and seriously cheap. On the other hand the included software and drivers are absolutely abhorrent, PC only affairs with broken midi implementation. I’ve always hoped that Behringer would update the BCD to have similar (extensive) MIDI configuration options to the BCR and BCF. That hasn’t happened, and almost 2 years after its initial release the BCD is almost in the same position as it started. Almost.

Evinyatar has commented on our early BCD2000 Not Mac Compatible post to announce that he - sick of waiting for Behringer to actually do something useful with their gear - has written and released OSX Universal drivers (MIDI only so far):

My first subject is Behringer’s BCD2000. When it was released about two years ago it was rumored that MacOS X drivers would be released by the end of 2005. Rather than waiting for those to appear (which they probably won’t) I decided to have a go myself. The result is quite good, if I say so myself. It works, which is more than I expected.

Currently only MIDI in and output works. Audio does not. That means you can control Traktor the way you would on a Windows computer, but you won’t hear anything through the BCD2000’s audio ports or record anything trough them. You can still, of course, use other audio outputs, built-in or external, that do work with MacOS X.

Right now the MIDI input and output are should be identical to the Windows driver in B-DJ mode. Which means a reasonable amount of pain is implied when trying to configure Traktor for the BCD2000. Basically, the same hack that works for Windows (using MIDI-Rules and a loopback device, in our case Apple’s built-in IAC) is also required for Mac. I hope to incorporate similar functionality inside the driver in the future, eliminating the need for the hack. For now, this will have to do. A more detailed guide to setting this up will be posted sometime later this week.

Even in the age of computers, there are many cases when mixers come in handy. The drummer needs a click track. Hardware effects need special signal routing. You want to control monitoring of some live mics, and to adjust level directly. You need to mix the sound from your computer with external hardware, and don’t want to have to mix in the computer to do it. I could go on, but you can use your imagination.

Rouding out this week’s slew of M-Audio announcements, M-Audio’s new NRV10 combines an 8 x 2 analog mixer with a 10 x 10 FireWire audio interface, at a pretty reasonable price of US$899.95 (especially if you consider having to buy this gear separately). It doubles as a mixer and audio interface, and can be used as a mixer when no computer is connected.

Digidesign has taken a minimalist approach to their latest audio interface, the USB-powered Mbox 2 Mini. The new hardware gives the mobile Pro Tools LE user the basics for on-the-go use, and nothing more:

1. One mic input (on a dedicated XLR, though only 2 inputs max can be used at once)
2. 48V phantom power
3. Two 1/4″ unbalanced ine-/instrument-level analog ins


4. Two 1/4″ unbalanced analog outs
5. 24-bit, 44.1k/48k operation
6. 5 x 6 x 1.75″, 1.12 lbs

Mbox 2 Mini [Digidesign Product Page]

The ultra-compact size, I’ll bet, will earn some fans, especially since Pro Tools won’t function without a connected Digidesign audio interface (or M-Audio interface for M-Powered). US$329 would actually be a really high price for this interface, but as with the other Mbox models, what you’re really buying here is Pro Tools LE. The Mbox 2 Mini doesn’t “mini-size” the software bundle, either: Pro Tools LE 7, the XPand! instrument, Bomb Factory plug-ins, and the usual extras are included. For a beginning Pro Tools user who only needs to plug in a single mic and doesn’t need a MIDI interface, this should be a good bargain.

That said, I’ll bet some Pro Tools users who would like to travel light will be a little disappointed, because there’s no unbundled version; why not offer a US$99 interface to existing Pro Tools LE users? LE users are forced to either (effectively) repurchase the software every time they want a new interface, or pay all over again for Pro Tools M-Powered and buy an M-Audio interface.

[tags]hardware, Digidesign, Pro-Tools, audio-interfaces, Windows, Mac[/tags]