Interface for Hybrid Mixing Setup

frank1985

Hey guys, I'm looking to buy an interface to accomodate the following gear for a hybrid (ITB/Analog) mixing setup. Perhaps someone out there with a similar setup can make a recommendation on a reliable unit?

8 fx pedals (1 x Stereo, 7 x Mono)
11r (spdif connection)
Rack FX (x 2 Stereo)


So that's around 13 inputs and 13 outputs minimum; 16+ would be ideal to provide room for more gear. Obviously I need to route the signal from my DAW, through the fx and back into the DAW again for printing.

Ideally I'd like an all in one solution but may consider combining two interfaces. Budget is around £500 to £600. Will not consider Behringher interfaces.

guitarfishbay

You could get a Focusrite 18i20 and Octopre rig used for that budget. I used that for a few years and was happy with it.

octatonic

Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 would be worth checking out.
Are you Mac or PC?
You get better latency with Thunderbolt- I now track entire bands at under 2ms latency (albeit with a more expensive interface).

One question though - why do you want to connect the guitar pedals individually to inputs and outputs?

For a start the level put out by guitar pedals won't be optimal for that (instrument level vs line level)- there are solutions for this but I'll leave that for now until you can confirm that is what you are intending to do.

What I would suggest is to get an interface with 8-16 channels of IO and a patchbay so you can connect the pedals in chains where necessary.
You can get a jack patchbay for under £100 and it allows you to send any output to any input.
A bantam bay is better if you plan on expanding but they are more expensive and the cables cost more.

FWIW I run a hybrid recording rig- I use a lot of outboard gear in my patchbay what gets chained together when necessary and printed into Pro Tools.
I do have guitar pedals in my outboard rack but I'm careful to match levels when I do.
It won't be difficult to get the outputs from the pedals up to line level, the trick will be getting the line level output down to a level that the guitar pedal wants to see- check out Radial reamping boxes.

Winny_Pooh

You'd be better off having less ins and outs and a patchbay. Using guitar fx as fx for mixing is a bad idea anyway. Even a genius like Vance Powell only does so occasionally. 

octatonic

I built this:



It is a Russian Big Muff, an Ibanez TS10 and a Danelectro Fabtone in a 19" rack with individual IO for each 'pedal'.

frank1985

octatonic said:

Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 would be worth checking out.
Are you Mac or PC?
You get better latency with Thunderbolt- I now track entire bands at under 2ms latency (albeit with a more expensive interface).

One question though - why do you want to connect the guitar pedals individually to inputs and outputs?

For a start the level put out by guitar pedals won't be optimal for that (instrument level vs line level)- there are solutions for this but I'll leave that for now until you can confirm that is what you are intending to do.

What I would suggest is to get an interface with 8-16 channels of IO and a patchbay so you can connect the pedals in chains where necessary.
You can get a jack patchbay for under £100 and it allows you to send any output to any input.
A bantam bay is better if you plan on expanding but they are more expensive and the cables cost more.

FWIW I run a hybrid recording rig- I use a lot of outboard gear in my patchbay what gets chained together when necessary and printed into Pro Tools.
I do have guitar pedals in my outboard rack but I'm careful to match levels when I do.
It won't be difficult to get the outputs from the pedals up to line level, the trick will be getting the line level output down to a level that the guitar pedal wants to see- check out Radial reamping boxes.

Firstly I'll explain what I'm trying to achieve. I'm basically looking to replace some of the plugins in my DAW with hardware.
What I've been doing up till now is committing my hardware fx to the recorded tracks, but I'd prefer to be able to record mostly dry (barring OD and EQ), and run my tracks from the DAW through various fx and back into the DAW again so that I can tweak a bit before printing, experiment with layering different verbs etc. In other words I want to be able to mix through hardware while maintaining the flexibility of a DAW. 

The patchbay thing is a good idea actually, I'll look into that + the Scarlett. I didn't consider impedance...I'm using moogerfoogers - I know they take line level well but not sure if they have a powerful enough output so may need to consider reamping unless there's another alternative. Everything's still a bit sketchy at this stage

wave100

I've used a Moogerfooger filter pedal via a patchbay and it worked fine.

octatonic

frank1985 said:

octatonic said:

Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 would be worth checking out.
Are you Mac or PC?
You get better latency with Thunderbolt- I now track entire bands at under 2ms latency (albeit with a more expensive interface).

One question though - why do you want to connect the guitar pedals individually to inputs and outputs?

For a start the level put out by guitar pedals won't be optimal for that (instrument level vs line level)- there are solutions for this but I'll leave that for now until you can confirm that is what you are intending to do.

What I would suggest is to get an interface with 8-16 channels of IO and a patchbay so you can connect the pedals in chains where necessary.
You can get a jack patchbay for under £100 and it allows you to send any output to any input.
A bantam bay is better if you plan on expanding but they are more expensive and the cables cost more.

FWIW I run a hybrid recording rig- I use a lot of outboard gear in my patchbay what gets chained together when necessary and printed into Pro Tools.
I do have guitar pedals in my outboard rack but I'm careful to match levels when I do.
It won't be difficult to get the outputs from the pedals up to line level, the trick will be getting the line level output down to a level that the guitar pedal wants to see- check out Radial reamping boxes.

Firstly I'll explain what I'm trying to achieve. I'm basically looking to replace some of the plugins in my DAW with hardware.
What I've been doing up till now is committing my hardware fx to the recorded tracks, but I'd prefer to be able to record mostly dry (barring OD and EQ), and run my tracks from the DAW through various fx and back into the DAW again so that I can tweak a bit before printing, experiment with layering different verbs etc. In other words I want to be able to mix through hardware while maintaining the flexibility of a DAW. 

The patchbay thing is a good idea actually, I'll look into that + the Scarlett. I didn't consider impedance...I'm using moogerfoogers - I know they take line level well but not sure if they have a powerful enough output so may need to consider reamping unless there's another alternative. Everything's still a bit sketchy at this stage

As I said above the problem it isn't usually getting the level up to line but rather out of the interface and then down to instrument level.
Look for a 'reamping' box to do this- Radial make a couple that are good.
Palmer make a cheap one called a DACCAPO that I haven't used but I have heard decent reports of.

You can get by without it but you just won't have optimal gain staging.
This might bother you, or it might not- it largely depends on the type of music you are trying to produce and the effect you are going for.
If you want it trashy then don't worry.
If you are competing against Steely Dan for punch & separation then go to the trouble to impedance & level match.

frank1985

octatonic said:

frank1985 said:

octatonic said:

Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 would be worth checking out.
Are you Mac or PC?
You get better latency with Thunderbolt- I now track entire bands at under 2ms latency (albeit with a more expensive interface).

One question though - why do you want to connect the guitar pedals individually to inputs and outputs?

For a start the level put out by guitar pedals won't be optimal for that (instrument level vs line level)- there are solutions for this but I'll leave that for now until you can confirm that is what you are intending to do.

What I would suggest is to get an interface with 8-16 channels of IO and a patchbay so you can connect the pedals in chains where necessary.
You can get a jack patchbay for under £100 and it allows you to send any output to any input.
A bantam bay is better if you plan on expanding but they are more expensive and the cables cost more.

FWIW I run a hybrid recording rig- I use a lot of outboard gear in my patchbay what gets chained together when necessary and printed into Pro Tools.
I do have guitar pedals in my outboard rack but I'm careful to match levels when I do.
It won't be difficult to get the outputs from the pedals up to line level, the trick will be getting the line level output down to a level that the guitar pedal wants to see- check out Radial reamping boxes.

Firstly I'll explain what I'm trying to achieve. I'm basically looking to replace some of the plugins in my DAW with hardware.
What I've been doing up till now is committing my hardware fx to the recorded tracks, but I'd prefer to be able to record mostly dry (barring OD and EQ), and run my tracks from the DAW through various fx and back into the DAW again so that I can tweak a bit before printing, experiment with layering different verbs etc. In other words I want to be able to mix through hardware while maintaining the flexibility of a DAW. 

The patchbay thing is a good idea actually, I'll look into that + the Scarlett. I didn't consider impedance...I'm using moogerfoogers - I know they take line level well but not sure if they have a powerful enough output so may need to consider reamping unless there's another alternative. Everything's still a bit sketchy at this stage

As I said above the problem it isn't usually getting the level up to line but rather out of the interface and then down to instrument level.
Look for a 'reamping' box to do this- Radial make a couple that are good.
Palmer make a cheap one called a DACCAPO that I haven't used but I have heard decent reports of.

You can get by without it but you just won't have optimal gain staging.
This might bother you, or it might not- it largely depends on the type of music you are trying to produce and the effect you are going for.
If you want it trashy then don't worry.
If you are competing against Steely Dan for punch & separation then go to the trouble to impedance & level match.

Thanks Octatonic, understood now...I'm into producing lofi ambient so 'trashy' might be an advantage, but if it crosses from trashy to downright shit sounding territory at least I know what's required. 

mike257

A band I work for are using a very similar setup for recording currently. UAD Apollo with a load of racked up Moog pedals all in one chain, ran through line level I/O on the Apollo. Working a treat so far!