Recording rehearsals with a MIDI kit, DI from bass and Quad Cortex?

imalrightjack

Hi all,

I want to capture jams/record in my band's rehearsal space and I am trying to work out what kit would be helpful.  I'd be using a Windows laptop, although at home use Mac/Logic.

The drummer in my band rehearses with a MIDI drumkit.  I use Quad Cortex and could hook that up via USB (and record two guitars), the bass can DI out.

Aside an audio interface for the bass and a MIDI adapter, are there any suggestions on how best to do this?

Just spit-balling and curious to know if there are any ideas.

Thanks!

AntonHunter

I'd think you'd want an interface to record everything, you'd probably end up with sync problems if you used different connections for different instruments. 

Something like the ZOOM U-44 can do audio in for the bass, MIDI in and digital input over spdif (no idea what the Quad Cortex outputs on tbh). Not sure if it can do it all at the same time mind, but a bigger interface surely could.

Stratavarious

I assume the drummers eKit module has audio out not just midi,

I’ve  used both before.. some more post recording options with midi drums but trickier setup.and you can move mistakes about but the easiest would be an interface of digital live desk (all my desks are interfaces too or do multitrack recording) with enough channels for each instruments audio.

Any vocals? 

What live desk do you have?  Plenty of modern desks will do both live and capture jobs. 

imalrightjack

Hi guys,

Thanks for replying.  The drums do MIDI/USB.  Having given it some more thought I am pretty sure I can make do with the drums USB and Quad Cortex for two guitars and drums, just to get basic tracking done.

No vocals at the moment - and, if so, I'm unsure whether Windows allows a composite device, unlike Mac.

Cheers!

newi123

If you can take mic / audio outs from the drums and guitars then seriously consider a 2nd hand zoom r16 - 8 inputs and acts as a standalone recorder aswell as an interface.

You can easily set levels and then just get on with playing without worrying about a laptop. At home simply drag and drop files from the zoom into your DAW.

We used one 15 yrs ago on a small club tour to record off the dedk in venues, and it worked seamlessly. Only issue is remembering to press record.........

TheBigDipper

I've done this sort of thing with my current band. Before we parted company with the keyboard player, we'd practice at his place and all go direct into a Presonus digital desk of some sort. That sent live mixed output to monitors in the room, plus the individual tracks and the composite stereo mix into Logic. So we could remix later if we wanted to. 

Now we play at the drummers place - he uses e-drums exclusively, now - and he has a Behringer X18 which he says will do exactly the same sort of thing (but we haven't set it up coz we like using amps).

The bass player has a Zoom Livetrak L-12 and he says that will also do this sort of thing.

I have nothing apart from a stereo audio interface, so I'm the remedial one in the corner.... 

The only thing worth adding is that the composite stereo mix tended to have the vocals a bit low in the mix, because we were also hearing our voices in the room and balanced volumes accordingly. That means the composite stereo mix was useful for analysing our playing, but not suitable to make public. 

imalrightjack

Turns out the Quad Cortex gets brilliant results, using a bass DI into the Return with two guitars using the inputs. The bassist and other guitarist use their pedals and I use the QC effects and it records very well. Really good solution for capturing jams and developing tracks.