Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

Hi Guys & Gals,
Can someone steer me in the right direction here?

I'm an ex "All VST" man, good at using his DAW's and then rendering the track to a stereo mix. But lately, I've realised you can't beat proper hardware synths.

So, I've now got 6 hardware synths and am loving it. I put these through a newly bought Yamaha analogue desk. Anything from the PC comes through an EDIROL USB box, into the desk.

Now, this is the question. I want to record. I'm playing all the synths through midi from the PC and there are VST's playing.

What is the best way to record? Should I get an external recorder, like a Fostex MR8 MKII or a Mbox 2 Mini (and use Pro Tools) and take it all from the desk, or would I be better to scrap the desk and get something like a MOTU 828 MK3 (with effects) firewire box, plug everything into that, and record it all on the PC?

Also, for recording purposes, should I be using stereo outs for the synths or is using a mono usually ok. This could be a dead stupid question.

Cheers!

Well I'm a bit confused so maybe we can clear up a few questions.
You mention Pro Tools so let's assume this is what you are using.
Do you want to totally get away from using the computer and record everything outside of it and then mix down to Pro Tools?
Do you want to record more than one instrument at a time? It would seem if you use the Yamaha mixer you will only have two outputs into your DAW so that is something to consider.
Why did you choose the Fostex? I believe you only get 16bit recording with it.

If you are happy using Pro Tools the MOTU looks like a good solution.

Hey seamonkey,
You see, this is where my ignorance comes in.

I don't use Pro Tools at all, I use Live and FLStudio. I read that the M-Box is Pro Tools ready and assumend it comes with it, but obviously it doesn't.

As for "in" or "out", I'm more comfortable with the PC and have no need to record away from the studio, but having never multitracked in to a PC this way, I'm not sure how good it would be and don't want to lay down nearly $1000 on the MOTU if it doesn't do what I want.

It'd be nice to record more than 1 instrument at a time, all the synths in a seperate track each would be good, but I expect that will be very expensive.

I probably bypass the Yamaha desk altogether if I got a multi track recorder and put the synths straight in to it, so hence the question if I need to use both "l" & "r" from the synths when recording.

As you can see, I'm a bit lost

lostyetfound wrote:I don't use Pro Tools at all, I use Live and FLStudio. I read that the M-Box is Pro Tools ready and assumend it comes with it, but obviously it doesn't.

m-boxes DO come w/ pro tools LE, unless you bought one used and didn't get the discs w/ it...
long as you get a standard or a pro and not a mini or micro they have midi outputs too, so even if you're used to chaining and wishing you had individual tracks for each synth you could still pull that off long as you didn't mind recording them one or two at a time.