Suggestions for Recording with the Heat?

Elektron Gear Analog Heat
#1

Hey there,

so im noodlin around with the Heat for some days now. Works fine for the most part but i have some trouble with it when using it as a Recording Device for external Hardware.

So far i have to set up the physical Inputs from the Heat in my DAW (Ableton Live); effectively using it as a Soundcard. And this is bad. It introduces a hell of a lot of latency. Also i cant directly monitor on the Headphone Output when its in OB Mode. And if i also want to use it on my external Hardware and record it via OB, the Workflow is like this:

  1. Grab physical Input (previously configured) and set it as Input on an Audio Track.
  2. Add the Heat to this Audio Track as a Plugin
  3. Add a second Audio Track and select the Audio Track with the Heat as Input, using “Post Mixer” to grab the processed Signal

First thing which is bad: I have to “In” the Audio Track with the Heat, otherwise i cannot record it on the second Audio Track. So i have double Signal. BAD! Havent tried muting the Audio Track with the Heat but i assume this would lead to Silence.

But whats really crap is the Latency which is introduced by this. I mean, imagine the Signal Flow: First you route the Audio from the physical Inputs of the Heat into the DAW. Latency introduced. Now you send it back to the Heat for processing by applying its Plugin to the Audio Track. Latency introduced. Now the signal returns from the Heat via USB onto this Audio Track. Latency introduced. If you consider that on a PC without a proper Audio Interface you cannot record with a buffer size below 512 - you can imagine what INSANE latency this has as a result.

Would be still ok, but now the next problem: I cannot directly monitor my processed Audio on the Heat from the physical Inputs while its running in OB mode. So if i really wanna record that way i have to listen through my Soundsystem (maximum Latency now) or through the Heat by using it as a Soundcard (Latency introduced as well). Direct Monitoring not possible anymore!

How do you Guys come across those problems? Do you even use the Heat to record? Would be keen to hear from you on that matter because, frankly: Recording with the Rytm or the Four is a lot easier and the Latency created here doesnt bother me much because i dont need to process on those machines and have a direct Monitor on the last device in the chain before it goes to the Rytm/Four. But using the Heat that way would be a real waste as i could not use it like intended. Only workaround would be to preview with latency (the result from the heat) but jam without listening to the output and hope everything works in the End. Bit messy, really …

[edit] also it doesnt seem to support Mono Input on the Hardware directly. Had to use OB while processing a Mono Signal in the last video i did (which you can find on my Youtube Channel if you are interested :wink: ). I guess this is a known issue?!

1 Like
#2

Hi, did you ever find a solution? I’m thinking of getting a audio interface with monitoring to directly insert the heat. Is this a stupid idea?

#3

Havent found a Solution. Using the Heat as an Audio Interface is most likely just an Option which was integrated, but not thought out well. Since you cannot use the Headphone Output for direct (and latency free) monitoring of the unprocessed and/or processed Signal, its simply not usable for that purpose!

Putting it in front of an Audio Interface, which supports Direct Monitoring of its Inputs, is not an issue of course. You dont have the Heat running as an Audio Interface in that case. So its fine, no latency from the Heat then.

#4

Thanks for your response, I’ve watched some videos of yours on YT, good stuff. I ended up buying an Mackie mixer with Firewire and use the analog heat on the sends. I would have thought they could have implemented a better solution for Analog Heat Mkii, shame.

Another bad implementation is that other sources can’t be used to feed the envelope follower.
I imagine a synth pad inserted into the main input with the cutoff being modulated by a drumloop inserted into the CV input. (This can be done with Waldorf 2-pole, which i sold to buy the analog heat). The analog heat doesn’t seem to convert audio to CV, do you know why? I wish i could do the same on my analog four.

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#5

i use it like this:

  1. all analog instruments and drummaschines are going inside my classic 90s makie mixer
  2. electron analog heat is between the audio output of my makie mixer and the external soundcard input (UAD Apollo)

it is the easiest way… i don’t use the overbridge plugin… so no audio dropouts, latency or other software related problems

hope that helps

#6

This is essentially how I have my Heat routed now. Using it as an audio interface was a headache. Ideally, I want to pick up a mackie mixer probably putting heat on the alt bus, or at least in the FX send/return.

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#7

I run the heat on the alt bus – works great. (1202VLZ4 here)

2 Likes
#8

1 Like
#9

this sounds like the way to go. I read stuf about signal loss of 10db though, do you experience this too?