You’re right about that, way too few inputs for my needs.
I agree, that can be annoying. I understand that some people want to have the clean tracks to daw so they can add effects afterwards but I like to use effects on the fly while jamming and do as little as possible on daw.
How exactly do you do this routing?
Thanks for the great overview on the MTK. I have one effect pedal and I’m thinking about getting some Strymon etc effects so the missing return can turn out to be a problem.
You route the channels out of the aux send I think, and back in on a spare pair of input channels. It’s a similar deal on my EFX12 but in order to do this you are using (and hence losing) the monitor sends. So you can’t have monitors and an effects bus at the same time.
The inbuilt effects are very decent, and I wish I had the dbx compressors of the MTK series. But that is the one obvious missing feature.
There are individual channel insert sockets but obviously you can’t bus multiple channels etc.
Edit: oh, the MTK has no channel inserts at all? Ok, that is a bit tricky.
You can route the returns through groups or an aux and then patch their outputs to a stereo input.[quote=“Sai, post:32, topic:33223”]
Thanks for the great overview on the MTK. I have one effect pedal and I’m thinking about getting some Strymon etc effects so the missing return can turn out to be a problem.
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Yeah, a lot of outboard almost demands the larger 22 MTK, in my opinion. I have yet to feel the lack of returns as a serious limitation and I have racks full of outboard. I tend to always use proper channels for returns no matter what mixer I am using, simply so I can have more sonic control over them. Also, as finalform said, the built-in effects are actually pretty good - if limited, and I have turned to them many times rather than patching in a better outboard unit.
Exactly. That’s my biggest complaint. For someone with little or no outboard, it’s likely to be a non-issue (and you can use plugins as inserts), but I get around it by sending a channel to a group and bringing it back in on another channel Oh, that’s another thing: the USB conversion is tapped right after the gain, so if you want to track with the board’s EQ, you have to do the same thing. However, I only use those EQs when mixing, for the most part.
of course you can - just route the fx to grp 1/2
Anyway, Getting a 12MTK in the next 48 hours so I’ll be able to tell you more about the sound quality. Tried a kmix, (loved to form factor and the USB battery operation ability) but didn’t like the sound I got from it. YMMV as usual though.
A bit curious decision on the MTK, that AD placement in the signalpath. They coulda at least allow for the locut and the limiters to do their job before conversion? Also, the idea that trim should be set to as near the clipping point as possible in order to get decent SNR thru the AD conversion reeks of weak 90s digital audio lol. What is even the point of recording @ 24 bit if you cannot afford to have any headroom? It sounds like a return to the 16 bit depth ages and OCDing about peak meter reading again, dreading for intersample peaks etc
AFAIR the 12/22MTK was supposed to cost more than what they originally announced? This is why there was a major delay in shipping these, and most likely why the knobs etc feel cheap - bet they had to cut corners on everything else but the guts of the unit in order to cut their losses.
OK, I meant as channel inserts but fair enough.
I think I may have been confusing here… the pres are quiet, so you can take advantage of the dynamics on offer - I just suggested the careful gain-leveling as a way to ensure that levels were good and loud to minimize the effect of the level reduction when that signal is piped back down USB to the mixer. I haven’t had any trouble with excess noise - no more than from any other modern analogue device. Certainly not 90s-era, thank goodness. What makes it feel a bit screwy is that the gain knobs have a weird curve. That isn’t to say that the gain is weak - but you might have to crank the knob more than you’d expect to get the levels you want. Rest assured, though, there is plenty of gain for anything you throw at it. I used a ribbon mic to track a mountain dulcimer - a very delicate, quiet instrument - and was able to capture the sound very nicely with the MTK’s pre-amp.
Hi, do you use the Qu Pac for recording AND mixing or do you mix the recorded tracks ITB?
Is it easy to import the tracks in a DAW?
I’m using Protools, do I have to import manually track by track?
When this is not the right topic to ask, please direct me to the correct one.
Cheers
Elektron users seem to love the QU-PAC but there are other digital mixers to consider.
Behringer XR18 (they also have a 12 and 16 channel versions) works both as a mixer and an 18 in/out IO card that works with Mac, Windows and iOS (record direct to ipad).
You can find it for about half the price of the QU-PAC, but its main drawback/advantage is that it doesn’t have any controls on the unit, you have to use a device: andriod, ios, or laptop to control it. XR-18 inputs all can be either mic or line, which is nice.
Obviously in your home studio this isn’t an issue but for some needing a smartphone or tablet when playing live could be a deal-killer. (it was for me, I went with a QSC touchmix 16 for my band’s live setup, which I love).
QSC also just released a 30 channel touchmix that can be used via USB direct with a DAW. Going to have a larger footprint but its a lot of channels.
Anyway, good luck with your search.
tl;dr … maybe this is an option too
should be cheaper than shown here and there’s a 12 input version as well for half the money
Nice one, I had missed this one totally. The 12 input one might do for me since I don’t have so much space left on my table! Great. I’ll take a closer look at the specs.
Thanks for elaborating on this. Reading the design engineers notes of the MTK on gearslutz had me worried about the levels there. I have no problems whatsoever using 24bit digital systems at around -24dB to -18dB peak range, so got a lil worried about this. I only turn stuff up at the last stage (premastering)
uhh say whatt! looks like my plans to get the 12MTK just got canceled until further notice ;}
Behringer buying Midas might have been the best move they’ve made yet… Dayum. This is looking like the 12MTK on steroids.
Hmm, thanks for the insight. At the moment I’m trying to decide between the K-mix and LR-16. Both very different products, and if I got the LR-16 I’d have to get a 16 channel mixer with inserts, plus buy/make the cables for it… so hmm I really don’t know.
And yeah, for reverb I have a Quadraverb, Midiverb III and Behringer Virtualizer Pro, but I mostly wondered if I could get away with not having to lug those to a live show…
My other thought for purely getting audio into my DAW was to connect four of those tiny Behringer RCA interfaces to a hub and use them as an aggregate device… but that just seems like it’d be a recipe for disaster.
LR-16 needs cable that one side is TRS and the other side isd TS.
Such type of cable is not popular.
So,i use this adaptor.
It works.
Another recommendation for the A&H Qu series, for about the same price as an Elektron machine you get a whole lot of mixer that sounds wonderful, is extremely flexible and will make your setup work well thanks to the comprehensive routing.
I’m with you on the K-mix reverb, it feels a bit too echoy so I tend not to use it.
I like it as a mixer and interface, I have all my ins full and being sent out to to the OT for further sampling…
Very curious to hear your opinions on the ufx if you go that route. I wish I had known about it before I jumped on a 12mtk, just on specs alone. I am quite happy with the Soundcraft, although I would love to be able to plug a usb drive into it and capture the audio there without getting a DAW involved.
A friend of mine has the UFX1204 and is quite happy - no major issues. Another recently got the 1604 but i haven’t heard his opinion yet.
RME has some wonderful audio input devices. You can connect several stereo devices at once and record each on their own track within your DAW.
You can also route any incoming audio (or pre-recorded) audio to any device that has inputs. For example, I’ve routed my Moog Vger (recording this on its own track) to my SPS1 (recording this on its own track) to my external effects (recording this on its own track) all in one take.
I own the Fireface 400 which is a bit older and uses firewire but they have newer devices using newer technology.
UFX users, does the standalone usb stick recording record only the master or also individual outs?
Edit: As far as I understand it is since it reads ‘16 track usb drive recorder’ on the cover.