I’ve got my Peak and Digitone going into my Octatrack and from there I go straight into my Focusrite interface. I only have two ins so I record track by track. No big deal cause I’m not trying to set a speed record. I usually slap a little bit of saturation and eq and sometimes some delay on the synth tracks in my DAW.
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Anyone using Blackbox 1010 for this? Curious since this is my new toy I can play with tomorrow.
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I have returned to ableton so I can multi track record my gear for an album project.
The ableton set us similar to that video, I have every instrument going into the interface, to its own strip on abletons mixer, using monitor in to direct monitor the sound.
Then I have an audio track for each instrument set to record the monitor tracks. The recording tracks have monitor off.
So Im using SH101 mono, Digitone stereo mix, TR-8S stereo mix. Quadraverb as a send in ableton.
Basically I am splitting up the jobs to maintain focus. The writing process doesnt involve ableton at all (I write most of the drum patterns on my sofa in the evenings) then later once I have the arrangment I multi track record the live play. Then later I can mix, edit, add some side chaining, overdrive, compression, buff and polish.
Right into line level inputs of
MOTU Ultralite MK4 
Ableton. 24bit, 48khz.
I don’t use preamps. I have a lot of plugins for transformer emulation.
I have been experimenting with two approaches. One is to dump via MIDI CV interface from Doepfer modular system via audio interface to Ableton Live DAW and that works well since the Doepfer MIDI CV module has USB to connect direct to PC for MIDI and my audio interface for audio. Second approach that I am trying is to connect modular to external mixer which I recently picked up the Keith McMillen K-mix and then connect the K-mix to PC since the K-mix has a built audio interface and USB as well.
I multitrack with my zoom r16, that works well!
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- MOTU 828es and Logic
- Tascam - 414 Portastudio MK2
Bought an Motu 828 MK2 and tried to run it on Windows which didn’t work well, so it’s now the ADAT extension for the RME Fireface UC.
Both get their signals from a patch bay and from there I am very flexible.
Most of the time the instrument is fed dry or with an effects pedal right into the DAW.
If I like some compression I add a FMR RNLA at the end, if I want some dirt I use an abused channel on an Allen & Heath mixer, if I want even more dirt I run the signal at low volumes through an 19" Tube processor.
Also I use the USB interface on the Virus Ti and route things from the outputs on the RME through what ever gear and record it back.
In the beginning I wanted everything multritrack, but my workflow changed and I record short drum loops, move them to different channels.
Synthlines are usually recorded over the whole track, trimmed if needed or rearranged.
What’s your goal in general? “Better” sound or do you like to do more creative sound scaping?
My goal is definitely more creative soundscaping/designing rather than pristine audio fidelity.
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I’m now interested to read the Jon Hopkins interview. Could you share a link to that?
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Zoom here too. Everything goes to the Livetrak-12. It’s the simpliest way I could find.
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Quite an old interview:
From the article:
I think one important rule I have is that the sounds have to be recorded well. If you’re really going to mangle sounds and bring out details that maybe you didn’t even intend to be there, it pays to have it nicely recorded. So I’ll always try to use good pre-amps and proper gain staging.
Jon Hopkins’ sound design is amazing. I’ve also been bingeing on Moderat/Modeselektor recently. They also have a great sound and use lots of hardware.
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I have all my machine plugged into a Xone:96, so I use the EQ, filters, and two sends to Eventide pedals, and an Analog Heat as an insert.
The Xone:96 outputs in a RME UCX (I initially wanted to use the Xone as a soundcard but changed my mind because I need an audio out for a Multiclock and because anyway I only record the master tracks from the Xone to benefit from EQ and FX).
That way I may record things with or without FX, and I also am able to jam stuff without having to record parts one by one initially. It’s a fairly new setup and I’m so far delighted!
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Awesome, good things will come to you😎
You could start with an old mixer and a few guitare pedals ranging from delay, reverb to distortion. There is also the “cassette” threat
So, you could also record stuff on tape and being that into your DAW, add more stuff before that.
Get a bunch of cables and try stuff.
I tend to record dry then add fx at mixdown. Nothing more frustrating when mixing than being stuck with an effected part that doesn’t sit right. If I’m using external pedals I’ll do a wet take and a dry take. In the world of DAW you can have loads of versions of a part (within reason!)
Bear in mind that some instruments exhibit more latency than others. When multitracking you’ll see this if you zoom right in at the beginning of the recording. It’s easy enough to edit the start of the passages in DAW but not so with tape recording. Again, this can be mitigated in mixdown if you’re then bouncing the taped parts into DAW.
Personally I tend to record individual parts rather than multitrack then rearrange the parts in DAW. I guess I could record the parts together but I tend to deal in small clips so I don’t find Sequential recoding an issue. In fact as mention I might record 5 or 6 or more passes of the same part but with different synth settings for example. I can use what I want at mixdown or not as the case may be.
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Don’t know if you want to try working with long audio loops, but 1010 is really good at this. I have everything routed into my OT. I then have my OT main out’s to the BB. Then I just hit a pad, info, and record the solo’d track while tweaking out the filters and whtnot, maybe add delay, reverb. For paddy stuff I make it 16-32…could be 128 bars, but not really needed.
Supposedly it saves with .alf files, so you can just load it all into Ableton easily.
Anyways, the BB is super easy to just sample stuff quickly, with out having to remember anything. Have fun!
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That was a fascinating interview. I’ve heard that record a fair few times, so it was super interesting to hear how it was made. Thanks for sharing!
This is also really interesting.
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Same here.
Livetrak L-12 is possibly my most important piece of equipment. Whenever I stumble upon a good thing I press rec on it and save it for later. Sometimes I track straight to Reaper from it, sometimes I record without the computer and take the wav-files from the SD-card to my DAW and process them there. Livetrak is very versatile and just lovely.
I have everything (including my fx pedals) hooked up to a patchbay and I route the signal the way I need it to go in each situation.
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I only have one hardware synth at the moment and it’s an Access Virus B. I use Ableton Live for every song I write. The Virus is going into a little mixer and into my audio interface. I have an External Instrument track set up in Live which is being routed to a synth buss track. Nothing fancy.