Livetrak 12 - more channels needed

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

Hello all,
I’m owning a Livetrak 12 and since my studio is growing I don’t have enought channels left for all the devices. So I need a new solution and maybe you have some recommendations.

What I like about the Livetrake (in order):

  • Submixes (nice when you are doing music with a friend and you dont want to hear the same sinewave again and again while he is fiddling)
  • Recording on SD card (nice for having a spontaneaus jam)
  • multitrack Audio Interface (I’m not really using a DAW but it could be handy if I will in the future)

What I dont like:

  • No FX sends/returns (you need to waste channels if you want a fx track)
  • cant get it work wthout being a bit noisy (dont really know what exactly but I have the feeling every thing adds a bit noise to the signal chain. The headphone amps for sure.)
  • inbuild fx/compressor (don’t need something like this)

What do I want:
ideally everything tha I liked and nothing what I disliked. Additionally:
I dont have that mouch space and I’m not usig the mixer too often. So I would like to have smaller footprint. Something in a rack format would be great like the livetrak l20. I think maybe its easy as that, because it has everything I like and with the submixout + a stereo channel I have fx send return and everything I want else.
But maybe there are better solutions that I didnt considered yet. I also have a Surface pro 3 so I also thought about just an audio interface with multiple ins and just mix and record on the surface. But not sure if I will miss the handson feeling even if I dont use the mixer that much.
Something like this: the t.mix 16.4 – Musikhaus Thomann would be perfect. You could controll it by hand if you want. You could store it under the desk so it doesnt waste space. And as I am a student it wouldn’t rip my bank account. But it cant record, it doesnt have submixes…soo maybe you have a good hint :slight_smile:

Thanks and greets
Felix

1 Like
#2

The A&H QuPac series is a good combination for that what you want. QuPac has also a display to manipulate a single channel - or it could be controlled via tablet software. It has submixes, returns, records to usb stick or SSD. Sound quality is top. You can possible score a used one for around 1k.

I have one of those, because of the smaller footprint - it does not have wifi included, only a ethernet interface - so you would have to connect it to the LAN to control it via wifi.

I did choose it because of the smaller footprint, desk space is limited for me - it could also be rack mounted, the usb driver is very stable - so you could also use send fx from a laptop if you want to.
You could als mix and mash which channels via usb streaming - also for fx send /return.
Dont have a Valhalla stomp box - send it via usb, return via usb. The included fx are also usable, and it has parametric EQ, and compression per channel. The mono channels could also be linked if you wanted more stereo.

I personally try to record as much mono as possible, as it makes mixing easier. Also there are noise gates - so you have clean channels if there is no input - so noise does not build up.

There are a lot of threads about it:

Finally, the perfect mixer? [Allen & Heath QuPac]

2 Likes
#3

Thanks, yes I already had an eye on this. 1000€ for mixing signals together is hard to justify for me (and my pocket) but on the other hand it seems like its exactly the thing I want. But hoped for a cheaper solution^^

#4

Yes, i understand, it wasn’t the fun expense for me either - the Xone 96 was a more fun expense but the qu pac is more practical for recording purpose. Both are not very good for carrying them around, i might need another one, just for this purpose - how is the live track 12 from the weight perspective? Would it make sense to take it on the road?

I did look it up, the QuPac is about 10 kg, the L12 only 2,5kg, i would keep it if that jam session in the garden comes up.

1 Like
#5

If you have elektrons, use overbridge! I have digitakt rytm and digitone. Thats 6 extra inputs alongside the seperate audio tracks of each!

#6

I don’t have enought Elektrons to connect everything via overbridge :wink:

Has anyone experience with the Behringer X32 Rack? It looks also really promising. It has same amoutn Ins per default and you dont need an iPad to control it like the Qu Pac. Also its much cheaper. The only thing that is missing is the multitrack records on usb.

#7

I had the same feeling that I had too few channels on my Livetrak L-12 until I got a patchbay. Now I don’t need to have everything hooked up at once. I patch the things I currently use to the twelve channels and I rarely run out of them anymore.

1 Like
#8

is there way to use SEND / RETURN style of exploring EXTERNAL PEDALS ?

#9

If you try to add this multi track recording later, it makes the mixer a bit more expensive - at least that was the case when i bought the qu pac.