Totally the same. It’s only a hassle if you choose to see it as such. Which, obviously, depends on how much you enjoy the idea of that kind of commitment. I don’t mind, so to me, it’s less of a chore, more of an enjoyment. Which is why I always record to stereo as well and then be done with it.
But I get the other perspective, too. Having total control over each track is a bliss on its own. Just one that in my case, slows me down and distracts my focus.
Why choose? I do both. My A&H SQ5 has 32x32 interface over USB so I can track 22 of the 23 analog inputs multitrack (my most regularly used hardware fits nicely, but also have patchbays), 4 stereo FX returns (the reverb and delays in the SQ are particularly nice-sounding to me) AND the stereo mix. If the stereo mix is good, then great! If not, I’ve got options.
Also great to make a stereo mix during the recording so I can easily stick it on the cloud or my phone for listening back to whilst doing other stuff, without having the render again from stems.
To revive this thread:
What would you use if you do not need a mixer, but purely want to multitrack appr. 20 channels (12 mono, 4 stereo) into Ableton?
I have an rme interface with adat expansions. It gives me 28 inputs and 16 outs. I configure them how I want in terms of stereo/mono and can route anywhere in total mix.
Cheers! Could you elaborate on what type of rme and what kind of adat-expansion, so I can get an idea of the costs and how it works?
I literally have 0 experience with this stuff.
Yeah my RME 802 was around $2000US if I remember correctly. The key part is how many outs do you need? RME 802 you get 8 outs and 12 ins, but 2 outs will probably need to go to your monitors.
If 6 outs is ok, you can get the focusrite scarlett octopre. They can be had for around $400USD each. The thing is that they have outputs but they are just direct outs from the interface ins, and cannot be routed. So what I did was get 1 of those and then got a used RME ADI8 for around $500. That got me to 16 outs and 28 in total. I have not found the need to use all those outs ever, as I just use a few pieces of outboard gear and a couple samplers. But 16 for me was nice to have. If you can get away with 8, then you are looking at around $3000USD for an 802 and 2 Octopres.
The advanteg of RME, besides reliability and quality is the Total Mix software is very powerful and you will probnably never want to mess with a hardware mixer ever again. It allows me to route any sound anywhere, so I can send youtube videos from my laptop through my compressor if I’m bored…lol.
my all time fav lesson on recording with a limited number of tracks
Just an idea: did anyone ever try to 2-track record a jam, then put the recording into one of these ai stem separators and finally mix the stems in a daw to polish the song? That would give you like the best of both worlds…
Tbh not sure about the sound quality of these stem separators, never used them until today…
i’m afraid they are not good enough yet to be worth the hassle
The cheapest way would be the RME Digiface, which is pretty much made for this use case. It has no analog I/O of its own (apart from the headphone out) so you add those with the rackmount ADAT expanders. Cheapest option to pair with it would be some Behringer AD8200s which have 8 ins and outs each.
Can’t vouch for the Behringer as I’ve never used one but I do have a Ferrofish Pulse which gives 16 ins and outs and is totally rock solid. They turn up lightly used relatively often so that’s the route I’d probably go.
Thanks for the exstensive reply! All I need is a headphone out and one pair for monitoring.
I want to route 12 individual outs of my drummachine to Ableton. Plus a couple of stereo pairs for my modular and some synths.
Thx! Stupid question maybe, but why would you need 8 outs? To route stuff into external fx and/or back into synths?
yes, and to use CV from daw or vcv rack for example with interfaces with decoupled outs.
or second pair of monitors
Or if you wanted to sum your stems through an analog mixer.
There is no mixing without stems. Stereo bounce for mastering.
