I have been using my gear mainly one at a time when recording into my DAW. Lately, I have been intrigued by getting all the stuff to play together and get rid of the DAW element (at least when jamming). I am no genius at midi connections and this is where I would like to check your feedback on how you would connect things.
I wish there was a site where you could dial in your gear and they would give you suggestions on what the best set up would be Have googled it, did not help.
So again, sorry for my complete noob question in terms of connectivity and midi but figured this would be a good place to ask.
I think one of the first questions to ask is what do you want to act as the brain or centerpiece of your setup. Do you want your DAW to be the brain? or do you just want to use the DAW for recording, or only for hosting VST.
I think that will determine where the DAW goes and where the OT goes, and after that its not too complicated.
Also keep in mind that not everything has to be connected and receiving clock all the time.
Thanks for your reply. I completely agree with you and was not completely clear perhaps. I think the wisest choice would be to use the OT as the brain of the set up. I would like to only use the DAW for recording purposes once I have something that I like. Does that make sense to you?
The way I would set it up is OT>DT>DN>Minibrute Op-1 needs a midi usb host. You can use the midi in/out or also thru, but you are basically daisy chaining your midi cables from one box to the other if you dont have a hub.
For Audio I would send minibrute>DT>DN>OT>Audiofuse. Or if you have a mixer you can use that for audio.
This setup lets you jam with the OT controlling the other gear while sending audio to the DAW. The DAW wont be midi synced though.
There are many other ways to set it up but I feel that this is a cookie-cutter way to do it.
as amku mentioned, I would suggest using a mixer. daisy chaining all this stuff isn’t the best route to a good sound, for one. but using a mixer will also allow you to send individual sounds to/from your effects units. something small like a mackie 1202 (with two aux send/return buses) would work great.
Kenton and iConnectivity make nice USB/midi hubs. I would grab one of those so you can sync or sequence your OP1. otherwise, the midi routing mentioned above will work great: midi out of OT to DT midi in, midi thru of DT to DN midi in, DN midi thru to minbrute midi in. basically, this just carries all your start/stop/clock data from OT on down the line to the minibrute, without adding to it.
keep at it, though. I have a good bit of gear I sequence with the OT (including an OP1 via iConnectmidi4+) while leaving the DAW off, just like you. I only turn the DAW on when it’s time to record the idea and start working on details. it’s a very fun way to work.
whenever i’m re arranging my setup i always include a midi thru box.
if everything is chained then you need to turn everything on , i quite like the option of just turning one or two bits on and things still work.
so generally main midi box is connected to a midi thru , which then links the other boxes i might/might not turn on.
in addition i use a mixer with some fx units on it , though often i just use the inbuilt fx of any device.
this way i can turn on digitakt / octatrack or whatever and use them standalone , or turn on various bits of gear and it’ll still work.
if everything is chained , you need the entire setup turned on just to trigger the box at the end.
if i didnt have fx boxes i’d still set it up similarly , but perhaps plug 1 fx-less device into a box that could be used as fx (eg mini brute into one of the others)
also i tend to use the built in sequencers on each device … instead of sequencing everything from octatrack i’d probably just sequence minibrute and possibly op-1 , the others would run in sync.
Without MIDI Thru box, you’ll lost the sync. More than 3 machines in a midi chain, it’s baaad
Without Mixer, you’ll be like a fish in an aquarium floating on the sea
Midi Conf :
OT send clock to all other (for info, boxes exist in thru-8).
OT sequencer can MIDI control each element of the set up.
In option, you can sync the computer to play with VST (ch7) and send order from MiniLab to OT (ch16).
Audio Conf :
with this kind of mixer, you can have each machine on a track (mute, EQ), send each machine on one/two FXs or in the OT input and finally record everything via USB.
I have one question regarding your setup. I have a Arturia Audiofuse audio interface. Would that simply be the connection from the mixer to my computer? I do have a 4 channel mixer but that does not cut it. Might need to invest into something this side of 1997 What mixer is used in your example?
Thanks for the input re5et. Makes perfect sense Would be nice to be able to use the components individually without having to turn every piece of kit on!
I don’t disagree that a midi thru box would be good to have. but I would say it’s less priority than a usb/midi host and a mixer in this situation. and with only 3-4 devices sync’ed up, you’re unlikely to experience any issues (that’s been my experience at least). that’s why I didn’t mention it.
it is something to put on your radar and plan for though. when you do get one, I’ve had good luck with the Midi Solutions Quadra; it’s cheap, and doesn’t need external power. sure the Kenton is awesome, but it’s more cash.
Yeah, for future proofing it seems like I will be needing to upgrade to a mixer with enough tracks and preferably one with a few more tracks than I need right now.
the Soundcraft one that sylv1 posted is nice. they make good stuff. I prefer Mackie though. with their mixers, you get stereo returns for your aux sends. which means you don’t lose a channel to your effects returns. with Soundcraft, Allen & Heath, Yamaha, etc, this isn’t the case. I’d recommend avoiding Behringer.
and as you mentioned, when you do buy one, don’t buy one that you’re already maxing out the inputs on. leave room to grow, unless you plan to never buy any gear again (yeah, right).
Haha…yeah right I have also checked with PreSonus seeing as I am using Studio one as my DAW. Don´t know enough about it yet though, will have to binge watch some youtube vids about it.
I will check Mackie out as well, thanks for the tips!
Now the big question is, do I get an analog mixer or a digital with audio interface built in. I just got the Audiofuse so seems a shame to not use it. Could however use it with my laptop when I travel… All these questions. Seems like I opened a can of worms here
Hi Seb,
Have a look to Soundcraft 12 MTK Signature … a mixer and an audio interface at the same time.
It’s not too expensive and very (very, very …) efficient.
I use a 22 MTK in my setup and … no matter !
Just curious seeing as I use studio one as my DAW I can control the DAW through the mixer. Another thing was that it had 16 channels which I think might be perfect for me.
Yeeesss … it’s a very good one ! Two of my friends use it for their live sessions and they seem very happy with it . It purposes all the good possibilities for audio routing associated to a complete midi controller for your DAW.
As precise @chiasticon, analog AUX Sends are mono but you can use the DAW to apply effects in stereo mode, so … if you have the budget, I think it’s a nice idea if you want to use your computer as the master element of you setup.
The new mixer is here now! And starting to plug everything in according to your fantastic diagram Only thing now is to know what part of the audio goes where, which of the machines can be inserted on a mono track and which ones need stereo. With the mixer I have 8 mono and 12 stereo or 16 mono. Of course the Analog heat and the Mod duo will eat up some channels too Trying to work everything out to get it all playing nice and smooth.
Have googled it, did not help.
. It purposes all the good possibilities for audio routing associated to a complete midi controller for your DAW.