Interface Question

[sinktylersink]

Ok guys, this one goes out to anyone who knows a little bit more than I do about interfaces (I've been trying to learn more but a few things are tripping me up). Anyway, I've been checking out the M-Audio FireWire 410 (which is discontinued from the looks of it but still available at the moment). So let me start with my biggest hangup. When rigging up a mixer and interface together, are you running the mixer into the interface's inputs (how I always thought it went) or are you running the mixer into the interface's outputs (didn't think it was this way, but I've been reading tweakheadz and from what I gather [correct me if I'm wrong] that is what he's saying)? So down to my real question, if I were to get a FireWire 410 (or even 610, the new one) how many inputs (and tracks that I could record simultaneously) would I be limited to in the long run (i.e. if I were to get a mixer down the road)? Also, the 410 has two inputs under its S/PIDF inputs. They almost look like the printer end of a usb cable (I'm sure they aren't though) and they are labeled in and out. What are these for?

One last question and then I'll end this rant/question. Does anyone know how different Pro Tools M-Powered is from LE? My main question is really just will RTAS plug-ins work on M-Powered?

Thanks for any information guys.

The link to each interface is:
410
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/MAudio-FireWire-410-Computer-Recording-Interface?sku=701385

610
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/MAudio-ProFire-610-Firewire-Recording-Interface?sku=247046

EDIT: If I'm understanding things right now, then I would still need 8 ins and 8 outs to take full advantage of say an 8 channel mixer. Is this correct or am I off base here?

[Tristan Needler]

You can record as many tracks simultaneously as you have inputs on your interface. With the 410 that amounts to four distinct tracks, regardless how big your mixer is. If you plan to use an analog mixer for mixing, what you would do is connect the line outputs of the mixer to the inputs of the interface, so the sound you record through the mixer goes through the interface and is recorded by the computer, and then you'd bus each track to a line out on your interface instead of the "main" outs, and then connect the line outs of the interface to the line ins of the mixer. Then you connect the main outs of our mixer to the monitors. When you change settings on the mixer while mixing, you'll hear it, but it won't record until you record the tracks again (from the outs of the mixer).

It's kind of confusing, and I'm probably getting it wrong too. I don't use an analog mixer.


The things you're talking about under the s/pdif i/o are ADAT i/o. That way, you could connect an 8 channel ADAT preamp or mixer straight to your interface and record the tracks digitally (instead of your interface converting the audio to digital, it would be the new preamp/mixer).

With that setup, you'd be able to record 12 tracks simultaneously, but you would have to either use two separate mixers (one analog, one digital), or if you got just an ADAT preamp, you would have to mix those tracks in the sequencer without an analog mixer.

[sinktylersink]

OK so I understand how the inputs/recording tracks simultaneously works now, but what's the purpose of hooking up the mixer to the line outs and such? Is it just so that you can run your monitors through your mixer?

My whole confusion comes from looking at a studio in Florida that has a Pro Tools (I'm assuming M-Powered) rig with a Mackie 32 x 8 mixer through an Apogee Rosetta 800 and into an M-Audio FireWire 1814. How would a rig like this work? I mean is it worth it to have a board as big as the Mackie for that setup?

[Tristan Needler]

The point of having the already recorded tracks coming back out to the mixer is so that you can actually use the mixer to mix, rather than just to record. If the recorded sound isn't going back to the mixer, then you can't use it for anything other than recording.

I don't know how his rig is setup. Maybe he knows something I don't haha.

[sinktylersink]

Ok I understand it now. And I feel the same way about that rig, who knows. The 1814 has a bunch of inputs so maybe he uses some kind of combination of the unbalanced inputs on the interface and the ADAT i/o.