Outboard Compressor Hookup, Best Connection to 828mkII Options

[Nels]

Hey folks,

Anyone out there have an outboard compressor hooked up to their 828mkII? Got a Blue Series DBX 160SL Stereo Compressor that I'd like to utilize and was wondering about the NO INSERTS factor.

If a seperate mixer with INSERTS is needed, what might be a good one to consider?

Thanks

[Nels]

I just happen to have a patch bay(Ultra Patch Pro - PX2000), but never could quite get the ins and outs to route right. Finally, gave up. Gonna have to try again.

In the mean time, if anyone wants to walk me thru the 828/compressor/patch bay hook up, please feel free. I also have a favorite effects proccesor(Yamaha FX 900) that I could chain, as well.

Plug ins are great, but the old hands on hardware ads a bit of warmth to the mix.

Thanks guys!

[edge100]

I just happen to have a patch bay(Ultra Patch Pro - PX2000), but never could quite get the ins and outs to route right. Finally, gave up. Gonna have to try again.

In the mean time, if anyone wants to walk me thru the 828/compressor/patch bay hook up, please feel free. I also have a favorite effects proccesor(Yamaha FX 900) that I could chain, as well.

Plug ins are great, but the old hands on hardware ads a bit of warmth to the mix.

Thanks guys!

Ok.

The upper row is the outputs, the lower row is the inputs.

Patch the outputs of all the gear you want to connect to the upper row. That's the easy part.

Now you need to decide how YOU like to use the equipment. The easiest way to connect everything is simply by patching all the inputs of your gear into the bottom row in a random order, setting your patch bay to "open" (see the top panel), and connecting the gear in front using patch cables for each connections. This is easy, but takes a LOT of cable.

What I like to do is leave the connections set to semi-normalled or "half-normalled" in your case. What I would do is to decide what connection is most frequently used. Lets say its the compressor patched after the mic pre. Connect the compressor outputs to column 1, top row. Connect the 828 line input 1 to column 1, bottom row. Set the column to half-normalled. Now, the compressor output is ALWAYS patched into the 828 line 1, unless you break the connection by inserting a patch cable into the bottom row (828 input). So, if you need to connect an eq or reverb instead of the compressor, you would just take the output of that device and connect it into the 828 line input connection using a patch cable.

Make a chart of all of your devices, and decide what needs to be patched into what. If you have a connection that is always active, then set the connection to normal and patch the two units into the top and bottom (out and in, respectively). If you have a connection that is almost always active, but sometimes gets changed, use half-normalled, and patch the units into the top and bottom (out and in, respectively). If you have a unit you hardly ever use, but still want access to, patch it in somewhere else and insert its output into the connection you want to make by inserting into the lower (input) connection.

This is incredibly difficult to explain, but very simple in practice. Try it out, and you'll get the hang of it. Just draw out the signal flow and list all your devices and their i/o.