Studio Setup, Hardware configuration Options

[diablo]

Hi everyone

First of all let me just say thanks to all of u who participate in spreading your knowledge to newbies like myself, its appreciated.

Well basically I'm a pre-newbie who never even used a computer in the studio before. My setup has always been a Mpc2000, a Fantom keyboard, a old Alesis q6 keyboard, turntable and a digital hd recorder the roland vs1880. After months of shopping around and debating whether to go with pc or mac or to go with protools or cubase. I decided to jump in the deep end and two weeks ago took on the challenge of going with Logic Pro 7 with a G5 dual 2.0 w/180 gigs hd and additional 120 gig hd, 1.5 gig of ram and my interface is a motu 828 2.

And this is where I need your help configuring everything. So far I have managed to install the program install the drivers for the motu on the mac so it is being recognized. As u may know the motu only has 1 midi in and out, so I connected my mpc's first midi i/o to it as I'm planning on still using the mpc as the controller thru mtc(I know that logics sequencer may be better but I will look into that later, for now I just want to dump allot songs I have made already)
My fantom is going to slave off of the mpc's second midi i/o as a sound trigger. The thing is prior research told me that I could also use my old alesis as a midi controller for logics internal instruments which I'm very excited about. The thing is I've run out of midi connections.

Questions

1) Does any of the above make sense?

2) How do I implement the alesis as the software trigger with no availabe port I have left? It doesn't have a firewire connection either?

3) Should I daisy chain it thru the midi in between the mpc and motu?

4) If so how?

5) Am I right to believe that the only connection needed for my the G5 so it can receive everything including analog and midi, is a firewire connection in the back?

6) Taking into consideration my setup and what I'm trying to achieve did I get the right interface going with the motu 828 2?

7) The mpc takes up six of my analog inputs in the back of the motu seprating my samples, since ultimatley I want to track each sound to its own track in logic. Should I then also run my fantom trigger sounds out seperatly or is stero fine? I'm assuming I can seperate them later for fine tuning in logic

Btw I can hear all my analog inputs in the back of the motu and the mpc and fantom are talking just fine. Its just now getting those signals into logic and setting up my trigger for the internal instruments.

I thank you in advance for your feedback, just browsing the forums I have learned allot already. Eventhough everybody says I'm nuts for going straight to logic pro 7 as a newbie I'm trying not to be intimidated by the learning curve. The possibilities my new setup brings keeps me reading and playing around with it even though I haven't been able to be creative anything for two weeks...

Cheers,

D.

[deaconblue]

Hey diablo.

I am not a MIDI whiz, but there are plenty of people on the forum who are, so I'll let them address those questions.

5) Am I right to believe that the only connection needed for my the G5 so it can receive everything including analog and midi, is a firewire connection in the back?

Yes, the 828mkII uses either the FireWire interface of the Optical interface to connect to the G5. I use the FireWire interface and use my Optical for an ADAT system. Very little, if any latency. High quality sound files and extreme easy of use.

6) Taking into consideration my setup and what I'm trying to achieve did I get the right interface going with the motu 828 2?

I would say you are right on track. The 828mkII is very versatile and allows you to set up dynamic mixes without even needing to invoke the software. Logic provides even more flexibility with the interface and the MIDI operations (once you have your channels set up and your connections established) should be seemless between your interfaces. Make sure you open up the Audio MIDI Setup utility (in your utilities folder on your hard drive <HDD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Audio MIDI Setup> to set up all of your connections if you haven't already done so.

7) The mpc takes up six of my analog inputs in the back of the motu seprating my samples, since ultimatley I want to track each sound to its own track in logic. Should I then also run my fantom trigger sounds out seperatly or is stero fine? I'm assuming I can seperate them later for fine tuning in logic

If you can split them into two individual takes (right and left) you'll have more versatility later as that way you will have true stereo separation on those tracks. Otherwise you will end up with your stereo being "mixed down" to a mono track in your logic sessions.

I thank you in advance for your feedback, just browsing the forums I have learned allot already. Even though everybody says I'm nuts for going straight to logic pro 7 as a newbie I'm trying not to be intimidated by the learning curve. The possibilities my new setup brings keeps me reading and playing around with it even though I haven't been able to be creative anything for two weeks...

Logic 7 may be a big step when moving to a DAW system from scratch, but as soon as you are feeling comfortable you'll be glad you made the move. Just take it slow and get a good feel for what you are doing. Unless you have professional projects or are burning studio time during the learning curve, you'll appreciate the slow approach for the long term. The creative side will come back as soon as you feel relaxed enough to "stop thinking and start playing" with your set up.

Best of luck! Enjoy your new systems.

peace,
deacon

[coldharbour]

1) Does any of the above make sense?

Certainly.

2) How do I implement the alesis as the software trigger with no availabe port I have left?  It doesn't have a firewire connection either?
3) Should I daisy chain it thru the midi in between the mpc and motu?
4) If so how?

I suggest you dump all the sequence data from your MPC into Logic, and then start using Logic as your only sequencer (much more versatile then MPC) and use MPC as a sound module only.

After dumping the data, connect like this :

MOTU MIDI Out -> Alesis MIDI In
MOTU MIDI In -> Alesis MIDI Out
Alesis MIDI Thru -> MPC MIDI In

If you don't plan to use the internal sounds of Alesis - or if your Alesis does not have a MIDI Thru - you can connect MOTU MIDI Out straight to MPC MIDI In and have all 16 MIDI channels available for MPC.

If you're using the MIDI Thru option, just remember that Alesis and MPC share the 16 channels, so you must set them so that for example channels 1-15 are for MPC and channel 16 is for Alesis - or whatever you need.

Either way, you can control your MPC and all the Logic's instruments with your Alesis.

Eventhough everybody says I'm nuts for going straight to logic pro 7 as a newbie I'm trying not to be intimidated by the learning curve.

The learning curve really isn't that steep because you don't have to know more than the basics to efficiently use Logic. Setting up environment is a peace of cake and once you've done that, you're all set. And once you're all set, there's no limits with Logic Pro 7.

Hope this helps, and Good Luck.

[diablo]

Deaconblue, Coldharbour thank you for the feedback. It really makes a difference getting a second opinion on my thought process in trying to get started. It makes me feel even more confisdent that im pointed in the right direction. Good lookin fellas.

I had went to Samash, Guitar Center looking for some setup assistance and none of the dudes in the store used Logic at all. Which at first concerned me cos everyone seems logic shy, but now that gives me confidence that im getting closer to having that production edge over the general population. I still feel good about overlooking pro-tools and cubase.

Okay well after reading your responses and trying everything i decided to just leave my mpc connected to the motu for the syncronization aspect of it. Im defintily gonna look into using the logic sequencer but initally to get started im gonna go with the mpc as the master so i can dump down my samples and go from their.

Since i have another firewire connection in the back of my G5 i figured i can bypass the motu and go straight to the computer with my alesis as a controller for the internal instruments? Is that kosher? Involving the alesis as a thru in the motu midi configuration wasnt working for some reason so going straight to the cpu using a converter midi to usb cable should work right? Alesis out to in on the G5?

Now my other problem is that i now can hear all my sounds in logic, and it follows perfectly with my mpc sequencer all my sounds are present and i see the timer and the scroll bar following in play mode. But when i try to arm the tracks so i can record the audio i dont see no wave form or scroll bar? At the very most i get a annoying repeat trigger sound of one of the audio sounds. And if i go into my mixer i dont see the signals on the tracks? Which I only seem to see if i physically hit the keys or pads of my external hardware. Pressing play i can hear everything but the signals are hiding from me, unless i hit the noted in realtime? What does this mean guys?

Somone told me theirs problems with the motu 828mk 2 driver not working correctly with osx tiger 10.4. I checked out their website and saw they do have a update download specifically for users of tiger 10.4, but i have been unable to download so far due to my dsl acting up. But just to get the bug in your ear and to verify that before i get the update would be helpful. Im not sure if its in my midi configuration or my driver update where the problem lies u see.

Anyway thats the latest for me and again all your knowledge and opinions is greatly appreciated, glad to hear that i count on you guys to help get me to speed.

Thanks allot

D.

[trancefan]

awesome info guys, i have my questions answered

[Dipp]

Nice info. I am a newbie myself but reading the threads slowly.. it does make sense! ) oh motu... i just wished you're in my arms im starting all this virtual instruments and recording stuff using m-audio ozone this weekend... again.. nice infos.