Recording - December 2009 - 41

Connection choices The computer that runs your DAW software needs to receive the audio signals that your external synths generate. Check your existing computer audio interface—aside from what you have already been using it for, does it have additional audio inputs, and does it have MIDI connections (usually called “MIDI ports”)? Now check your synth—how many “parts” can it play at the same time (on separate internal “tracks” that each have their own MIDI channel assigned) when addressed via MIDI, and how many audio outputs do you see? You’ll always find a stereo pair of audio outs, where one of the pair can be a mono output, or where each can be a separate mono output (depends on the internal setup of the instrument). But what if there are more audio outputs that add up to more signal streams than your computer’s audio interface can accept? An external submixer might be the solution, where all your synth sounds get mixed first, but that may defeat the purpose of having separate outputs on the synth—in that submix they will no longer be separate. So you evaluate your needs and priorities: Why use separate outputs? If there are good reasons, like the snare drum on one output, the kick on another, the tom-toms on a stereo pair, and a flute sound on its own—there’s probably no way that you can compromise sonically and squeeze them all into a satisfactory common stereo submix, to be sent to your DAW as a stereo pair. So, should you run out and buy a mixer (probably a “line” mixer since you don’t need microphone inputs) for all these individual signals? Wait a moment—do you have to record them all in one pass? Couldn’t you listen, simply monitor from the common stereo outputs where they all play at once, and also listen to one at a time by muting the separate parts in the synth on their individual MIDI channels or from the synth’s internal audio routing scheme? Then when it all sounds good together, record them one at a time, thereby saving a bundle! No need for an external submixer, and no need for a new computer interface—the lonely stereo pair of audio inputs on your interface will work just fine. Everybody’s needs are different—I can’t tell you what your solution will be, but I just want to encourage you to think things through and go one step at a time. If you don’t already have a multi-input mixer in your studio, you may have a PA board that can serve as the listening mixer so you hear the totality while you prepare the various synth sounds for a recording; then when it is time to record, route each synth, one at a time, directly to your DAW’s interface for the cleanest possible signal. This all should give you plenty to think about, with paper and pencil if necessary. If this is all new to you, use the Internet, the local music store, and your friends and colleagues as sources of information about the instruments themselves, then come back here next time for more details on hooking up your studio to take advantage of those magical things called synths and samplers—the “real” ones, not those that exist only as software. Devon Brent (devon@recordingmag.com) is a composer, engineer, and audio computer guru living and working in Jacksonville, FL. He’s really happy to be writing about something other than how to stop audio PCs from catching on fire.

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Recording - December 2009

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