Moving from analog mixer to control surface... how to???

Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 9:12 am

I currenntly have a studio with (2) Protools HD 192 systems. A Toft AT32 mixer, 3 focusrite Octopres, 2 sets of monitors and a bunch of patch bays and outboard gear.

The only thing I use the Toft for is 2 channels out and for a talkback. Also, it looks cool Smile

Everything works great but Im ready to move on to a nice control surface like the CONTROL24 or the Mackie Universal Pro board with the extenders. I hate using a mouse for everything!

My question is... how is everything going to hook up? how do I start with things like TALKBACK mics, headphone mixes (I have a great headphone amp setup, the Furman HDS-6) reference monitors, etc. Can that all be done through the Protools HD systems or do I still need some sort of mixer to make all that happen? Im really lost how thats all going to work...

Any info you need about my setup let me know. I came into this studio with everything already setup and am pretty new to the MAC and Protools side.

Thanks

Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 10:32 am

I've never used the Control 24 but from the website it looks like it connects to the 192 via RJ45 Ethernet cable(aside from the D-Sub connectors for I/O). Cool. Only one very light and thin cable. Talkback/Listenback is all done via XLR connector so you should be able to set this up through your headphone amp without any issues.

It looks like a bargain for all that it does but again, I've never used one. Hope it all works out for you.

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 2:48 pm

johnnyp, You laid out most of the short cummings of using a basic control surface.

I am also jumping ship from an analog console. I too was looking at just a control surface but need more than what they provide. The price for a good control surface is up there with digital mixers that provide most if not all the things that a control surface lacks.

I just pulled the trigger on a Tascam DM-4800 digital mixer. Not as cool looking as a big analog console, but still has the cool looking studio wow factor. This will now be my audio interface, MIDI interface, control surface, digital format converter, audio mixer and a patchbay all in one. And while it will do so much more than my analog console, it takes up at least 1/3 less space to boot.

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