Multi-tracking from MPC to Mac

[Beat_Bangaz]

Hey gang... I have posted here in the past so I guess I am a born again newbie. Here's what I am curious about. I am being approached by some big names in the A&R world about my production. I know that inside that world things have to be done a certain way to the kind of money they are talking about. Like all instruments have to be multi-tracked. So, here is my setup

24x8x2 channel mixer analog
digi 001 interface
audio logic platinum 7
multiple racks
mac g-3 (old yes - still runs like a work horse)
MPC 2000XL
EMU PX-7 (mo phatt card installed)
Korg Triton Pro (not extreme)

ok well that's the run down basically - what is the most effective way to multi track in this enviroment? Midi? or Real audio?

Maybe if I had a better understanding of the format the engineers are given in a multi million dollar studio then I would have a better grasp on it. Cause you see - my sounds in the mpc are rare sounds that I have collected. I don't wanna have to send them a zip in order to give them the master.

So, can some one tell me the best route to multi track this rig? Is it possible to dump all tracks at once? To create a master - or is there an upgrade I need to consider?

any input would be appreciated.... thanks


Low

[Beat_Bangaz]

on another site I was told about A/D converters... would I be able to send all the tracks running in the mpc and triton through this box or pci card? I am not hip to the A/D modules so I am un-educated to how they operate. Just bare in mind my ultimate goal is to multi-track my mpc and triton at the same time using real audio not midi. I don't know if it is possible but it would save sooooooo much time if it were.

[Kmotr]

Originally Posted by Beat_Bangaz

ok well that's the run down basically - what is the most effective way to multi track in this enviroment? Midi? or Real audio?

I asked similar question recently. What do you mean by multitracking MIDI? You need to record the actual audio, right?

How do you record now? Through your Digi 001?

[studiogeek]

Hey,
Good luck with your productions. What outputs do you have on the MPC? digital and analog? Also I doubt you will be able to do much with logic 7 on that G3 but Pro Tools will run ok without plugins and instruments. Are you in NYC?
By the way.......A-D converters convert analog signals to digital. Your digi 001 contains A-D converters behind the inputs/mic preamps. Thats how your analog signals (mics, keyboards, guitars) get into pro tools digital.
studiogeek

[Beat_Bangaz]

yeah through the 001 --- disregard the midi comment... I would like to stay with real audio. My goal is to press play on the mpc and all tracks used in both machines dump... lol... I know this may not be possible but I am curious to see if it is possible. The A/D converter uses fiber optic light rope... I was curious if that was capable to run the 16 channles on the triton in and the channels on the mpc in... I am aware that the 001 only has 1 digital in and one out... so I have to step up to a multi - in and out rack or card. I have been reading about the RME stuff but being that I am so new to it I don't fully grasp it.

In the past if I was asked to multi-track I did it in a way that took hours to drop - arrange - eq - and all that.... I would literally drop it 2 tracks at a time... one panned left - the other panned right - then get all the tracks from the mpc and the triton in the computer - then I would have to line them up and cut out parts for breaks and so on.... just seems that there has to be an easier more effecient way.

[Beat_Bangaz]

Nah I am in NC - I have the 8 out with digi out on the mpc. I have nothing on that mac but logic - everything runs really good too... I have produced and recorded 4 albums and 1 mixtape on it - no problems. I keep the external hard drives clean so... no probs there as far as I can tell... I had protools le at one point but couldn't stand it... I like logic. Maybe the actual protools rig would be really nice ... but who's got that kind of money laying around.... I am just trying to find a way to take what I have and make it work - if I need to upgrade something to get results then I am willing to make that happen. The mac runs great - no prob - lots of plugins etc. -

[Kmotr]

Maybe this can answer some of your questions...

http://gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?t=35822

[studiogeek]

Yo,
If you are willing to give up pro tools, you can use some of the RME cards, some of them have more Lightpipe digital ins than the digi 001. And they sound great. I think the Triton has stereo digital (s/pdif or toslink) and the MPC may have ADAT lightpipe (8 channel). Theoretically you should be able to connect them both to a card that has lightpipe and s/pdif...... Actually, the Digi oo1 has both. Check your Triton to see what digital outs it has.
SG

[jononone]

if your willing to go 8 in analog, and 8 in digital to analog, you should be able to get your 16 in one take (i dont know if a G3 is up to it but its worth a try), i know its frowned upon here, but the M Audio Octane is up to the task, especially for hip-hop, its not like your recording classical music, a little noise aint gonna hurt : )

as far as actually getting the tracks lined up, i just use MMC and record each track at a time, adjusting the eq and compression settings on the way in.

i just changed my setup and was worried about my m-audio 410 not sounding good, but it sounds WAY better than i expected (drums sound better than they did when i was using a digi001, go figure).

[Beat_Bangaz]

well I am not that into what interface I use - just as long as it actually works... so I am all for upgrading to a diff. interface......

I know I can get 8 out on the mpc - but if I fiber optic out the triton how many track outs do I get from that? see my goal is to have atleast 8 on each - that would work good for me.

[nukmusic]

http://www.mpc2000xl.com/ thumbsup

[genericperson]

why don't you ask them what medium they usually receive production tracks on?

for you, the safest bet would be to get a digidesign mbox and run all your tracks digitally from your mpc two tracks at a time via spdif. then you have it in a multitracked format that can be handed off to someone on a cd rom.

protools is the universally respected platform, more than any other. so you won't be "stupid" by orienting yourself in that direction.

if they ask for something else from time to time, you can tell them you'll need a few days to get it together. but if you tell them you're on Protools, they won't think you're a dummy, and they will understand, or at least should understand.


to me the safest format would be to spread your tracks out onto 24 bit protools tracks at 44.1khz sampling rate. and then burn the whole data track blob onto a cd-rom.

it looks like you have a digi 001 already, which i think has a spdif i/o. so just get your protools LE thang happenin'. Although Logic is not a way-out-in-left-field program, it's not dead-center like protools is.

some stuff hip-hop people gravitate towards:
protools
akai mpcs
avalon 737's
neumann u87's
sony c800g's.

[docformat]

hey all

multitracking your audio into PT should be easy - you've got eight inputs on the 001 plus an adat input which allows you to get another eight inputs if you buy another AD (if your not that fussy i think behringer do a cheap one). i don't know how your g3 will cope with recording 16 simultaneous tracks as i'm a pc guy. just hook up the audio outs on your mpc and modules to the inputs (i'm guessing 16 should be enough) program your stuff on tthe mpc and then when you're ready to roll just hit the record button. shouldn't be problem.

other posters are right that PT is the way to go for maximum compatability - once you've multitracked your beats whatever you can bujrn the whole pt session onto a dvd and just hand it all over

hope that helps

[blackcatdigi]

Why don't you just book an hour or two at a studio, and take your rig over for transfers?

It is not that difficult to fly 8/16/24/32/48 or whatever tracks of audio in at once.
You just have to have enough discrete outputs (from your sound sources/MPC/Triton/whatever) and a/d inputs to the DAW.

[Beat_Bangaz]

thanks for all the input I have been getting here... right now I am in toronto ca - so when I get back to the states I will be putting Protools back on my machine. I still like logic better but you are all right... it's a standard.

looks like I will stick to the old way - drop 8 out of the mpc for drums and whatnot - then 2 track the keyboard...

Someone mention the motiff on another post... which I really like it's sounds. I know you can dump into daw from the motiff... does anyone now if you can drop the those while the mpc is doing what it does... then that would be all at once...

either way - thanks for your time and input.

[Improv]

What you need is a MIDI interface. Using that, you can sync pro-tools and the MPC using MIDI Timecode (MTC). This way you can do multiple passes of audio recording (8 tracks at a time) and they will all sync up in the end as you are running the MPC from the Pro-Tools transport.