Where in the Chain do you insert outboard?

[RiF]

Originally Posted by Rea

Mixing OTB/Hybrid, where do you place your outboard?

1. as pro tools inserts(da/ad)

Yes.

PLUS:
- For me, this is the most convenient way. It combines almost all the glory of my outboard gear (minus the tactile heaven of using a real console).
- Makes recalls quite manageable.
- I can do post-compression automation in my DAW that I can't when going right out to my console and do the compression there. Same with Aux-Send automation.

Originally Posted by Rea

2. on your way from the DA to your analog mixer channel(out-in-out-in)
3. as insert on your analog mixer Channel(out to channel and then out-in-oun-in your insert point).

What do you find are the pluses and minuses to the different methods?

I prefer 2 over 3, because:
- I get fully balanced inserts (my board doesn't have balanced channel inserts)
- I don't need to wire each and every of my board's inserts to a patchbay and I need less cables per channel.

[Rea]

Thanks.
Option 1 certainly has the benefits youve mentined, however, what do you think about all the da/ad it involves and the phase/ latency issues it brings with it?

[RiF]

I am not one of the converter-corksniffers. If a piece of inserted hardware sounds better than a plugin, I'll use it and maybe the extra conversion is part of this decision.

The extra latency is compensated by Pro Tools 9 if it is set up properly. I am staying away from parallel compression though, because I did not manage to get sample accurate compensation for my 3rd party converters yet.

That latency / buffer size stuff in digital computer based audio is still a PITA, though...

[Yeah, right...]

I use (3)

Everything runs through the patchbay. If you're using a hardware mixer, this is the only option that makes sense to me.

Good luck. Mike

[Rea]

Originally Posted by RiF

I am not one of the converter-corksniffers. If a piece of inserted hardware sounds better than a plugin, I'll use it and maybe the extra conversion is part of this decision.

The extra latency is compensated by Pro Tools 9 if it is set up properly. I am staying away from parallel compression though, because I did not manage to get sample accurate compensation for my 3rd party converters yet.

That latency / buffer size stuff in digital computer based audio is still a PITA, though...

So no Parallel... that's what i thought. that's a problem. i love multi buss and parallel games a lot...

[RiF]

Originally Posted by Yeah, right...

I use (3)

Everything runs through the patchbay. If you're using a hardware mixer, this is the only option that makes sense to me.

What's wrong with
DAW -> Patchbay -> Outboard -> Patchbay -> Console
instead of using the console's inserts?

[Rea]

Originally Posted by RiF

What's wrong with
DAW -> Patchbay -> Outboard -> Patchbay -> Console
instead of using the console's inserts?

Oh yes. All is through the patch bay. I was talking more about where in the general signal flow to insert hw gear. Into pt inserts or outside of it.

[monsieur x]

2. All at once, you can do parallel this way too.