Daw as live console?

[dbssound1]

This is a job for the Metric Halo ULN-8!!!

[hutzal]

was just about to say, the Metric Halo ULN-8, or the 2882 would be perfect for this type of thing. I know of some bands that have 5 or 6 rack mounted ULN-8's for live shows.

[batflash]

Hey there,

Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse here or if I'm a little late with a response to a month old question.

I've been doing live mixing twice a month for 6 or 7 months now through Logic Pro 8 for our open mic/open jam style sessions and have gotten great results. At first there was a bit of learning to do as live sound isn't something I'm all too used to.

Everything has been rock solid stable. Flexability with I/O has be great. The ability to use in-the-box processing has been a real aid to some sound issues including feedback. Lately I've been using apEQ when ringing out my monitors with great results. I can recall all tweaks and settings through saved templates. And to top it off, it's all being done on an Intel MacBook Pro 15, so the setup has a fairly small footprint.

Here's my setup and how I use it:

MacBook Pro running Logic Pro 8.
Focusrite Liquid 56
Mackie 800r pre's going into ADAT
4 Mains powered by QSC 1200w Amp
2 mics on the Drumkit
4 micsfor vocals
3 mics for electric gtrs
3 DIs for Acoustics
1 DI for Bass

Reason Slaved in Logic running Reason Pianos 24bit recording to it's own audio track.

So far we're talking 18 tracks of audio off the top of my head.

Through the monitors/mains I run the 4 vocals, 3 acoustics, 2 electrics, keys, and little kick. The vocals tracks each have their own EQ and Gate and then are bussed to a track running apEQ(for feedback) and reverb. Acoustics are bussed to another track running a compressor, verb, and eq. Electrics routed directly to the outs with compression and eq to them a little fullness. Some of the woof of the kick is also run through the monitors, but only to as a little low-end presence the the kit. Keys are running from Reason Slaved in an Aux Track compressed and verbed. Again, all of the aforementioned tracks are monitored live. Everything that is bussed is being bussed to share plugs so I can save CPU power.

The DI'd bass and the overheads go silent.

Everything is being recorded to it's own track to an external hard drive via and eSATA expansion card on the Express34 port.

Last Friday we did 6 hours and 20 minutes of 16 tracks FLAWLESSLY.

About a month ago, I ran a 28 track stress test for an hour and 45 minutes flawlessly. The only reason I stopped was cause I didn't think I needed to test any longer.

BTW, Latency: Not an issue at all. I get near zero latency even with all the processing. I don't know how, but I do. We've got 9 players going on all at once at some times and we've not had a complaint yet. This is because I try to keep things tidy and minimalistic.... and the bussing helps.

Cons, you ask?

I wish I had a controller or a mixer of some sort. Like an idiot, I just sold my Akai DPS24 to make up on the costs of buying the Focusrite Liquid56. I might buy a mixer later down the road and route everything to it's own output then sent to the line ins of the mixer just to get that hands on feel. We'll see.

I've had a couple of hiccups with the system in the past. If it happens, it's not like a mixer where if you turn it off and on and in a few seconds you're back up. You've gotta reboot, reload the app, then reload your setup. That's why you save, save, SAVE! No screams yet, though apEQ does this POP/CLICK thing when starting or stopping playback. Sounds like a loud ping pong pop. Only does it once at start or stop, so it's not a MAJOR issue.

Anyway, hope this little bit of info on my setup helps. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. If you have any suggestions, feel free to give them. Thanks!

Take care,

Bats

[bass man]

It could work with RME soundcard and total mix but with outboard procesors not plug ins .... O latency

[teamsterjim]

I have been using the XITE-1 as synth & sample DAW, and also as an FOH/IEM for pre production for a month.
Tommorow night I'll be using it for the first time as an all in one.
No problemos actually, I did the same thing with the custom FOH/IEM mixer from DigitalAudioSoft and 6 x Pro cards for 2 years.
Sure being a hardware user for decades I was nervous when I first started using Scope/Giga DAW's live. But w/o a crew I ain't huffing hardware synths and my ancient Moog Lab Series amp around.
Windows stripped down to a few lines of code is far more stable than OSX on stage.
Scope is perfect for live FOH/Monitor work, especially with a custom IEM mixer based on the Crest XRM, but with IEM AUX channel bleedover.
If one prefers OSX the Scope OSX drivers are due out before NAMM.
I can't imagine how powerful a MacPro w/ an XITE-1 would be.
For PC/DSP Hybrid rigs the Merging Technologies has some really great SAC stuff. Native, Native DSP/HYbrid. DXD 192k w/ 48 channels in realtime....Pretty good stuff out there for Pro audio.

[audioboffin]

Originally Posted by jsegbers

Has anyone tried this? I have searched around and found a few people using ableton as a live sequencer (which seems to be common.)

My goal is to try and use logic 8 as my front of the house system for my group's PA system to replace a crappy Carvin board. I only need 8 mic channels to get by, because we are a 4 piece and the system is too small to go in depth close miking everything. It will be running 1 vox, guitar bass, kick, snare, and 2 toms.

I will be running the firepod to run to my mac, and main out to the crossover to the loudspeakers. 2 of the Line outputs will give me my monitor mix on seperate busses.

Has anyone tried to use logic, or any other daw in this manner? I know I am going to be fighting latency in this manner, but if I can get a better sound out of my daw (which i know is better than my carvin) then it would be a great way to go.

I have done a test run during practice and it worked out well sending monitors and what not.

Imagine running a cable snake that was just a 100 ft fire wire cable

Newer digital consoles such as Digico and Digidesign are basically a DAW but using dedicated DSP processing chips to handle audio processing tasks rather than just native CPU. With the advent of faster multiple CPUs and higher sample rates, the latency and available grunt makes what you talk about more feasible.

However one of the reasons the commercial digital desks are stable enough to rely on is that the platforms they run on are a very closed environment and therefore are subject to many less variables. If you have a anythign installed/running on your computer that takes any system resources away from your desired task at any time, you may find that your system does not have the reliable stability you would get from a boring old mixing desk

Having said that I have mixed shows from both Protools systems and a Reaper system on rare occasions (the Reaper rig has 32 inputs and outputs, so no lack of foldback sends either!) Mind you I wouldn't recommend it as a preferred setup.