Different ways to use Reverb pre-CPU

[ghettosynth]

Ok, there's a lot of detail there that I assumed that you had experience with. I'll have to respond later, but, the "direct outs" are the jacks labeled "inserts right below the line in. You use a special insert cable with these which is a tip/ring/sleeve plug that routes out to two tip/sleeve plugs, one provides a direct out, the other a channel return. It's best to plug these into a normaled patch bay so that when you're not using the insert, signal flows normally.

This is all stuff that you'd know if you had worked in an analog studio much, which was my assumption, sorry about that.

[rook takes knight]

Ok, there's a lot of detail there that I assumed that you had experience with. I'll have to respond later, but, the "direct outs" are the jacks labeled "inserts right below the line in. You use a special insert cable with these which is a tip/ring/sleeve plug that routes out to two tip/sleeve plugs, one provides a direct out, the other a channel return. It's best to plug these into a normaled patch bay so that when you're not using the insert, signal flows normally.

This is all stuff that you'd know if you had worked in an analog studio much, which was my assumption, sorry about that.

Hi, I was eagerly waiting your response and I have a few things I would like to understand better.
I've come up a with a sort of checklist that I can reference when choosing a mixer. The point is to lay out my options and the goal is to find the "best" in each category in terms of sound and signal quality.


The different ways to connect the mixer to the inputs of the audio interface:
-insert
-direct out
-sub out
-Mon Send and FX send
-Control Room out?

put the channel on Solo or PFL (Pre Fader Listening) and record whatever comes out of the ControlRoom outputs, while Main Mix is just that: the whole mix (with monitors playing that)

The different ways to connect the audio interface outputs to the mixer:
-Line in L/R
-2 track input
-aux return?

The different ways to output to a set of speakers besides through the “main out”:
sub outs
control room out
tape out L/R (the same as 2-track output?)
aux sends?

The different ways to add external effects to the mixer:
You said you can a TRS Y-cable that plugs into the channel insert, and then splits into two TS plugs, wouldn't it be best if all 3 plugs were TRS? Also, Here's what I don't get quite yet, 1 out of the 2 plugs goes into the audio interface. The 2nd plug goes into the effects unit. But from the output of the effects unit, where does that plug go?

The different ways to bypass the mixer preamp:
I've read from a bunch of sources that there are different ways to do this but some methods don't quite bypass the mixer 100%

I read this somewhere and saved it in a document:
“You could find a pre that would output to AES, plug that into the console. That would bypass the pre.”
Not sure if it applies.


Additional inquiries:
How do the preamps on a mixer compare to a $400 external preamp?

Is it possible to also output to a guitar amp as well as output via the main outs?
I'd like to play through the guitar amp and not through the studio monitors/computer speakers.

What I don't like about this is that the mixer would be in the monitoring path all the time. The monitor station is much quieter than my Mackie mixer.

What kind of noise would be present in a mixer? What in the specs cause it?

Lastly,
what does tap or tap off mean?

[ghettosynth]

The different ways to add external effects to the mixer:
You said you can a TRS Y-cable that plugs into the channel insert, and then splits into two TS plugs, wouldn't it be best if all 3 plugs were TRS? Also, Here's what I don't get quite yet, 1 out of the 2 plugs goes into the audio interface. The 2nd plug goes into the effects unit. But from the output of the effects unit, where does that plug go?

Sorry, I spaced this thread some time ago. I'll try to answer some of your questions, but you really do have quite a bit of studying to do.

Here's why, this is from the Mackie CR-1604 manual and shows you how to use TRS insert plugs. Just because they are TRS, does not mean that they're balanced. In this case, they are not. Essentially this is a cost savings measure as one jack can be used for both input and output.

[rook takes knight]

If the channel insert's use is reserved for an FX loop as that diagram states, how do you connect the mixer to the audio interface? I would imagine you could use a direct out but the DFX-12 for example, doesn't have one.

[ghettosynth]

If the channel insert's use is reserved for an FX loop as that diagram states, how do you connect the mixer to the audio interface? I would imagine you could use a direct out but the DFX-12 for example, doesn't have one.

So, you take the insert plug as described above and you route the two ends into a normalled patch bay. You connect the SEND (tip) to the top jack in the rear and the RETURN (ring) to the bottom jack. Now, if nothing is plugged into the front of the patch bay, it "normals" the input to the output and your mixer behaves as usual.

However, you can "tap" the signal by connecting a patch cord to the top jack on the front and then route that to your interface.

If you connect anything to the bottom jack (on the front) then you will break the return connection to the mixer. So you can use this if you want to insert an effect into the chain.

You can think of a normalled patch bay as the two jack realization of the TRS input jack described above.

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