Outboard racks, interface,pre amps and converters? What order should they be set in?

[willdub1]

so i know you need an audio interface to get sound into your computer when recording. But on that same note while shopping on sweetwater i found other stuff such as ac dc converters, synchronizers (master clock). This is apart from effects and dynamics. So how exacty do the things mentioned above relate to one another and in what order should they be set up in?

[thecontrolcentre]

If you're just starting out you really don't need to know about converters, and synchronisers ... and the things you mention don't really relate to one another except in that they can all be part of music production. How you'd go about setting things up depends on what you have. Are you planning to use a lot of hardware in your productions, or will you be working more "in the box"?

[willdub1]

yea ill be working more in the box. But i just asked out of curiousity. Cheers

[BertKoor]

i found other stuff such as ac dc converters, synchronizers (master clock).

You probably mean ad/da converters. AC/DC converters make decent current from alternating current (i.e. a power adapter.) The ad/da does Analog->Digital and Digital->Analog. That's the core of any audio interface or soundcard, but these don't connect through USB, PCIe or FireWire to a computer. They usually have a digital audio connection such as spdif, aes/ebu or adat. Digital mixing consoles, harddisk recorders and professional audio interfaces can be connected to them. For instance RME has pci cards with just two input channels that can be expanded to 48 channels by plugging in extra converters through ADAT. It gives producers/engineers freedom in picking their separate components for their setup.

If multiple digital audio components need to be interconnected (eg 3 adat converters to one mixing console) then these need to be synched. Each has their own clock, but these need to be replaced by one central clock. Otherwise the recordings will drift and won't align because the clocks are not that precise. You could assign one device to be the master clock, or get a separate wordclock device to generate it.

All that is big boys gear. You (and I) don't need all that complicated modular multi-channel stuff.

[thecontrolcentre]

yea ill be working more in the box. But i just asked out of curiousity. Cheers

No bother. Which audio interfaces are you considering?

[ghettosynth]

...

[willdub1]

thinking bout going with something simple like an m audio mobile pre.