mixer setup help

[junkiexl2000]

hi, I have Motu 828 MKII. An Analogue Mixer RAMSA WRS 4416 (16 Channel). And I use a Cakewalk DAW to do my sequencing, arrangement, composition. How do I mix and sum through the RAMSA?

I use a Cakewalk DAW to do my sequencing, arrangement, composition.

Currently I have, 8 outputs going into 8 inputs on the Ramsa, I have 2 MAIN outs (L/R) from the Ramsa going into 2 inputs on the interface. And I have ASIO MOTU Main Outs selected in my Cakewalk Sequencer.

However I dont get any stereo level showing up on the Mixer when i'm playing back music.

So what settings do I have to make within Cuemix? And what settings do I have to make in my sequencer to get things setup properly for mixing and summing. And last, say I have a 24 channel project, and of course only 8 channels on the Motu, into 8 channels of the Mixer, how do I set it up or group 3 or 4 tracks per channel on the mixer?

Thanks for any help.

[barreltone]

So...are your Main outs from the 828 hooked directly up to your monitors? You have Sonar set to go out the Main outs from the 828, but from your description, I don't see where those outs are connected to anything else.

BTW, Cuemix is to monitor live signals coming into the 828. It is a way to route any mix of those signals directly to any output pair within the 828, with the ability to create 4 separate mixes, one for each bus. If you need to also monitor playback, you can set up that routing in your host application.

If you have a lot of channels, and can only output 8, you would have to do some sub-mixing anyway. Unless you're planning to use outboard gear or bounce to tape or something, why not just mix ITB at that point?

Hope this helps!

[junkiexl2000]

So...are your Main outs from the 828 hooked directly up to your monitors? You have Sonar set to go out the Main outs from the 828, but from your description, I don't see where those outs are connected to anything else.

BTW, Cuemix is to monitor live signals coming into the 828. It is a way to route any mix of those signals directly to any output pair within the 828, with the ability to create 4 separate mixes, one for each bus. If you need to also monitor playback, you can set up that routing in your host application.

If you have a lot of channels, and can only output 8, you would have to do some sub-mixing anyway. Unless you're planning to use outboard gear or bounce to tape or something, why not just mix ITB at that point?

Hope this helps!

Monitors are hooked up to the Motu, I get sound out of them, but there is no reflection of the sound when I play music, on the Mixer. Nothing is happening so to say. So I do have Cakewalk set to go out through main outs of the motu, and i do hear sound out of my monitor. But nothing is happening through the mixer.

And how do I create 4 seperate mixes through the Motu Software? Or i'd like to submix the channels through the 8 channels on the Mixer.

[barreltone]

Since you have the output from the DAW going to the main outs, and the main outs connected directly to you monitors, you have taken the mixer out of the chain at that point. You won't see any signal coming into your mixer, because there's no connection to the mixer from your main outs.

When I say 4 separate mixes, I mean mixes of the live signals of the inputs to the 828. Remember, CueMix is for monitoring live signals, not playback out of your DAW. If this is what you mean, there are four tabs at the bottom, one for each bus. You simply put the faders up for the channels you want on the bus, and route the output of that bus to the stereo pair you want. Four busses, four different mixes of the live signal.

Again, you can't use CueMix to monitor or submix the output from your DAW.

Why do you need submixes through your mixer? If this is something you definitely need, you can bus your tracks to a submix in Sonar, set to go out the 1-8 outputs to your mixer, and hook your mixer outs to the monitors.

[junkiexl2000]

The main outs of the mixer are connected to the 2 inputs on the MOTU.

Are you sure the mixer is out of the picture?

I have the monitors connected to the MOTU.

thanks for your help anyhow.

[barreltone]

The mixer isn't out of the picture completely, but it is out of the signal path. Follow the path - as you mentioned, you have the outputs from you DAW set to Main outs 1-2 on the MOTU. Since those outputs are connected to your monitors, and not to the mixer, mixer is out of the path.

Maybe the solution here is to set the outputs differently in your DAW. Maybe route your channels to Aux groups which correspond to the output pairs 1-8 that seem to be connected to your mixer. Mix and sum in the mixer, then send it back to the input for recording back. And you can use CueMix to monitor that stereo signal through the main outs to your monitors.

Either way, you are not going to get the signal from the main out from the 828 to show up in your mixer if it is not connected to an input in the mixer.

One thing you do have to ask yourself - are you getting any additional benefit of summing in the mixer, since you are also doing DAC and ADC to do so? Or are you going to go out to tape or some other recording device?