Advice on hooking up!

[ripeart]

No, not like that.

I have a fairly common and complex output section that I need some advice on 'hooking up' together given the equipment I have and my monitoring needs. I would appreciate any advice, thoughts, or recommendations.

I have the following:
MacBook Pro
828 MK2
4 x M Audio SP-5B (2 front, 2 rear)
Mackie 1202 VLZ
2 x KRK 8
1 x KRK Sub

What I want to be able to do:

• Listen to just the KRK 8s and sub
  Listen to just 2 x front M Audio
  Listen to KRK 8s, sub and Rears

In summary I want to be able to (1)-use the KRK speakers for main mixing, (2)-alternate between the two front MAudio speakers and (3)-mix in 4.1 using the KRK, sub, and the rear MAudios. I'm certain a Big Knob or the like will aid in hooking up however what would be the most practical method of connecting all this together in a way that makes sense?

Should I use the 828 analog outputs to connect each channel to the Mackie and connect all the speakers to the Mackie, set the Mackie to unity on all inputs, thereby mixing and routing from within the software?

Or should I connect solely the 828 main outs to the Mackie and route/mix/duplicate the signal from there?

Or should I connect the 4 x MAudio to the 828 and the KRK system to the Mackie?

I think connecting the M Audios directly to the 828 makes the most sense however I wanted to throw this question out to the board to at least discover if I'm missing something fundamental.

Thanks for any thoughts.

[mikehalloran]

>I think connecting the M Audios directly to the 828 makes the most sense<

It does to me.

[ripeart]

Yeah I copied that to notepad as my mission statement of the day. It actually took just a couple of hours lol.

Connecting all the outs the 828 was the way to go.

[mikehalloran]

Yeah I copied that to notepad as my mission statement of the day. It actually took just a couple of hours lol.

Connecting all the outs the 828 was the way to go.

Sometimes, simple is best.

I have never tried hooking up my 828mkII to my 5.1 optical controller. I use headphones when I record (after switching inputs and outputs to my 828) and don't go back to my speakers till I am ready to mix. I'm certain that there are other solutions but a) I understand this one and b) it works.

[ripeart]

Thanks for your responses.