Quote: “Most very good musicians I know don’t edit, if something’s wrong they just play it right - if you can this is much faster and more musical.”
Brilliant, I loved this statement!
I wrote exactly that as being precisely my approach to someone just the other day. I simply capture performance.
With respect nicfontana, you remind me of guitarists I have known whose interest and playing ability leads them to want and need for instance, a Fender American Pro Guitar.
But to save money, they buy a version of the instrument made elsewhere, from clearly inferior, less stable materials, then spend further amounts upgrading the pickups, replacing the potentiometers, switchware and jack sockets.
Finding the instrument doesn’t hold tuning as well as it might, they swap out the tuners. As the intonation or the vibrato arm mechanism is a little pitchy and not stable in returning to pitch, they then replace the bridge/tailpiece and vibrato arm.
However, after they changed the pickups and used it awhile, they found the instrument really didn’t sound the way they anticipated it would, so replaced them again, with further, even more expensive pickups. Although the instrument still didn’t sound the way they really wanted it to, they settled for it the way it was, exhausted as they were, utterly compromised by the fruitless exercise.
It would have been far cheaper and easier simply to buy the American Pro.
With respect nicfontana, there appear to be a few problems with the reasoning in your last post.
That is not meant as a criticism, as I personally find attempting to explain something to someone else, often clarifies aspects for me that I need to think through, more thoroughly. Its a helpful exercise.
I think that’s where you are, needing to think things through better, or you will inevitably become the lamentable musician, described above!
You need good quality audio and conversion with solid drivers. That suggests to me, that RME would be a very good fit for you.
You use MIDI a lot, so need well designed and implemented equipment at the centre of your system, that will handle MIDI data efficiently and effectively in a smooth, reliable manner. As MIDI can have excruciatingly complex issues.
Clearly, though you have undoubtedly become used to working with it, you openly admit you need a better mixer. That is a significant cost you will incur at some point, or it will become qualitative bottleneck, that prohibits the achievement of the higher quality you seek.
You mention “the more channels the better” and indicate that more channels and inputs are desirable on the interface, that you might purchase a somewhat lower quality focusrite or audient device to provide that. Presumably, all the companies involved you mention, are going to supply them to you for free?
Because unless they do, I don’t see how you can argue you can’t afford an ideally specified RME, but can afford to purchase all these supposedly money saving, lower quality devices, that will undoubtedly cost you rather more altogether, in the long run. Ensure you have lower audio quality, and prevent you from achieving the full potential of the quality equipment you do have available.
That’s IF you can get it all to work successfully, as you imagine in your mind, it will?
Something personally, I doubt as I think you will have problems.
Unnecessary problems, you could easily avoid.
But that comes at a price.
Good recording equipment involves proper investment. That pays dividends over and over again.
KaiS’s statement: “The UFX series of interfaces makes a great and straightforward to use “heart” of a studio setup.”
Sums things up, pretty well!
Though I would encourage you to buy the best possible interface in that range, you could stretch to.
Buy what you really need in the longer run, and just buy it once, rather than needing to upgrade repeatedly. Take your time and look for the best, most straight forward solution, that will fully meet your long term requirements.
