Mixing Desk & Cubase (Sequencer)

If I have a certain mixing desk and use cubase sx to sequence my tracks, how do these two tools link up?

The way I see it is that the structure of a track is within cubase and the mixing desk is there to master the track? Is this sort of right or am I just way off hehe I am just wanting to get my hands on a mixing desk but would like to know exactly what its purpose will be while using cubase, and I know its a damn good purpose too hehe. I control each sound through the mixing desk right?

This is why I made the other topic on the difference between the control that the mixing desk has and the midi controller has I just am a little confused hehe but for now its about cubase vs mixing desk I would like to know. Cheers to all you great guys :lol:

Hi,

Depends how you want to do things really - and depends on your soundcard. If your souncard offers more than two analogue outputs, you can have these outputs going into different channels on your mixing desk, and that’s where it gets interesting.

This means you can use your desk eq, which even if it's a cheapy one will probably give you better results than using cubase's eqs. You can also set up effects units from your desk, and send signals to them - have the effects return come back on it's own channel, eq that, send that to a different effects unit etc etc to create some monster sounds.

So yeh, the structure of the track is done in your sequencer - but you can use your desk creatively as mentioned in the brief example above. Perhaps send a sound from cubase out to an effects unit, sample it back in and then apply the cubase fx to it? There are literally loads of possibilities…just have fun and mess around.

Thanks heaps. I guess it does come down to messing around alot ay hehe So you think an 8 channel mixer is enough or should I go for 12 or is there too much of a difference in price?

So each channel contains 1 sound or 1 outboard synth for example? Or can an outboard synth cover a few of the mixer's channels?

Or if u have multiple inputs on your sound card and multiple outs (u can use the aux send for instance) on yer mixer u can record diferent sounds 2 seperate audio tracks at the same time.

As 2 useing yer mixers eq. hummm I think U probably get a hell of a lot better results If u have some quality waves/ TC stuff... but then again this will hog up yer CPU!


Also the m,ixer is a good way 2 hear instruments mixed (and get enought Mic pre-amps) together with yer cubase (be it VST and/or audio tracks) b4 u decide 2 commit those instruments into audio tracks for further processing!


Some people just use all the processing/ and sound sources from they're software (+audio tracks) and then feed'em 2 seperate tracks on the mixer 4 live work or mixes bcause the just prefer 2 feel/ ride the faders (real faders)...


So it's a bit up 2 the quality of yer Mixer aswell...

Get as many channels on your mixer as you can afford, as you'll need them later when you start buying more gear. It's better to have too many and leave some spare channels, than to always be fiddling around switching cables when all you wanna do is record something or fiddle with a sound.

You might set it up so that cubase sends all your percussion sounds to outputs 1 & 2 on your soundcard - you could then route these through a compressor, and then into channels 1 & 2 on your desk, which'll mean you can pan them hard left and right to get a wide stereo image.

Most modern synths will have both main (master) outputs (l & r) and individual outputs. Within the synth you assign a particular sound to a particular output (eg sub 1, sub 2 etc) and this means you can then process / pan / eq this sound in a different way from the main outputs.

Hope this helps ya.

go at least 16 channels dood, you will be happier in the future. infact just use cubase's mixing facilities for now until you can afford a half decent desk. that way you won't have to fork out money twice when you realise the cheapie, not enough channel one isn't all its cracked up to be....

as for mixing differences, its just the sound difference and feel in the end. cubase probably offers more flexibility at the expense of that "analgoue" sound.