Mixer Setup Suggestions?, not sure what to do now.. Options

[Drifta]

Hello all,

I've come to an interesting point in the growth of my studio and I'm a bit stuck on where to go now. Just a brief rundown of what I've got:

3 mixers:
16 channel which i'm using as my main board (mackie 1604).
24 channel rack thay i'm running all the synths/sampler to (this has a submix bus).
8 channel that i'm going to use for analogue instruments (has stereo out and monitor out).

recording:
ADAT (not in use at the moment)
Mac G3 (yosemite) with M-Audio Delta 44.

Right now I have the mains from the 24ch and 8ch running to 4channels (2 stereo) on the 16ch. I have delta mains (2ch) also to the 16ch.

The problem is that I want to be able to do live jam recording without mixing it stereo first. The same problem occurs with synth recording, I either record 1 synth at a time or mix multiple synths to stereo and record that. I think it would be better to have each source on it's own track.

Is there a way to do this without buying like a 16 input recording interface? If I were to get a more recordable ins, how would I set up the mixers so that I could utilize them? Something like direct outs to a patchbay? I guess I'm just getting confused about what to do now to grow. I'd like to have a drumset somewhere (another at least 4 channels of input needed)..

I'm starting to get a bit tangled here thinking of what/how to write this stuff in an understandable way. Perhaps it would be easiest to stop here and try answering questions you might have. I'll run down what I have as far as sound sources:

approx 32 ch of synth outs
up to 16 ch of analogue outs
the 3 mixers
and 4 ch audio ins from sound card.

...ok. now i'm gettin' batty .

i'll answer any questions you have, and would LOVE suggestions on gear, setup or other that you might have!!!

thanks,
John

[macyu]

wait.. so is your question how do you track each instrument separately at the same time? if so, you *do need* a multichannel audio interface. you need whatever many inputs you want to record simultaneously on the audio interface. That, and depending on which OS, sequencer, bitrate and sample rate, your g3 might not cut it.