Help With Mio 2882, Dp4, And Recording Setup..., ...did I mention I need help? :) Options

[naschbac]

Hi everyone,

I'm still muddling my way into this multi-track recording world, and I'm
having a hell of a time. First let me get all the extraneous details out of
the way.

Here's the DAW setup:

1 Ghz Powerbook G4 Titanium
MIO 2882+DSP w/ 1.3.9 firmware
MacOS 10.2.5 w/ 1.4.0 MIO drivers
Digital Performer 4

Okay I'm new to DP from an old world of Peak and Deck. So I'm having a
great deal of trouble setting it up in a way that makes any sense to me. I
think part of it is that I don't understand the relationship between some
components and others.

So first I need help understanding how the MIOConsoleX software fits into
the equation with my recording and editing software. It seems to me like
the MIOConsoleX app is the virtual equivilent having a series of controls
and a mixing board as they would behave if they were in hardware on the MIO
device. Is that correct? So in a sense the MIOConsole device is
independent from the recording software.

Next I cannot for the life of me create a working setup that makes sense.
Let me describe what I'm trying to do, and what I'm doing, then you tell me
where I'm going wrong.

Here's what I'm trying to record:

3 mic's on a drum set
1 mic's on vocals
2 electric guitars
1 electric bass guitar

Here's how I have things connected on the Inputs:

Vocal mic #1 is connected directly to Analog Input 1
Drum mic #1 is connected directly to Analog Input 2
Drum mic #2 is connected directly to Analog Input 3
Drum mic #3 is connected directly to Analog Input 4
Guitar #1 is connected from an Amp's pre-Amp out to Analog Input 5
Guitar #2 is connected directly to Analog Input 6
Bass Guitar #1 is connected directly to Analog Input 7

Here's how I have things connected on the Outputs:

Analog Input 1 is routed to Analog Output 1 to a monitor for vocals
Analog Input 6 is routed to Analog Output 6 to a guitar amp
Analog Input 7 is routed to Analog Output 7 to a bass amp
Mix 1 and Mix 2 are routed to CANS outputs so I can monitor Analog 1 through
8 and DAW 1 & 2

First I need help with some basics. Which is better? Connecting the
instruments directly to the MIO or running them through their amps first and
then sending the line-outs to the MIO. If nothing else it would get rid of
the Analog outs I've connected except for the CANS. The problem I seem to
have is that I have to add a LOT of gain/trim to the input signals to make
them loud enough and especially to the mic signals to keep them up with the
guitars and bass. On the mic's I have the channel settings set to "Mic" and
I have the Phantom power off. On the instruments I have the channel
settings set for "Inst".

Second what does the "Mixer" in the MIOConsole effect? It appears to only
have an effect on how the Mix 1 & 2 channels sound as I monitor them, and
not any effect on the levels that get transported to the recording app, or
the levels that are output from the MIO to the various amps. Everything of
that nature seems to have to be controlled by nothing other than the "Trim"
knobs in the "Analog I/O" pannel of the MIOConsoleX app.

I think that's everything that's specifically related to physical setup.

Now on to the software...

In DP4 I think I want to have a mono audio track for each Analog Input
right? So I created 7 new mono Audio tracks. I set the input on each one
to Analog 1 1 (mono) through Analog 7 7 (mono) respectively.

The outputs I have no idea how to setup. They don't make any sense to me.
I want DP to just output each of those 7 channels to the equivilent of DAW 1
through DAW 7, but I don't know how. I thought it was supposed to be "bus
1" through "bus 7" but that most definitely doesn't work, and worse if I
select any of the "bus" channels as the output for an input I can no longer
record on that input, the app doesn't get any level activity.

I bring up the Mixer board in DP as well as the Audio Monitor. In the Mixer
board I click the little "REC" button on all 7 tracks then leave everything
else at the default. So long as I have all the inputs set to have an analog output in DP4 I can at least see activity on the Audio Monitor window in DP4. However despite seeing activit on the Audio Monitor window the little level bars in the Mixer board window don't do anything. The only time I can ever get the Mixer board to show activity is during playback, and that doesn't make any sense to me. It seems like I ought to be able to use the mixer board to make adjustments prior to recording, and while recording.

Okay, well I think that's plenty of questions and problems for now. I'd really appreciate any help anyone can give me. I'm really loving playing with this stuff, but there is just so much thrown at me at once that I have never seen or experienced before that it's beyond overwhelming at times.

Thanks,
Nathan Aschbacher