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Posted by: Nels Wed 14 Jun 2006, 08:27

Hey folks,

Anyone out there have an outboard compressor hooked up to their 828mkII? Got a Blue Series DBX 160SL Stereo Compressor that I'd like to utilize and was wondering about the NO INSERTS factor.

If a seperate mixer with INSERTS is needed, what might be a good one to consider?

Thanks

Posted by: edge100 Wed 14 Jun 2006, 18:29

The 828mkII does have inserts, in a manner of speaking. Take the Send output and patch it into the compressor. Compressor line outs then go into one of the 828mkII line Ins. Yes, it means you have to give up an analog in, but this should be no problem, especially if you have a patch bay to manage the connections.

Posted by: bigyello Wed 14 Jun 2006, 22:59

yeah, u need a patch bay

Posted by: Nels Thu 15 Jun 2006, 03:32

I just happen to have a patch bay(Ultra Patch Pro - PX2000), but never could quite get the ins and outs to route right. Finally, gave up. Gonna have to try again.

In the mean time, if anyone wants to walk me thru the 828/compressor/patch bay hook up, please feel free. I also have a favorite effects proccesor(Yamaha FX 900) that I could chain, as well.

Plug ins are great, but the old hands on hardware ads a bit of warmth to the mix.

Thanks guys!

Posted by: edge100 Thu 15 Jun 2006, 12:56

Ok.

The upper row is the outputs, the lower row is the inputs.

Patch the outputs of all the gear you want to connect to the upper row. That's the easy part.

Now you need to decide how YOU like to use the equipment. The easiest way to connect everything is simply by patching all the inputs of your gear into the bottom row in a random order, setting your patch bay to "open" (see the top panel), and connecting the gear in front using patch cables for each connections. This is easy, but takes a LOT of cable.

What I like to do is leave the connections set to semi-normalled or "half-normalled" in your case. What I would do is to decide what connection is most frequently used. Lets say its the compressor patched after the mic pre. Connect the compressor outputs to column 1, top row. Connect the 828 line input 1 to column 1, bottom row. Set the column to half-normalled. Now, the compressor output is ALWAYS patched into the 828 line 1, unless you break the connection by inserting a patch cable into the bottom row (828 input). So, if you need to connect an eq or reverb instead of the compressor, you would just take the output of that device and connect it into the 828 line input connection using a patch cable.

Make a chart of all of your devices, and decide what needs to be patched into what. If you have a connection that is always active, then set the connection to normal and patch the two units into the top and bottom (out and in, respectively). If you have a connection that is almost always active, but sometimes gets changed, use half-normalled, and patch the units into the top and bottom (out and in, respectively). If you have a unit you hardly ever use, but still want access to, patch it in somewhere else and insert its output into the connection you want to make by inserting into the lower (input) connection.

This is incredibly difficult to explain, but very simple in practice. Try it out, and you'll get the hang of it. Just draw out the signal flow and list all your devices and their i/o.

Posted by: Nels Thu 15 Jun 2006, 13:56

Hey Edge,

Thanks so much for taking the time. I know it wasn't easy to describe the steps, but you did great. I'll defintely give it a shot tonight and post back to report how it all went.

FYI: Had all set up for years, but now in a new house since January means a new set up. Just needed to resolve these last few connections and you've been a big help.

Thanks to bigyello too, for at least putting in his 2 cents.

Later,
Nels

Posted by: Nels Fri 16 Jun 2006, 04:39

Ok, so I got it to route ok. Only thing is that it only routes thru a single channel at a time and my objective is to apply compression to all channels(mains/mix out) at once,.....as is possible with a Compressor Plugin on the Master Fader of Digital Performer, for example.

Don't understand, if the signal is routed correctly, why DP won't recognize which ever analog channel the compressor is connected to? There's something that apparently I'm doing wrong or missing, but I'll just have to keep at it.

Again, thanks for the effort. You've pointed me in the right direction and so it's just a matter of time. When I figure it all out, I'll post back.

Nels

Posted by: edge100 Sat 17 Jun 2006, 04:03

Patch the main outs of the 828 into the patch bay. Now patch these outs to the compressor ins, and the compressor outs into your powered monitors (or power amp). Voila.

Make sure that your compressor operates in stereo mode when you compress the mix bus. This should not be confused with dual mono. If your settings are different for left and right, you'll get very odd results.

Posted by: Nels Sat 17 Jun 2006, 04:33

Wow! That's great! And my compressor has a Stereo Couple button, which'll make it easy enough. Though, sometimes the odd mix in dual mono can be a creatively useful tool.

Thanks again for your help/time, edge100.

Much appreciated,
Nels