Members Mileskb Posted November 16, 2011 Members Share Posted November 16, 2011 So I'm starting a new project, namely building a new recording studio. I used to have one on the east coast, now I live on the west coast and it's just time to get'r done. If anyone is curious why I am posting a lot all of a sudden, I've just been lurking for many years. I first joined the SSS forum when it was on AOL. I moved out here in 2006 and due to a variety of reasons am just now getting things started again. Anyway, boring re-intro over with.. There is more to this project, but what I'm looking for at the moment is to design the DAW that I will use. Sonar X1 Producer is where I'm leaning with a MOTU 24I/O. What I am looking for is a solid control surface to use. As we talked in another thread about things we liked, not being able to use real faders was a real drag and more importantly a time waster. Mixing the DI and mic of Bass tracking in my world is most easily done with one hand using two fingers on the faders until they are locked in. The old click'n drag... click'n drag just doesn't cut it for me, although that's the way I've had to do it. Even the act of comparing vocal or any other tones... being able to click mute buttons alternately on and off is much easier with something that resembles a mixer. On the other hand there are things like drawing envelopes that using the trackball is the way to go. I actually had a trackball AND a mouse hooked up and would use whichever is more appropriate convenient. Having a "shuttle" knob would certainly be nice as well rather than "dragging" the scroll bar. So... what are the best surfaces based on experience for use with Sonar ? MIDI, Firewire? USB? Wireless ?? What's out there now? Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mileskb Posted November 16, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 16, 2011 Has anyone used a TASCAM DM4800 with Sonar? I used the DM4800 at a TV station. It really was the wrong/overkill tool for the job as it was just used as a 24 channel mixer. It would seem to be the perfect solution for what I need but it would be nice to talk to someone that has used it with Sonar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A. Einstein Posted November 16, 2011 Members Share Posted November 16, 2011 have no clue what you are talking about... maybe you want a FaderPort? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bookumdano2 Posted November 16, 2011 Members Share Posted November 16, 2011 Not used the faderport, but that may be okay. I think Behringer makes some sort of control surface. Doesn't the Korg Nanokontrol also do that? Craig uses Sonar so maybe he has ideas of stuff that works. I asked the internet ... and he told me about one of those newfangled iPad wireless controllers. After the internet told me about this, I deduce that this is definitely something to NOT get- Lookie at about 3:38 at how you can NOT use multiple fingers on faders and how BADLY the faders DON'T want to respond to your finger when the guy is trying to slide ONE fader. It actually fights back. I dunno about you guys, but I think iPads in their current state will be great mostly as landfill in the longterm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zooey Posted November 16, 2011 Members Share Posted November 16, 2011 Everything I would recommend costs about as much as the interface. The Euphonix Artist Mix, for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted November 16, 2011 Members Share Posted November 16, 2011 I use the V-Studio control surface, which is a control surface and interface, and includes a hardware Fantom synth so you can do zero-latency synth stuff. But, it's not cheap. The Artist Series controllers are great, and Sonar is now Eucon compatible. The Alesis Master Control didn't sell too well - it was late to the party - but if you can find one, it's a solid unit that I reviewed and it worked very well. I've used a Behringer control and it's not bad, but the motorized faders aren't on the same level as the ones in the V-Studio. A lot depends on what type of projects you're going to do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Beck Posted November 16, 2011 Members Share Posted November 16, 2011 So... what are the best surfaces based on experience for use with Sonar ? MIDI, Firewire? USB? Wireless ?? What's out there now?Thanks in advance. Have you considered the best control surface, IMO an analog console? That's what I use. With all those I/O's on the MOTU 24I/O imagine the possibilities. Sonar or anything else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mileskb Posted November 17, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 Well I think I'm going towards a DM4800. I'm not looking for a bargain solution but rather most bang for buck solution. I like the D700 but it does only have 8 inputs. The DM4800 (and the DM700) eliminate the need for the MOTO unit at all. The DM4800 actually has most everything one could want on a mixer plus it can send 32 channels via firewire to the PC. Apparently Sonar + DM4800 is a common mashup according to the research I have done so far. As I mentioned above I have some experience with the DM4800 as a mixer and it has some great features that lend itself more to the studio than live. We were using it in a Live broadcast TV situation and the overkill just got in the way for that. I plan on blogging the project for anyone who may be interested in what it's like to build a commercial studio from the ground up. This will be my second studio and hopefully I learned something from the first one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bzrkrage Posted November 17, 2011 Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 Went to a showing of the new Zoom R8,16 & 24 last night. It seemed pretty nice.http://www.zoom.co.jp/products/r24But then again, I`m a noob who is just starting out with recording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted November 17, 2011 Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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