Recording From Your Digital Console: DiGiCo and MADI- Pt. 2 Configuring the Computer

First Thing's First

I'm going to be bold here and hope you already have a basic understanding on how your computer works.  We'll assume that you've already installed Pro Tools.  I'm writing this while walking through the process on a 2010 model 13" MacBook Pro. It's running OS X 10.7.5 (Lion), and Pro Tools 10.

On a side note, I usually run my Apple computers one generation behind on the operating system. The reason for this, is that there can be a lot of heartache when you're running things on the bleeding edge of technology. I prefer to let someone else find all the bugs. I actually upgraded this machine from Snow Leopard to Lion shortly after Mountain Lion came out.  One huge reason for that is that Pro Tools wasn't supporting Mountain Lion at the time.

I am also not planning on upgrading to Pro Tools 11 any time soon. There's a lot of issues with plug in compatibility and things like that. If you want to read more about that then check it out at Avid's website here: Pro Tools 11 FAQ

What's Next?

First we need to unpack the UB MADI and install the drivers. The drivers are on a USB flash drive that's in the packaging under the UB MADI. Insert the flash drive, and open it up. Double click on the "Install DiGiCo UB MADI on Macintosh.pkg" file and the installer should start. Then just walk through the process. Then we'll need to set up the I/O in Pro Tools.

To do this, we'll start a new session. Start Pro Tools. I still have the start-up screen on my particular set up, so I'll select create blanks session. For audio file I'm choosing to run 24 bit, 96 kHz broadcast wave files (bwf.)

* Note that the UB MADI will set itself to whatever the audio input sample and bit rate is. If your DigiCo console is running 24 bit 48 kHz then you'll need to set your Pro Tools session accordingly or things won't play nicely together.

Once Pro Tools opens up, we need to change the playback engine. Click on "Setup", select "Playback Engine,"  go to the drop down menu and select "Pro Tools Aggregate I/O." A warning should pop up stating that "Selecting this playback engine will automatically save and close your session....". We are pretty sure we want to proceed so just click "Yes."

The session should restart. After things come back online we can set up our "Pro Tools Aggregate I/O."  That will be a post unto itself. Right now my plan is to touch on setting up a Yamaha console with a Dante network

Recording From Your Digital Console: Choosing Recording Software

Picking Up the Lingo I'm going to start off and just throw a few terms that I might use in the series out there. That way we're all on the same page, and I don't have to type the words "recording software" every other sentence. This may also help as you explore the interwebs and research what options might be best for you. So, without further ado-

The Terms:

DAW- This stands for Digital Audio Workstation. This is what we generally call the software, whether it's Pro Tools, Cubase, Studio One, Reaper etc.

ITB- This is simply an abbreviation of In The Box. The box in this case is your computer. Some recording engineers prefer to mix out of the box, meaning they're using an audio console to mix their recording projects. Some prefer to mix in the box using the faders in the software.

Plug-Ins- Plug-Ins are virtual equalizers, compressors, reverb and other effect units.  In analog world we would typically patch or plug these into our mixer using cables. Many times ITB we just use a drop down menu.

DAW's- The Contenders:

I'm going to start by answering this question with a question. Which DAW do you like? There are free options like Audacity (which doesn't play nicely or at all with Audinate's Dante Virtual Soundcard. It could have been a problem on my end.) Reaper is a nearly free option ($60 for students or non-profits $255 for everybody else.) Both of these are distributed directly from their websites

Then there's the paid options.  Most people have heard of Pro Tools. It's an industry standard in the professional recording world. Then there's others like PreSonus' Studio One, Steinberg's Nuendo & Cubase  family of products, Sonar by Cakewalk, and Apple's Logic. Each one of these has it's own set of advantages and disadvantages.

So Which One Do I Choose?

It really depends on your end result, and your workflow. Personally I don't have a lot of hands-on time with the Steinberg family products, or Sonar. My two personal favorites are Pro Tools and Studio One. I typically use Pro Tools the most.  I'm just used to the workflow, the keyboard short cuts, and I like the routing matrix.  I would encourage anyone with a little time on their hands to download demo versions of any of  these software packages and try them out. See which one you like.

~Andy

Recording From Your Digital Console: Choosing A Computer

Cutting to the Chase Buy a Mac.

But Seriously

Buy a Mac. (Are we beginning to see a bias?) This article is a bit tongue-in-cheek.

My Case Against Windows

Have you ever been computer shopping? On the Windows side of things you have Dell, HP, Gateway, Acer and others. Then there's the specialized machines from companies like ADK, Alienware, or Music XPC.  That's seven different manufacturers that I've listed off the top of my head.  Some of those companies have as many 15 different product lines. Each one of these uses different chipsets, different USB and Firewire buses. If you want to see what's available feel free to go to a website like Tiger Direct (www.tigerdirect.com) or New Egg (www.newegg.com.)

My point is, the operating system, Windows, has to be compatible with all of these different machines. It also has to work with all of these different parts. That's a lot of programming code.  There's a great opportunity for something to just not work quite right. When things do go wrong, who do you call? Microsoft? Dell? The mother board manufacturer?

Finally, what version of Windows do you buy? Home, Professional, Ultimate? 7 or 8? Lots of choices. These choices can affect how your computer and audio hardware interface with each other. I will say this. If you are considering Windows 8 for a recording/production machine- wait. The various audio software/hardware manufacturers still need time to update software/hardware drivers. (I would actually say the same thing if Apple just released a new operating system.)

The Argument for Mac

There was a period in my life that I worked in the Keyboard & Recording department at a chain music store. Typically if a customer purchased any recording, or music creation software from me, I'd offer to help them get it installed if they had issues. Granted at this particular time there was a version of Windows called Media Center Edition. That particular version would absolutely not work with external sound cards. Period. Ever. Other than that, it would often take multiple install attempts to get a particular software working. I rarely had Mac users come in with trouble. Things boil down to this. How much time to you want to spend trouble shooting your gear, vs how much time you want to be using it.

If you happen to visit the Apple website, you'll notice there are only five series of computers.  That's considerably less than the plethora of  Windows options. Your choices are two laptop lines, and three desktop lines. Then you have to take into consideration that Apple builds it's own computers, and their operating system (OS X.) That has to guarantee a certain level of cooperation between the software and hardware.

My final argument is that OS X, Apple's operating systems supports Aggregate Audio Devices.

What Do Aggregate Devices Do for Me?

In simple terms they allow you to use multiple sound cards within OS X or within applications that support it. Why is this useful? Well, let's look at our scenario from the previous post in this series. In this case there was a digital audio console at front of house, pumping 32 channels of audio to a computer back stage via a Dante network.  The computer was using Dante's Virtual Soundcard. Unfortunately, because it was a Windows based machine the only audio device it could use was the virtual sound card.

This was extremely problematic for using local audio monitors. One work around would be to close the session, and then re-open it.  Then an Avid M-Box, PreSonus Audio box, or similar device could then be used to connect studio monitors. This would not offer real-time monitoring of input. A second option would be to add another Dante device to the network, in the broadcast room to connect a pair of studio monitors to.

By setting up an aggregate device inside Pro Tools, you can then use the Dante Virtual Soundcard (in this particular case) for input, and select an M-Box or other small interface to use as output for local monitoring.

~Andy