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Audio “mixer/interface” for nMP?
The Tube is sitting on my desk, not making a sound, and I’m realizing what a difference it is not having fan noise!
Anyway, I’d like to move away from having a traditional analog mixer on my desk, wasting room, as I use it almost exclusively as a volume knob for my old MP. Of course, it’s a bit more than that, as I use an Aux for the subwoofer output. But I never use it any more for audio input, and have practically forgotten what’s routed into it from the patchbay.
After consideration, it appears than an A/V 5.1 receiver might be the best choice. Out from the nMP via the mini-TOSLINK. Then use the AV receiver to select speaker mix; stereo (self-powered studio monitors), stereo + sub, or 5.1 surround. And just leave a pair of phones jacked into the HP port on the nMP.
Somehow seems…. wrong… not to have a pro mixer with fader strips on the desk, but with everything coming in digital…..
Thoughts?
“Constituo, ergo sum”
Bob Woodhead / Atlanta
CMX-Quantel-Avid-FCP-Premiere-3D-AFX-Crayola
“What a long strange trip it’s been….” -
4 Replies
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[Bob Woodhead] “Somehow seems…. wrong… not to have a pro mixer with fader strips on the desk, but with everything coming in digital…..”
Do it. 🙂 And I say this as a former “Pro Mixer”. I had a Mackie MCU on my desk for years, I never used it. As of about a year ago it’s in a box somewhere. And for output to monitors? Haven’t had a console for that in literally a decade.
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~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~ -
Depends on spend, but we’ve got a focusrite 18i20 unit that sits underneath the display. It’s got loads of configurations for DAW channels in and out, jack and xlr connectivity and comes with scarlett mix which controls the output mix and input levels for recording. The unit can have presets saved which can quickly switch from stereo to 5.1 to 7.1 or anything in between.
It’s more for recording and then output mix for 5.1 with audition or logic, but its a great piece of kit.
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I find it nice to have a knob you can reach quickly. If you need surround sound, you’d have to get something fancier like the Focusrite unit. I have a Mackie Onyx Blackjack now. I used to use a Presonus Firestudio 26×26 with remote control unit, this was the best solution for audio monitoring for video I’ve ever seen with instant switching between 3 different sources, surround sound, controls located as far from the unit as you want, mono button, and mute button. But, unfortunately they abandoned the product.
On using a consumer receiver – Does FCP X actually output a Surround Sound encoded signal on the TOSlink? It would have to be an encoded signal (DTS or Dolby) for the receiver to recognize it and most editing systems like to output discreet channels, but maybe Apple has added this feature. Even so, I would be hesitant to trust an encoded signal for monitoring. But maybe that’s just me.
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The 5.1 is for fun… haven’t had a call yet to work in 5.1, so consumer unit would be OK in that regard.
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