V4 Used as a DAW?

eopco wrote on 3/17/2003, 6:33 PM

Hello All:
Is anyone using V4 as a DAW. I currently have a Mackie MDR with a Mackie Digital 8 bus mixer. My thought is to record basic tracks on the Mackie, then fly it into V4. I could still use the D8B to automate mixes. My questions is, what type of interfaces would I needs for I/O and machine control. Also, how much horse power would I need for the computer. I have been using V3 for a few years and would like to beef it up if possible. I'm not real crazy about mortgaging the house for Pro Tools, but see the benifits of a graphic interface to my system with full editing. I am also getting sick of losing clients to Pro Tools.

Thanks in advance
Rich- EOP Recording Co.

Comments

Geoff_Wood wrote on 3/18/2003, 5:55 AM

Nobody is using Vegas as a toaster ! ;-)

Sure - that is it's main purpose, well, with those who frequent this branch of the Vegas forums anyway. With 8 in/8 out interface systems (and greater) going for less than a grand, it are straightforward to implement.

Check out some audio recording mags like Electronic Musician, Sound On Sound, etc, and you'll see pages of ads for them. Vegas is in many minds the pre-eminently elegant and graceful of DAW softwares. If you check other threads you will see many opinions suggesting that ProTools is a retrograde step in the DAW-world in comparison with Vegas.

geoff

Foreverain4 wrote on 3/18/2003, 9:05 AM

check out the motu 2408. this gives you 24ch adat lightpipe i/o, 24ch tdif (tascam) i/o, 8ch analog i/o, and a pair of spidif i/o. it also privides word clock i/o and adat sync. you can also set up the spidif to transmit smpte. there are 2 models out right now, the mkII and mkIII. the major differences are the mkIII has a little better A/D coversion and supports sample rates up to 96k.

Rednroll wrote on 3/18/2003, 11:27 AM

If you really want to use the MDR, although I don't see the benefit if you have a DAW with Vegas setup right beside it, you'll need an interace to sync the 2 together. MOTU midi interface would do the trick. I believe MOTU has some dual SMPTE inferface with audio IN/OUTS in one box. Echo's Layla would also do what you're looking for, and I prefer them over MOTU. MOTU is a Mac company with PC supported secondary. Echo is a PC company with MAC support secondary. The Midi interface with SMPTE/MTC IN/OUT would also allow you to do automated mixes with your Mackie D8. I have a similar setup with a Yamaha mixer and do this.
Vegas does not support MIDI control of software faders yet, so if this is a feature you're looking for, you better go the Pro Tools route or something like Sonar. Vegas does support machine control options like play/stop/record functions. You'll need to get a hardware contoler to match, or use keyboard short-cut keys.

Currently, the only real show stopper for Vegas for a DAW setup is that it doesn't have hardware control support for the faders/pans/etc. It also doesn't have "Rewire" support of VST Instruments. The upside of Vegas is that with the features that it does support, they blow away the competition with a great user interface to be able to use them intuitively.

Geoff_Wood wrote on 3/18/2003, 3:00 PM

I originally got a 2408 (a MK1 changed immediately to a Mk 2. FWIW the 3 appears to have nicer metering too....) with the idea of running it in conjunction with my tascam DA-88 /SY-88.

Oddly, since getting Vegas, I've never actually felt the desire to do that, and haven't touched the DA-88 for years (apart from a US$500 head replacement).

geoff

PS Would I be correct in saying that in this forum 95% o the users are using Vegas *exclusively* as a DAW ?

stakeoutstudios wrote on 3/19/2003, 6:38 AM

I use it as a DAW exclusively. rocks my socks.

rmjdesigns wrote on 3/19/2003, 12:08 PM

i have been a recording eng since 1979 i have used alot of gear and have owned alot of gear with a lot of money invested i have had tascam d88s in california and adats in the east coast and have sold them all and invested in alot of tube preamps and motu sound cards my huge mixer is is allso a door stop you walk in my controll room it looks like a movie theater execpt for the lowboy racks yes I,m a 5.1 nut now i encode in dolby digital and dts and the the sound difference is amazing ease of use is to die for the sadd thing is it takes so little time to set up and break down a session i lose money !! but the head aches are gone

eopco wrote on 3/20/2003, 1:24 PM

Thanks for all of the advise. I have been getting alot of feedback on the Mackie site regarding the RME Hamerfall Cards. Is anyone using this setup. Specificly, Vegas 4, the RME Hamerfall Card, and a Mackie Digital 8 bus mixer.

Thanks again: Rich, EOP Recording Co.