So.. I am spending my night determining what I would need in order to take all of the gear I own and eventually start my own studio (whether it be out of my home or in a dedicated space). I currently work out of a
brilliant multi-million dollar building with a huge live room, PT HD, etc etc.. but I know that my opportunities there will not last forever and eventually I will want/need to create my own place. Being able to run sessions out of such great rooms, with high end gear has disillusioned me a lot as to what is necessary to create a truly "professional" product. My productions did not see vast improvement from the nicer 192 I/O converters, UA, AMEK/Neve, Focusrite, API etc preamps, U87s, 414s, 451s, and all the other great gear, only from me learning and growing as an engineer.
So here are my questions that directly pertain to M-Audio:
I have been using my ProjectMix I/O since 2008, I also own Axiom 49 and Keystation 88es controllers.. Q: will my M-Audio gear still have support for their products now that they are owned by a completely new company??
Can I use ALL 18 inputs and ALL 14 outputs on the Pmix as advertised? I currently use a Presonus Digimax D8 with it through ADAT, but I have never used the SPIDIF on it. Can they both be used simultaneously? I plan to get something that has ADAT out as well (maybe a modded ADA 8000?) because I need more outputs for creating separate headphone mixes. I will be using the SPIDIF with some ultra high end ADC and DAC (Probably Mytek Stereo96 or something similar). These will be for recording the "money tracks" and general overdubs, and the DAC will be the main out to my monitor controller (presonus central station.) I think 18 is a solid number of simultaneous tracks for recording an entire band live if need-be. If the Pmix cannot do this.. then the Profire 2626 seems like the more promising option because I would be able to possibly disconnect rack for location recording and just keep the Pmix as a control surface. (This brings me back to question #1 though, which may have already been answered by the 3 year s**t storm leaving windows users in the dark with random sample offset..:mad5: :()
I already own $25k+ in instruments, mics, pres, monitors, etc and I have ran my own
studio out of my parent's basement in the past before I came to school, but I have several upgrades planned to take it to a new level based on the streamlined workflow that I have grown to enjoy at the "real" studio. I am going to do it right.. but on a serious budget. My good experiences with the ProjectMix over the years and new outlook on price vs. quality makes me comfortable with having an M-Audio interface as the centerpiece in my studio.. but these things like # of possible I/O, and continued support are crucial.