Routing via Outboard

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Routing via Outboard

Post by The Culprit »

Hi all, another wee request from me. Hope everyone is content and productive.

I've been busy chipping away on my recording and mixing skills (still think this is the best website of all times, thank you all), and am looking for some help setting up an outboard channel strip I have to loop back into my DAW.

My setup is as follows: Audient id14 mkii going into Reaper and coming out my DT990 headphones. (Monitors are packed away in the cupboard because of space and room limitations).

What I want to do is route a vocal track I've recorded out through my PreSonus studio channel (mono device) and come back into reaper to records the affected signal. Basically like a reamp without the amp :lol:

Been messing around with the i/o settings of both Reaper and the Audient mixer software but no joy. I'm falling just short of getting my signal all the way round.

Any help, as always, appreciated.
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Re: Routing vis Outboard

Post by Drew Stephenson »

Are you using the ReaInsert plugin on the channel?
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Re: Routing vis Outboard

Post by The Culprit »

I am not Drew, is this a requirement?
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Re: Routing via Outboard

Post by Drew Stephenson »

It's not a requirement per-se, but it's probably the easiest way of working with hardware in Reaper.
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Re: Routing via Outboard

Post by James Perrett »

The way I'd do it is to send the signal to the outboard from outputs 3 and 4 (or just one of those if working in mono) on the Audient and then send the output from the outboard to the line input(s). This is assuming that you are using outputs 1 and 2 for monitoring.

In Reaper you need to open the routing dialog on the channel that you want the effect on, disable master send and select hardware outputs 3 and 4. The only issue is that you may need to slide the newly recorded effect track in time to compensate for latency.

Of course, Drew's suggestion of ReaInsert may also work but I'm not sure how you go about recording the results.
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Re: Routing via Outboard

Post by The Culprit »

OK cheers, I'll have a rummage around youtube and see what I can find. I may be back for more detailed requests :thumbup:
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Re: Routing via Outboard

Post by Drew Stephenson »

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Re: Routing via Outboard

Post by The Culprit »

Cheers guys, still no joy. There must be something daft I'm missing I'll try explain exactly where I'm at.

I'm running a mono jack from output 3 of the Audient to the jack input of the outboard. Then mono jack from the output of the outboard going into input 1 of the Audient. That's pretty straightforward.

On the software side, I have the audio track (master send off) sent to a new track. That new track has reainsert on it with settings;

Hardware sends - Analogue 3 (left) and None (right).
Hardware returns - Analogue 1 (left) and None (right).

Looking at the UI of reainsert, the send meter is getting a signal but the return meter is not. Also the 'ping detect' option is not returning any results.

Is there anything that jumps out to you? Maybe something I need to change in the actual Audient id mixer software?
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Re: Routing via Outboard

Post by Drew Stephenson »

That would imply the circuit isn't complete. First thing to check is your cables but it'd also be worth checking the hardware in a different configuration, i.e. use it as an input to check that signal is getting in and out.
Also worth checking other inputs and outputs on the audient just in case there is a problem there.
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Re: Routing via Outboard

Post by The Culprit »

OK cool, I'm away from the laptop now so will start afresh next chance I get. Will update over the weekend, thanks again for your help.
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Re: Routing via Outboard

Post by James Perrett »

Might be worth connecting a cable direct from the output of the Audient to the input. And also worth checking the software control panel as I seem to remember it was fairly complicated.

It might be worth saying that it took me a few goes before getting this right so, once I got things working, I saved the setup as a Reaper template.
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Re: Routing via Outboard

Post by The Culprit »

Gave this another whirl tonight but still not getting great results. At this point I'm considering what benefits I'd even get by seeing it through. The Presonus Studio Channel was bought mainly for tracking and to save on the processing power of my very basic laptop.

However, learning about the workaround of freezing tracks in Reaper I don't think it's a worthwhile pursuit trying to include the unit in the mixing process. Maybe I'll revisit it at some point, but fir now I'm gonna focus on utilising the stock plugins to improve my technique rather than worrying about colour via outboard.

Priorities chaps and chapettes, always keep them to the fore.
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