My beat-to-shit Macbook Pro still runs despite its age and beat-to-shitness. Good on ye.

And yeah, just run into the line ins. Watch yer levels, of course; I don't see a separate output level control on the TL Audio PA-2 (unless it's on the back) so I'd begin with the assumption the output is gonna be very hot and work from there as necessary. But yeah, it's just a line-level signal; you'll want XLR to TRS cables, of course.

Word, I figured but there's the whole balanced/unbalanced thing, tricky shit this recording business. BTW, also got me other KSM27 today with this particularly neat shockmount design, I think I will get one for the other one. Also, bought an Aquarian Hi-Energy head for my drummer's snare as I broke the thing (he had a "Texture Coated" model, one of the more plain designs), shit is kinda dope looking. S'posse to be for hard hitting rock and metal drummers.

Looks like this:



Will report on how it sounds.. When I can find my drumkey.

One of the new Macbook Pros?

I've heard good things except that the way they built it, the consumer is not meant to fuck around in there. Of course most people wouldn't, but if IIRC they have special screws holding it together so you have to have a special screwdriver, they put fragile wires on some of the panels so if you take it off you might break something and basically it is really fucking difficult to open it up and replace/upgrade anything without breaking it. I think if something breaks in it you basically have to let Apple handle it so it is kind of a slap-to-the-face to the DIY crowd, but I also think that is how they made the thing so thin.

This is all from memory from things I read though, as I do not pay a lot of attention to Mac laptops (more of the wife's thing). That said, they are supposed to be pretty fucking solid systems. What processor did you put in it? The new/newer i5s in the 3000 series are pretty damn awesome. In fact my next desktop build will probably have an i5 in it.

Yup, one of the new ones. This one's got a 2.9GHz dual core i7, I don't know much about computers but I know people like i7s and this thing's gotta pretty decent amount of power so I was like, "Oh, okay cool. "

Given those connections, over that distance, and the source, it shouldn't be an issue. Unfortunately you can't always match yer balanced and unbalanced I/O given how random people's accumulations of gear are. But given the choice of running a mic pre into (what I presume is an) unbalanced 1/4" line in vs. running it into another mic pre- which is what yer gonna get running it into the XLR ins on there- I will take the 1/4" line. It's not gonna fuck anything up. You could run it into the mic pre, but I'm not entirely sure why you'd want to? It probably wouldn't sound very good and would likely distort like a sonofabitch at any rate; the mic amps are meant to, well, amplify mics, which have a much lower level than line-level sources.

I did once run my NTK into a line amp on my Focusrite, because I was out of working XLR to XLR cables at home with two other mics set up. The NTK has its own power supply though, and a very hot output. For the source (acoustic guitar) it sounded fine. I've also put my friend's AMEK channel strips- channels out of a console; mic pres and EQs- through a tube DI on their way in. I wanted to use the EQ on the channels, and I liked the character of the tube DI when driven a bit. You can mix and match stuff without blowing it up. (Obvious exceptions are obvious, like running 48v phantom through a ribbon mic or a 57 with the transformer removed- cool mod- you'll definitely toast the latter and may toast the former.)

Oh! BTW: how are you storing your ribbon mic? They should be stored standing upright. I keep mine in a pouch propped up against the wall on a shelf in the back room of the 'drome. It helps prevent the ribbon from sagging. Sagging ribbons will fuck up the sound of your mic; at the very least, it'll kill your high end.

That reminds me of the Superkick II. I've never, I don't think, tried Aquarians on snare, but I lurve me some Superkick II for rawk and metal kicks. Do I see an integral muffling ring there? It's quite interesting just how different different heads sound. Even just switching between clear and coated on toms.

Mac laptops are indeed reliable pieces of kit, from my experience and that of the others I know who have them. Apple was never too keen on the DIY crowd fucking with their 'puters anyhow, thus all the proprietary shit. Many years of professional experience, and having grown up with the things at home when I was young, has shown them to be generally quite reliable systems, especially the higher end ones. Even my Hackintosh runs well.

Definitely didn't having it standing up. It is now though, good tip that.

Yeah, I figured running a preamp into another would sound yucky (though couldn't I turn off the preamps?), I was just hoping I was correct about the other 6 1/4" inputs, and not having to get another interface.

It's not gonna kill your mic overnight or anything- they do have to ship the things, after all (ribbons are notorious for arriving broken; they are fragile) but it will damage the mic over time. (Royer claims their ribbons can be stored horizontally "for years" through some patented somethingorother design *) It seems to make logical sense, and it's the accepted wisdom on the subject.

You can turn the gain down all the way, which kinda-sorta has that effect-ish, but they're meant to see much lower level signals than the line ins. A mic pre, generally, is always boosting some, even with the gain down. It wouldn't surprise me if you're starting with somewhere between 12-20 dB of gain. I looked for the specs on the mic amps briefly, but couldn't find 'em to confirm. My Focusrite starts at +15, IIRC, going into the mic ins. A lot** of line inputs on things are just the mic pre with a pad to bring it down to line level, but with the independent mic and line sections on yours, I wonder if that's the case. Not that it really matters much, but I'm curious.

That being said, the Tascam site says the line ins are TRS, so yer in luck on the balanced thing. Not that it would hurt anything (though you may have had to jigger some cables around) but it does make your life a bit easier. Apparently (at first glance) the instrument inputs on the front panel are switchable between line/instrument level as well? (Biiiig difference there; instrument level would be even more blown out and distorted than mic level)

Looks like you can feed all sortsa stuff into there; if it'll take all 16 channels at once and not choke on it- your computers certainly shouldn't- than that's a big plus. You don't have to look for things with digital out to expand, for one.

*- It occurs to me: if I have a swanky ribbon mic, why am I leaving it on its side in the box for years? It should be in front of a speaker cabinet, winning souls for the Beast.
**-Not all. Totally depends on the design. The mic and the DI can be separate paths. Though it's common for them not to be.

I'm kind of on that path. My amps all make one sound. They are not endlessly tweakable. They are not desirable vintage gems.They are still bulky and tube based, but you kind of need to have a bunch of twelve inch speakers in some situations (insufficient PA, etc). I'd lug the same amount of crap to a gig, whether I used a 5150 or an Axe Fx. I am not going to buy some does-it-all mega amp or get some fucking crazy ass rack or six foot wide pedal board. To a gig I will bring my head, my 4x12, my guitar, maybe a backup guitar, and the noise suppressor.

I am incredibly fond of the phrase "winning souls for the Beast".

And it would be silly if you rolled any other way. You don't need that shit- what would you use it for?

Likewise, if we played somewhere with a minimal/shitty PA (it's happened; hell, we played an art gallery once ) uberrack o' death is going to be inappropriate. And in the end, we're still gonna wind up bringing the same amount of shit- it's just gonna be different shit. I'm sure you don't have a whole lot of use for two fog machines and half a dozen strobes, or whatever else. Our reasons are purely logistical; we have to fit all of this into a car and a jeep, basically, the drummer's truck being full of Goddamn, Drums. (And samplers, and a monitoring system, and our keyboard stand). Four guitars, two basses, two racks, two laptops in cases with interfaces*, Diezel in a roadcase, AC30 2x12 combo, 4x12, 4x10 bass cab, bigass pedalboard, two fairly good-sized synths, stands, etc. and this starts to take up space. And we want our show with the flashy lights and the projections, because we're that sort of band.

*- I see what you did there.

With Geoff posting his drum jam, and me recently listening to one of mine makes me realize just how bad the current HCAF drum jams are. They usually have a little bit of busyness to them, but they used to have more then enough space so you could do quite a few things with it. Now, its so metal all you can really do is different tonal variations of the same rhythm.

Tony's old drum jam:
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=7891607

/rant

RE: using tube maps vs /other modeling/interface. I am thinking of which way to go with this myself. I carry the Shiva & monster pedalboard to each gig, and you guys know I gig a lot. For the Guns thing, things won't change, I will bring my Marshalled Shiva cans etc.. it's part of the show. But the Dance/pop band, band I'm lugging gear that seems unnecessary. Here's a few points. Yes my tone is awesome, and get compliments from other musicians but face it. I am in a pop band. At my shows there might be 2 musicians tops. (I am not kidding) There will be typically a few hundred girls that are dancing and a bunch of guys. (Dancey gigs generally run 5:3 ratio girls:guys) I could seriously go up there with a floor pod and get the same reaction. Save a lot of time in setup. I have to really think about a AFX. I've never used one so the learning curve might be a bit rough for programming. We typically do 45-54 songs/night.

So someone school me on what I might need to know about the snax....

Yeah I think there's one forum member there who always makes the tracks sound like Lamb of God or something... and there's no room for variation, everyone is stuck locked into the double bass patterns.

Transferring shit from my home computer to my laptop.. Shit is gaydicks, there's gotta be a way to get a file to upload all the individual tracks into the same places/times despite the lack of a grid/metronome on my new computer, right..? I surely don't know it, but that would be silly if they didn't have that option. If I upload the .RPP file with all the required tracks would it just pop them into place? My brain is already spent today, took me twenty minutes just to get Reaper to work on this computer because I guess some update took place two days ago and I had to re-install the fucker.

I've played through one. Sounds like another amp, to me. Though I've played it through a 2:90 and Mesa Recto 4x12. The effects are top-notch, truly. As good as Eventide anything. And if you're clever and like to tweak, you can cop "boutique pedal"-type tones- analog and tape-type delays, etc. Even the guitar synth is good. It's a first-rate unit, and it holds up alongside the nice tube gear.

I have not programmed it. I don't know how much of a pain in the dick it is. My friend who has one is the obsessive geartweaker type and a sound engineer, and he gets on with it fine. YMMV. There doesn't appear to be any lag switching patches.

Having spent some time with the thing, it's perfect for your needs there. It will simplify your life. And the two musicians in the audience will be impressed it's an AxeFX and not a Pod. Your tone will still be awesome. Said friend actually prefers his AxeFX tones to his Triaxis, JVM and Recto tones. It's probably worth your while.

Bitches, i am stuck in IL for a bit more it seems. Kind of getting screwed on the return trip, and "getting to" spend an extra week here. The trip out here was cake-easy and quick as a very quick thing, but the rest of it has kind of sucked. A lot?

My mom's network keeps booting me off the interwebs unless i use a hardline, and the router is of course, in the 5-year-old's room.
Anyhoo, while it is still working, i thought i would pop in.

Geoff, this will push your pedlol back a bit. Now i won't be back in my house until sometime on December 5th. I am told that all of the parts are at my house in MA now though, so that is... good?

I would assume it's as simple as copying the session over. As long as the tracks are still in the same place (ie. the same folder) I would think Reaper would know where to find them? I transfer stuff in Logic over all the time, and Protools occasionally, and it opens up fine. I make a point of saving all my projects into their own folder (unless it's just a different mix or something) for organizational porpoises. And that folder always contains the corresponding audio files folder. Basically, as long as it knows where to look for the tracks, you should be good?

I usually try to use save them into a folder (and do once they've become important things) but I neglected to do so with these. And of course, both of them aren't far from having 20 tracks, the most I've ever had on anything. Looks like I may just manually pop them in and let this be a lesson learned.

When you open the session file in Reaper, does it ask you to locate the missing files? If it actually lists 'em by name, at least you could track them down and re-link them that way and then I think they should show up in the appropriate spot?

Or you can do it all by hand. Which might be for the best so you remember not to do that next time.