Choosing a soundcard

Elektron Gear
#1

Hello,

I’m about to set my elektron gear (analog keys, analog rytm & machinedrum mk-2+) up for use with Ableton Live and Overbridge. I will probably add an analog heat soon. I want to be able to sequence my AK with Live. I want to be able to put for instance the sub kick of my AR on a separate track to add more EQ’ing or whatever. I also have a Soundcraft efx-8 mixer for my gear at the moment.

My questions are:

  1. What specs do i want to look out for when choosing an audio interface?

  2. Can you recommend me some good brands / products for the things i want to be able to do?

Thanks for the help, I am new to Live and Overbridge and combining hardware and software in general.

#2

AR and AK embed an audio interface, with Overbridge you don’t need anything else !
Just plug them to your computer and set OB and Live to use them.

You might want to dig into this forum to find info on setting correctly Overbridge.
The manual is useful too.

:smile:

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#3

Hmm must have missed that part then. Thought it’d be good to start with asking this :blush:

Need to figure out how to do this with a mixer then

#4

Note that you can use your AK as a sound card for your MD : just plug the MD through its inputs and you’ll have the MD signal in the main bus.
I don’t know if you record everything at the same time, might depend on your workflow…

But this way you don’t even need a mixer : just mix each track in Ableton.

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#5

Thanks, i’ll definitely check the options with what you just suggested. Sounds like a nice and uncomplicated way to work.

Just 1 more “noob question” then. How about adding external effect pedals without a mixer? Is there a way to control what ableton track they affect?

#6

Well, Ableton Live embed plenty of FX already, I find it easier to use them.

Now if I want to use my external FX I use my soundcard, indeed.
My Aux send/returns are pretty bad, so I just plug some outputs of my MD or MM to the FX chain and record the sound both dry and wet.
I consider getting a Qu-Pac at some point but I already burned my cash so… :smile_cat:

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#7

One question. How good is the Analog Keys inbuilt soundcard really, compared to lets say Apogee or RME pci-express soundcard?