infernox wrote
I know this is a stupid question, but seeing as the A&H is analog, would the controls on the board still move when I move them on the PC?
No, this is not a moving fader desk. It is basically a 16 channel analogue studio mixer that they stuck a bunch of digital audio converters (AD/DA) into and a firewire connector to interface with your PC and subsequently your DAW software (Pro Tools, Cubase, Logic, etc). If you are looking for something like that, to my knowledge the Presonus Studio Live won't do it either. It is not a control surface. If you are looking for a studio mixer with this capability, the best bet is the
Yamaha O1V.
See, the Studio Live was designed to be a digital mixer with an analogue workflow. This design is sometimes called "knob-per-function" or something similar, meaning that every knob and fader you see has a dedicated function and does not change. There are no layers to scroll or multiple menu to navigate. It's straightforward. SO, the main difference between the two mixers is that the A&H has D/A converters in every channel (fed from firewire), thus employing what is called the "analogue summing bus", routing, and EQ of the mixer itself, whereas in the Presonus, the channels are summed digitally (fed from firewire) and then converted to analogue at the master bus for monitoring. This enables it to employ
digital EQ's and compressors, and effects. For this reason alone I would stay away from it because I, personally, don't trust the Presonus summing engine and don't like the sound (or drivers) of Presonus stuff in general. That's not to say it won't work for you, however. But from what you said about wanting a control surface, this desk just doesn't seem the right choice.
The Presonus is $2000 (about R20 000, maybe more at SA retail), and the Yamaha O1V is $2400 new but you can get one used for around R15 000, maybe less. Make sure you look at the O1V
96 though. That is the best option.
infernox wroteAlso please explain ITB (most probably know what it is but never heard this acronym)
ITB means In The Box, which is a term referring to working solely within the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software, such as Pro Tools or Cubase, and not bussing the audio out to an analogue console or an outboard summing mixer and processors.
This is the most common mode of working these days. I personally work in what they call a "hybrid" manner, which is to say that I use the DAW software to mix internally but I also bus the audio out through good converters into a summing mixer for some analogue mojo and outboard processing. Neither route can be proven as better or worse. It's just all about what suits your workflow.
Cheers ?
