To ALL,

I have a myriad of questions regarding my little studio set up and decided to just create one huge e-mail listing of them all and sending it to the kind people who responded to my questions in the past, and additionally posting them in a bunch of newsgroups (bad idea?). I, by the way, work on a Mac, O.S. 8.6. (blue and white) running Cubase 4.1. If any of you have any advice, suggestions, answers, or tips to any of these seemingly unrelated inquiries, please send them to me:

1. Which software should'nt run in the background while cubase is running which may cause interruptions with midi communication (Norton Anti-Virus?)

2. Any overall tips on how to minimize midi latency? Not midi to audio, but midi "in-itself" without audio playing with it? The drum sounds I trigger with my keyboard, when recording into cubase,
play back with a slight delay. HELP!!!!!

3. Can someone explain to me the basics of using Midi Time Control, its advantages, disadvantages, its usage as a synchronization tool and interaction with a digital mixer with Cubase?

4. I'm planning to purchase a Yamaha O1V digital mixer. Pros and cons? Which ADAT card is recommended? Any guidance on cubase control from the digital mixer? Where can I find a mixer map for it? Has anyone tried zeeps's O1V software?

5. What monitoring scheme should I use in Cubase? Global disable, direct out, etc? I'm thinking that I would want to control the parameters within Cubase via the O1V to be able to apply effects unto the audio file (I would'nt be able to do that with Global disable as I would be monitoring solely within the mixer, right?) As you can tell, I'm really lost with that one.

6. Whats that MAC sound control panel with the speaker angle on it?

7. Would I be able to make print screens of Cubase windows, using my little usb printer, while have having AppleTalk off?

8. Are all S/PDIF cables 75ohms? (MAN, those digital cables are expensive!!) The ensoniq folks suggest that it should be at least 75ohms, but I can't tell by looking in the box of cables at my local Guitar center ($10.00 - 100.00 price range for S/PDIF cables) What's the difference?

9. How do I get rid of those pesky "Quicktime extensions not loaded" dialog boxes everytime I start Cubase, and also the Appletalk warnings? How do you permanently turn Apple talk off?

10. Generaly speaking at what level should my little Alesis ra100 amp be set on compared to the level of the digital mixer? Should I have the volume at a low, medium or high setting on the amp? Does this question make any sense?

11. Bannana Plugs vs. Speaker Wires. Which one of the two provides a clearer signal path?

Your's

Ekim Atrohed

For Question 10 only.
The Mixer should always run as Hot as possible to achieve the best signal to noise ratio as possible. This means that your master output lights should go as close to red as possible (without ever hitting red) for your FINAL mixdown. For just messing around you needn't be so careful, just keep them at a reasonable level. Your amp should be connected to the monitor out on the 01v, not the master. The monitor has it's own volume control so you don't have to use the master faders to control the gain. Then set the amp so that when the monitor volume is up full it's as loud as you'll ever want it. Then turn it down to wherever you like and leave everything to do it's job.

The 01v is fantastic, but be careful about your meters. Keep referring to the meter page to make sure that you're not overloading the machine at any stage of it's signal chain. I'd also recomend using the built in dynamics on the master outputs. It makes a big, big difference.

Have fun.

Mike.

I'm using a Yamaha O3D mixer (big brother of the O1V) so it goes without saying that I highly recommend the O1V. It's the best mixer around at the price and the effects and dynamics processing (not to mention the scene memories etc) are something that you can't live without after you've used them!

Regarding cards with ADAT connectors- check to make sure which cards already have Mac drivers or not. Sadly, many manufacturers seems to be bringing out PC drivers 1st and then Mac drivers much later (which really is strange to me!!!!). If you only need a single ADAT I/0 port, check out the Korg 1212 (which is now getting a bit old but is still very popular), Sonorus StudI/O (2 adat I/O with 1 port configurable to SP/DIF I/O). Steinberg have just brought out an audio card with ADAT I/O which should work just fine with Cubase (check whether the Mac drivers are available!). Motu have the super huge 2408 and 2408 mark 2 with 3 pairs of ADAI I/0 (mabey a bit of an overkill for your set up but you never know what may happen in the future!!!!). Creamware's Pulsar (with it's own DSP for it's mixer, effects, synthes etc). The new Echo cards (Gina24, Layla24 and Mona24 each have a pair of ADAT I/O's as well as analogue I/O). These are just a few of many more on the market now available.

My advice is to check 120% that you wont have any compatibility problems between the software and the card!

Hope the above helps.