So years ago when I started getting interested in mixing I was looking for a DAW that was easy to learn but had the features I thought I would need as I became more proficient and learned more about the process. I ended up going with a DAW called Mixcraft which honestly, I still love to this day for a lot of reasons. That being said, it is not perfect and as I’ve started becoming more proficient at this whole process some of the shortcomings became more and more frustrating to deal with. Some of those issues were with Mixcraft related, some were caused by Windows being the operating system, particularly when it came to recording. Windows does not always play nice with audio devices and it was driving me crazy.
In the back of my mind I know OS X was optimized for recording, but then the problem became what DAW to use? When I went to school for the engineering program we had to use Pro Tools, I know it’s the “industry standard”, but I HATE it.. There I said it, I know I’m not the only one that feels that way, but for me it wasn’t a solution. I tried Studio One as well and initially thought, “uh no, not for me either”, and so back to Mixcraft I went.
Well in one of the classes I took we were given a project to build our own studio if we had a 10k budget. The “console” I chose was a Presonus StudioLive 24.4.2, I loved the features it had, thought it would be great because I could use it to record or mix shows remotely, etc as well as in the studio. Well that was a few years ago and while it was a dream at the time I kind of forgot about it. About a month back I stumbled across it’s smaller sibling the 16.4.2 at a local dealer for a ridiculously low price, and after a quick consultation with my wife (aka The Boss) she gave me her blessings to pick it up. I also ended up picking up a Firestudio Lightpipe so I could tie in my other equipment to it via ADAT and a monstrosity was born.
Immediately the issue I had was using my newer (2018) Alienware laptop cropped up with it. I’m using a Thunderbolt 3-2 adapter with it to use my UAD interfaces but the minute I tried to go to firewire, audio problems manifested themselves. So I pulled out the Mac Mini and low and behold, it all worked perfectly. Thunderbolt 3 to 2 to firewire for the Presonus chain and Thunderbolt 3 to 2 for the UAD chain, plus the benefit of being able to share audio via ADAT. As a side note, Microsoft, you should really take a lesson from Core Audio, ASIO doesn’t cut it when you compare the two. Now that ugly issue of what DAW to use came up again, so I thought I would give Studio One another shot because I was at least partially working in a Presonus based ecosystem, so that’s what I did.
In the next day or two I’ll be posting the song I mixed in Studio One as well as my thoughts about the process, so basically:
To be continued………….