Hey all. I just wrote this big explanation of how to send a DAW track out to a piece of analog gear and then return it back for recording into another track to a guy who PM'd me with that question. And it dawned on me that this is not the first time this question has come up. So I am going to post it here and maybe it will help someone else. If you are new, don't sweat the routing headaches. We all have been through the crazy learning curve with these boards. But once you get the gist of the routing, it becomes much easier,and more fun. If you already know all this, than just enjoy the read. These forums have been pretty quiet lately. Hopefully, everyone is making music
S
"Ok. Don't sweat it. If you don't have the 8 channel ad-in analog card, then your ONLY choice is to send the signal out of the Assign Sends, and into the analog unit. Then out of the analog unit, and back into the assign returns. Piece of cake! More in a minute.
BTW, The insert points on the back panel are for microphone or line insert (or effect) loops only for that particular mic or line input. For example, say you plug a microphone into the channel 1 mic input. Now you want to add an analog compressor to that mic signal before it gets converted to digital and continues into the board. You would do that by using the 1/4" insert jack below the mic jack and a properly wired TRS 1/4" plug to two TS 1/4" plugs, to send that mic signal back out again, into the compressor, then out of the compressor, and return back into the board via the insert's return. There is NO other way to access that mic channel's send via the insert. To see it pictorially, take a look at this Mackie manual........
http://www.mackie.com/pdf/cfxseries_hu.pdf Check out the third page.
You can't send a signal out of the board from any of the mic/Line channel insert points. Those inserts are ONLY for the mic or line that is plugged into it.
I wrote all that because it sounded like you thought you could route any signal out of the board using the channel inserts. You can't, just to be clear.
Alright, on to the good stuff.
If you want to run one mono PT track out of PT (or any DAW), through the board, out to an effect, and back into PT (or any DAW) do this.....
Assign that track's output to one of the IF-FW/DM's channels. Let's use FW channel 12, just for this example. No particular reason, I just felt like using 12. It could be any number, really doesn't matter. You may have to deselect the typically automatic send of that channel's signal to PT's master buss while you are doing this.
Now, go to your DM board and hit ALT/ROUTING/OUTPUT. Notice I did NOT say INPUT. We are going to bypass any inputs so we want to use the output tab only here. Start on the right, using POD 4, and select "SLOT1". (You should have your FW card in SLOT1) Now go to the middle and select "ASN SEND" with POD3 . Now move to the left side and look under ASN SEND. You will have 4 choices. These are the 4 ASSIGN SEND Outputs on the back of the board. Using the arrow keys move the curser choice to spot 1. Now use your jog wheel and turn it until you see "SLOT1 Trk12". NOW you have assigned the output from your individual PT track directly out of Assign send 1. Now hook up your effect box. ASN Send 1 out to effect in, then out from effect into ASN Return.
Next we have to return that effected signal back into PT. You will need to create a new track in PT, and arm it for recording. I will usually keep these two tracks next to each other, so I can select one or the other for comparison. Now go back to your ROUTING Page, but this time select the OUTPUT SLOT tab. Let's use FW channel 12, again, for no particular reason, other than consistency.
Start on the right again and select ASN RTN using POD 4. Now in the middle, choose SLOT1 Trk9-16 (because 12 is somewhere in there) using POD3. Over on the left, use your arrow keys to move the curser down to spot 4 (spot 1 would be SLOT1-Trk9, spot 2 would be SLOT1-Trk10, spot 3 is 11 which means that Spot 4 is SLOT1-trk12, the one we want). Now turn the jog wheel left once, then right once to select ASN RTN1. FW channel 12 now has the ASN RTN signal on it. So now you have to assign that new track in PT to record from the FW input,12.
If you arm the new track and play your audio out from the other track, you should see a signal on it. That signal will be the post effect signal. When you are happy, hit record and that effected signal will print.
You will probably want to hear what is going on with the effect. So, lets assign that ASN RTN to a DM channel for monitoring. Go to ALT/ROUTING/INPUT tab. Lets put it on channel 12, just for the hell of it. Start at the right and select ASN RTN with POD4, POD three should be okay at layer 1-16, so don't move that, then use your arrow keys to move the curser to channel 12, next to "INP". Now use your jog wheel and turn left once, then right for ASN RTN1. Hit enter. Now look at fader 12 on the board It should be at 0db for unity gain. Hit the SEL button, and make sure that the STEREO button to the left of the LCD screen is lit. That's how we know that it will go out of your stereo buss for monitoring. If it is too loud, use the stereo fader or the CR knob to turn it down, not the CH12 fader.
I think that is it. See, I told you it was a piece of cake. Just takes practice.
S
"Ok. Don't sweat it. If you don't have the 8 channel ad-in analog card, then your ONLY choice is to send the signal out of the Assign Sends, and into the analog unit. Then out of the analog unit, and back into the assign returns. Piece of cake! More in a minute.
BTW, The insert points on the back panel are for microphone or line insert (or effect) loops only for that particular mic or line input. For example, say you plug a microphone into the channel 1 mic input. Now you want to add an analog compressor to that mic signal before it gets converted to digital and continues into the board. You would do that by using the 1/4" insert jack below the mic jack and a properly wired TRS 1/4" plug to two TS 1/4" plugs, to send that mic signal back out again, into the compressor, then out of the compressor, and return back into the board via the insert's return. There is NO other way to access that mic channel's send via the insert. To see it pictorially, take a look at this Mackie manual........
http://www.mackie.com/pdf/cfxseries_hu.pdf Check out the third page.
You can't send a signal out of the board from any of the mic/Line channel insert points. Those inserts are ONLY for the mic or line that is plugged into it.
I wrote all that because it sounded like you thought you could route any signal out of the board using the channel inserts. You can't, just to be clear.
Alright, on to the good stuff.
If you want to run one mono PT track out of PT (or any DAW), through the board, out to an effect, and back into PT (or any DAW) do this.....
Assign that track's output to one of the IF-FW/DM's channels. Let's use FW channel 12, just for this example. No particular reason, I just felt like using 12. It could be any number, really doesn't matter. You may have to deselect the typically automatic send of that channel's signal to PT's master buss while you are doing this.
Now, go to your DM board and hit ALT/ROUTING/OUTPUT. Notice I did NOT say INPUT. We are going to bypass any inputs so we want to use the output tab only here. Start on the right, using POD 4, and select "SLOT1". (You should have your FW card in SLOT1) Now go to the middle and select "ASN SEND" with POD3 . Now move to the left side and look under ASN SEND. You will have 4 choices. These are the 4 ASSIGN SEND Outputs on the back of the board. Using the arrow keys move the curser choice to spot 1. Now use your jog wheel and turn it until you see "SLOT1 Trk12". NOW you have assigned the output from your individual PT track directly out of Assign send 1. Now hook up your effect box. ASN Send 1 out to effect in, then out from effect into ASN Return.
Next we have to return that effected signal back into PT. You will need to create a new track in PT, and arm it for recording. I will usually keep these two tracks next to each other, so I can select one or the other for comparison. Now go back to your ROUTING Page, but this time select the OUTPUT SLOT tab. Let's use FW channel 12, again, for no particular reason, other than consistency.
Start on the right again and select ASN RTN using POD 4. Now in the middle, choose SLOT1 Trk9-16 (because 12 is somewhere in there) using POD3. Over on the left, use your arrow keys to move the curser down to spot 4 (spot 1 would be SLOT1-Trk9, spot 2 would be SLOT1-Trk10, spot 3 is 11 which means that Spot 4 is SLOT1-trk12, the one we want). Now turn the jog wheel left once, then right once to select ASN RTN1. FW channel 12 now has the ASN RTN signal on it. So now you have to assign that new track in PT to record from the FW input,12.
If you arm the new track and play your audio out from the other track, you should see a signal on it. That signal will be the post effect signal. When you are happy, hit record and that effected signal will print.
You will probably want to hear what is going on with the effect. So, lets assign that ASN RTN to a DM channel for monitoring. Go to ALT/ROUTING/INPUT tab. Lets put it on channel 12, just for the hell of it. Start at the right and select ASN RTN with POD4, POD three should be okay at layer 1-16, so don't move that, then use your arrow keys to move the curser to channel 12, next to "INP". Now use your jog wheel and turn left once, then right for ASN RTN1. Hit enter. Now look at fader 12 on the board It should be at 0db for unity gain. Hit the SEL button, and make sure that the STEREO button to the left of the LCD screen is lit. That's how we know that it will go out of your stereo buss for monitoring. If it is too loud, use the stereo fader or the CR knob to turn it down, not the CH12 fader.
I think that is it. See, I told you it was a piece of cake. Just takes practice.
