powered mixer to interface

After further inspection...............The powered mixer has no "line out" jack, On the front there are several 1/4" input/outputs   Main Send, Main Return, Monitor Send, Monitor Return, Efx Send, and Efx Return..................On the rear are the Main speaker outputs (powered)

Would I use the single 1/4" cable from the Main Send to the interface?

Hi Ken. Does your interface only have one Mic input? Does it have a Line Input. Does it have two Line inputs (ie stereo)

One issue to keep in mind is that the Main Sends on your powered mixer would be a good place to tap off the final mix but the signal level will be high there ie Line level could be 0dBu etc or even +4 dBu. This is much louder than a Mic level input signal. This will seriously overdrive your Mic input on your interface. You will need some sort of Line to Mic attenuator in order to make this work. Not ideal but a workaround. 

What is the brand and model number of the interface and the powered mixer. We can check into the signal flow etc and see what is what.

Need to figure out the photo post thing

Heres the specs

TonePort UX1 Ins and Outs: Inputs:

Single XLR mic preamp input with trim knob

Single 1/4-inch instrument inputs

2x 1/4-inch stereo line inputs

1/4-inch stereo monitor input
Outputs:

S/PDIF stereo output (RCA-type)

1/4-inch balanced line outputs with master volume knob

1/4-inch headphones output 

Couldnt you send the mix to 2 of your sends of the board to the 1/4 in.  ins on the Toneport?

post edited by digi2ns - 2012/10/27 19:03:09

Trouble is, there little point in a 2 track drum mix. Where's the kick? 
I'm afraid you need at least 4 channels to input real drums and make anything good out of it. 
 
Your best move is an interface with 4 XLR's. 
 
Otherwise an interface with 2 xlrs and 2  line inputs fed by a sub mixer. 
And powered mixers often have a AC hum coming from the record outputs. The power amp is a huge RF noise generator and is normally not well shielded from the innards of the mixer.  


You cannot post pictures if you use Firefox. 

Yes interesting. Looks like the whole thing is in Mono as well. There does not seem to be any real stereo operation here. It is one of these powered mixers that allows you to put two speakers into various Main/Monitor configurations.

You will be getting a mono mix on the drums and I would say the Main Send jack is a mono jack so you would connect to that to one of the Line inputs on your interface and record onto one track only.

You will have to get the drum balance on the front of the Yorkville MP8 using the channel level controls.

You could also create a different mix of the drums on the Monitor channel and send the Monitor Mix to the interface instead. But that is assuming you are not using the Monitor channels live for any reason.

I download the manual and it is pretty sketchy and it is also a discontinued model as well. No block diagram either.

Here is a suggestion for capturing the drums in three tracks that might work … not sure though:

Assuming that your main send and monitor send are line level you can isolate two tracks out of the mixer.   Go ¼” out of the main send into one of the ¼” stereo line inputs on the TonePort and go ¼” out of the monitor send into the other ¼” stereo line input.

Use these two for you overheads by setting the monitor gain to zero on one overhead and the channel level gain to zero on the other (so the main send is one overhead ond the monitor send is the other).

Use the XLR input with mic pre on the TonePort for the bass drum.

I think you can then set up 3 tracks in Sonar. 

You may be able to 4 Track the drums using what you have if you are creative.

Id see if I couldnt borrow a board from someone if you can.

If thats not an option you could - Mix all your drums good through your PA then put a mic on a cabinet

Once you have a good mic'd track, convert it with audio snap conversion to midi and insert SD3 and make an entire SD3 kit off of that track.  Take alot of work but could be done in a day or so and you could work fully with that on panning and FX as needed.  That would be the only option I see with the interface you have



If you plan on doing projects that require multiple inputs then go back in and retrack one at a time you could pickup an inexpensive board allowing you to mix up to 8 things with the line outs you need to go stereo into your interface.  The are loads of them out there for under $100

Check to see how many separate tracks are available from the UX1.  When you assign an input to a track in Sonar you will might have something like this to choose from:

Left ASIO UX1 send 1-2
Right ASIO UX1 send 1-2
Left ASIO UX1 send 3-4
Right ASIO UX1 send 3-4

I am not sure if the UX1 has 4 sends (the UX2 does).  If you do have 4 sends, you will have to figure out which input corresponds to which send.  I think you need to get this part figured out first.

If you only have 2 sends from the TonePort, then you will have to find a work around to get a nice stereo mix.

If you have 4 sends from the TonePort then you may be able to do the 2 overheads, the bass drum and the snare.

In either case I can envision several work arounds.

For a “2 send” (either true stereo or two pan potted tracks in Sonar) stereo mix, mic the whole drum kit and just place each drum in its correct location in the stereo field by using the “channel level” and “monitor send” gain controls in tandem (assuming they are independent of each other) to act as a pseudo pan that treats the main send and monitor send as a stereo pair (again, I am assuming a lot here).

For a “4 send” mix, you could try what I suggested earlier and then use an impedance matching adaptor (probably about 40 bucks) to get the snare mic into the ¼” instrument input.

Can’t tell you if any of this will work but it might be something to think about … good luck.

I would not personaly use that mixer if you are after a good recording. I am very familiar with those as I was a Yorkville dealer back when it was made in the 90's. The S/N ratio was not great and it was never intended to be used in a studio. They will most likely be a high noise floor. But you could give it a try as in a pinch on a budget it may get the job done
   Most important is it is not a good idea to run the mains power amp without a speaker load. Put it in Main A-B mode so you can use the monitor send. 
 so what you would do is have the system hooked up as a PA  and turn the master all the way down. Don't use the mains output send. 

Use the Efx send   at the top (blue knobs) for your left output
Then the Mon send  next down ( green knobs) for your right output
You can pan mikes in the stereo field buy adjusting these. Both up would be centre. 


What you also need to know is I'm pretty sure the EQ section ( worthless anyhow) will not effect the monitor send and possibly the EFX send. 
The EFX send will be post fader so you will have to turn the Red knob up too. 
The Monitor send is pre fader so is independent of the red knob. 

Thanks Johnny, the Yorkville was a great live PA for the bar band gigs, I understand what your saying about the hook up procedure. I'm probably not going to use it like I thought, I have it laying around collecting dust so I thought I could utilize it. I also looked into the Tascam and didn't get a positive vibe from the reviews. I wish they were better because its a great option and would give me reason to get a nice rack going. 

How about latency? Real time monitoring? I am seriously thinking about one. Witch model? I noticed there are several to choose from.

Honestly I've only used the line 6 UX-1 for all my recording, it works fine I just need more inputs. As long as its comparable its all good.