Hi,guys,
     I wasn't sure if this was the right part of the forum to post on but since I am using Sonar X2a exclusively with the new Studio Captures I went ahead. If I should move this thread then please tell me!
     This morning I picked up my 2 Studio Capture interfaces. They were on back order and I had to wait about 2 weeks for them to come into our local Guitar Center. Great packaging! Manuals are very user-friendly. Unboxed them and had to determine which would be #1 and #2. Made the sync cable connection. This is where it can become a little confusing. Keeping up with which machine is #1. You have to set up the master/slave setting on the menu display on the machines before you hook them to the computer.
     First point of contention! If you use a laptop, plan on getting a powered USB hub. Otherwise, your only option will be to switch between the two interfaces. To get all 32 ins and 20 outs working I had to use a powered hub. It may have helped to put this info in larger or darker print. It took me a while to figure out and find the info in the manual about the hub being necessary in some cases.
     Now the setup. Load the driver dvd into the laptop. You are familiar I'm sure about loading drivers. At one point in the installation it will prompt you to plugin the usb cable. At that point the drivers install. But there's more.
     Make sure you have the sync cable and the settings on the machines correct. The driver disc never did put a control panel icon on my desktop. The only way I found my control panel was to click on the All Programs bar on the Start button and locate the Roland folder. BTW, This is Windows 7 Home Premium. Click on the control panel icon. When it comes up, there is a VS option box. There will be a couple of alerts to pop up there if things are not right. After figuring out and applying the hub the response in that box was OK!
     Once that was set, I opened X2a and imported an audio file, clicked on my input and there were all the ins and outs. One more bone to pick. The drivers for box #1 are Studio Capture 1+2, etc.. The drivers for box #2 are listed as Studio Capture Exp 1+2.. I have not tried using friendly names yet but it sure would be nice if it just listed 17+18,19+20,etc.
     Needless to say, if you only use one Studio Capture, you probably won't have a bit of trouble with the setup. If I were not using two and had the hub issue, I probably would have been up and running in a matter of minutes.
     I have not done any recording today but I can tell you just listening to the playback of some older work done on a MOTU 24io is a wonderment! There was a depth and clarity there that really was pleasing to the ear.
     This adventure today was just installing on my laptop. Tomorrow I will tackle the studio rig. Now that I have this installation under my belt, I am hoping tomorrows install will go quickly.
     Done for today! I will post the experience with the studio computer tomorrow. See Ya!

Hi,guys,
     Here is the second installment of adventures in Studio Capture world.
     After being familiarized yesterday with the installation on my laptop I tackled my studio rig. Yesterday had a few nail biting moments until I figured I needed the powered hub. This morning I hooked everything up on the machines. Everything but hooking to the computer. I loaded the installation disc and everything hummed along perfectly. When I was prompted to, I plugged in both USB cables. The drivers loaded with no problems whatsoever.
     I still have a little problem with the driver installation not installing the control panel for the interfaces. I had to hit the Start button, go to All Programs, and locate the Roland folder. I clicked on it to open, then right clicked on the control panel icon. When the control panel opened I checked the VS Expand box and it responded with OK! Wow! Too easy!
     Next I opened Sonar X2a. I unchecked the driver settings for the MOTU 24io and checked on the Studio Capture ins and outs. Everything went like butter. I opened an older project and horsed around with the driver settings a little. On a particular large project with a lot of plugins and audio tracks the latency ran about 256 samples in ASIO mode. Some projects that were smaller ran at about 128. Just out of curiosity I ran a project with just Cake plugins. I got down to 64 samples with no clicks and pops! Pretty spiffy.
     All in all, the installations went very well, other than the hub issue on the laptop. The patching is going to be a little confusing for me after working solely with hardware mixers and patchbays for so many years. I am going to use nothing but the interfaces and Sonar for a while. I want to see if I can get to the point of completely eliminating the mixer altogether just as an experiment. 
     So far the sound quality is very robust. My only complaint so far is the reverb built in the interfaces sounds rather cheesy. But, it is good enough to soothe the ruffled feathers of that vocalist that has to have a little in the cans while he's tracking.
     Bottom line! So far, I am very pleased the Studio Captures and I am looking forward to putting them thru the paces the next few weeks. I will pop in on this thread from time to time to let you know of any green-eyed monsters that may raise their head with these things. So far, A GREAT PRODUCT AND VERY INTUITIVE INSTALL!

Hi Sidroe...

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with us... It sounds as tho Roland did a pretty good job overall...

For the control panel issue, have you thought to rt-click on the launch icon and pin it to the task bar?

Have lots of fun with York new puppies...

Keni

Hi,Keni,
     My pleasure to share some experiences that may help along the way for someone else. As far as the icon, I right clicked on the Studio Capture icon in the All Programs list and sent a shortcut to the desktop. I have a folder containing everything pertaining to my studio and I moved the Studio Capture shortcut in there.

AOK Sidroe...
 
But having it on the taskbar might be even faster to get at... Or maybe even oin the folder to the taskbar so you don't have to close screen to see the desktop... Or do you use a toolbar as I often do? I have a toolbar on the taskbar (taskbar - hidden until moused) that displays all my desktop icons so that I don't have to close a number of screens to get at a program when others are already open... and I keep things that I go to often such as word, firefox, thunderbird, etc., I have pinned to the taskbar to drop even one more click... ;-)
 
Rock The House with your new interfaces!
 
Keni

#1+ on that suggestion, Keni. I am so used to not having to touch the control panel on the MOTU 24io. It's going to take a while to get used to having to tweak the Studio Captures for my adjustments instead of grabbing the mixer gain knob. I will give your suggestion a try!
Thanks!

I know how you feel...
 
A couple of years ago I went thru that change... I always ran everything thru my console so all monitoring was true zero latency and a very hands on feel to working...
 
then my board started throwing fits... As it is no longer manufactured (D&R Dayner 40 input w/8 floating subgroups), it is now somewhat of a relic and often more noise than I want to deal with so I don't.... I started using my soundscape Mixtreme 192's software console (still the best I've ever seen and they've had it for more than a decade) and got used to it....
 
Now I'm doing it with my Presonus Audiobox 1818VSL as my Soundscape gear passes into antiquity and not on the new OSs...
 
You want that button somewhere easy to get to no matter what's going on.... that's for sure! ;-)
 
Keni
 

way to go sidroe. great write up.