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I am new to this so please bear with me and I will do my best to describe my issue. I have a PC which I want to connect all my hardware to.

The list is as follows.

  • 1 x Roland System 1
  • 1 x Roland TR 8
  • 1 x Novation KS rack
  • 1 x Novation Supernova
  • 1 x Waldorf Blofeld desktop.

My audio setup is a Focusrite 2i4 which connects to my PC via USB. The Focusrite is then connected via phono to my TEAC amplifier which drives two Alesis Monitor one's ( They are passive speakers )

Obviously apart from the two Roland's which connect to a USB hub for audio / midi all the rest of my gear requires 1/4" jacks to deliver sound. The Focusrite 2i4 clearly does not have enough audio jacks for all this gear.

So what do I need to connect all this to my existing audio setup?

Also will I require a midi thru box to get all this linked up?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

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  • Do you need them as distinct channels or just have them all going in to the same input?
    – AJ Henderson ♦
    Nov 17, 2014 at 21:47
  • Hello the same input would suffice
    – Gary Lindop
    Nov 17, 2014 at 23:57
  • This question appears to be off-topic because it is about music
    – Christian van Caine
    Nov 18, 2014 at 15:28
  • I agree that it seems a bit on the edge of our scope, but it is not about music!
    – Rory Alsop ♦
    Nov 21, 2014 at 10:06

1 Answer 1

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Provided that you only need the two inputs at a time, what you need is a mixer. A mixer (sometimes called a console or board) is a device which will allow multiple inputs to be mixed down to fewer channels of audio. Depending on the complexity, it can allow either minimal or substantial alteration to the individual channels of audio on their way to being mixed down to one or more outputs.

A standard board would work fine for your purposes since you have fairly limited needs. Typically more advanced setups will use either digital boards that support direct I/O with the computer or inserts to allow channels of audio to be fed back through the board, however since you are only concerned about 2 channels of audio, any board will do for your current needs.

It is likely nice to have some EQ functionality on the board so that you can make adjustment to each channel's overall sound independently of the main mix, but for starting out, you'll be fine either way.

All of your inputs would go in to the mixer and you would then use the mixer to blend the inputs together to whatever you want the recording to sound like. You could then record over your audio interface for capturing the final output.

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  • I was told that having an outboard mixer running with cubase mixer is not a good idea. Things get messy really quickly, hard to control and not a good idea.
    – Gary Lindop
    Nov 25, 2014 at 18:55
  • I may not have expressed my needs very well in my earlier questions. I want to connect all the jack outputs from the blofeld, ks rack and supernova to a usb audio interface. I need a total of 14 jack inputs as I would like a couple spare. I cannot find any interface with this many jack inputs. Thanks
    – Gary Lindop
    Nov 25, 2014 at 18:57
  • @GaryLindop - a mixer isn't a good idea if you need simultaneous input (unless you are doing channel inserts). If you need 14 channels of parallel input, I would suggest either two linked 8 channel IO units or a 16 channel digital sound board, such as those made by Presonus. Digital boards often double as audio interfaces and sometimes double as control surfaces as well.
    – AJ Henderson ♦
    Nov 25, 2014 at 19:11

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