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[Zachary Liu]

Hey there everyone. First post and first topic here on PSW! Been reading the forums a lot for advice and tips but never got about to creating one.

Here's my dilemma. I've been getting some smaller bar gigs that have an in-house analog mixer. Everything runs fine, but the lack of any dynamics processing and the very basic EQ is quite debilitating. Something I've been thinking of trying for quite a while but never really did much research on until recently was the use plugins on a MacBook Pro with software like MainStage or Ableton Live.

Basically, the signal flow would likely go like this; Raw mic input -> Interface -> MainStage/Ableton -> Interface -> Analog Mixer -> Speakers

I understand about risks of running the signal chain through a laptop, but I'm also thinking of running it as an insert as well so that if anything happens in the middle of a gig, I can just pull out the insert jacks to the laptop and the signal will run clean.

I've been looking around for interfaces that have a low enough latency to be good enough for live use, but I'm not particularly knowledgeable about them. I hope to get to know more about them from the people here as there doesn't seem to be much info on the internet regarding interfaces for live use.

Any interface recommendations? FireWire, Thunderbolt, or USB? Will running my setup as described above work?

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

You're over-thinking this.  For $30.00 you could just use...

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/goRack

[Geert Friedhof]

Buy a cheap digital mixer, like XR18, X32 Rack, QU-SB etc, and plug the outputs in the house-mixer.

Honestly: what you want to do will give you more trouble then pleasure.

[Keith Broughton]

Buy a cheap digital mixer, like XR18, X32 Rack, QU-SB etc, and plug the outputs in the house-mixer.

Honestly: what you want to do will give you more trouble then pleasure.

+1 on the small mixer.
Here is one compact and cost effective option...
http://www.music-group.com/Categories/Behringer/Mixers/Digital-Mixers/XR12/p/P0BI6

[Dave Garoutte]

At my ex-regular bar band gig (bassist) I would plug in my old T.C.Electronics M350 effects unit into the two aux sends.
I'm sure used bar level fx units are a dime a dozen these days.

[Nathan Riddle]

You're over-thinking this.  For $30.00 you could just use...

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/goRack

I disagree, I used it and found it incredibly useless.

I agree that a small mixer, or FX unit (requires preamp) would be way better than using a laptop+interface.

[Stephen Kirby]

Depends on the amount of processing you want.  Something simple on the main outs like general compression of FX is one thing.  The OP sounds like he's looking at a multi pre computer interface to discretely process each input before returning it to the mixer.

In most venues of the ilk that have a small plain Jane house mixer in them, sophisticated processing of individual inputs isn't really necessary.  It's more about getting the vocals (acoustic guitar, etc) over the stage volume of the band.

If the band is running all direct (and the mains can handle it) or requires some fancy FX in spots, then I'd agree with front ending the whole system with your own digital mixer.

[Justice C. Bigler]

How many channels do you need to process?

You could use something like the Waves SoundGrid system either with their DSP units or as a Native processing system. Take the feed into the Waves Sound Grid from the direct out, or aux sends of the analog mixer and then send them back to the mixer for mixing. Just like you would use a traditional analog outboard rack. Except that the processing is being done by either the Waves Sound grid DSP or Native system.

You can also do something similar with the UAD Apollo DSP enabled interfaces. Or cobble something together with the DAW of your choice and any interface that has enough inputs and outputs for you, though latency might be an issue with those other systems.


Cost might get to be an issue. Once you're fully outfitted, you're already into entry level digital mixer territory.

[Geert Friedhof]

How many channels do you need to process?

You could use something like the Waves SoundGrid system either with their DSP units or as a Native processing system. Take the feed into the Waves Sound Grid from the direct out, or aux sends of the analog mixer and then send them back to the mixer for mixing. Just like you would use a traditional analog outboard rack. Except that the processing is being done by either the Waves Sound grid DSP or Native system.

You can also do something similar with the UAD Apollo DSP enabled interfaces. Or cobble something together with the DAW of your choice and any interface that has enough inputs and outputs for you, though latency might be an issue with those other systems.


Cost might get to be an issue. Once you're fully outfitted, you're already into entry level digital mixer territory.

Uad Apollo 16: $3000 + software + cabling
Soundgrid: Essentials $1700 + $99 + interface + cabling

Digital mixer, with everything and more on board, with remote apps etc.: $600 and up.

Not all small mixers have enough mic pre's, direct outs, or inserts.

[ProSoundWeb Community]