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Since there are 13 such connectors you should make a generous allowance in your budget for cabling, or prepare for a marathon soldering session. The majority of inputs and outputs are on DB25 connectors. The C24's analogue interfacing uses mainly DB25 multi–pin connectors.You might expect microphones to connect to the C24 via XLR connectors, but this is not so. Naturally, these inputs can be switched to accept line levels or high–impedance instrument inputs too, and there is an additional eight–input line–level submixer, which we will look at in due course. And of course there is no reason why you can't connect your boutique preamp as well. These specs, though we might have liked to see distortion figures measured up to 20kHz, spell C–L–E–A–N.

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The C24's 16 preamps boast a frequency response that is flat within 1dB up to 100kHz, equivalent input noise of –127dBu and total harmonic distortion plus noise of 0.004 percent at 1kHz. But the C24 puts it back where it belongs: inside the console. We have come, over recent years, to see the microphone preamplifier as an outboard device. Let's explore.Īny analogue mixing console will have a good number of microphone inputs. So on the rear of the console you will find a multitude of analogue connections.

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The digits within the C24 are there to control Pro Tools and display parameter values, not to store or transport audio. But this is indeed so, simply because all the audio digits are inside your Pro Tools rig, to which C24 attaches via an Ethernet cable. It may seem counter–intuitive that the C24 is largely an analogue audio device. Whether you have a full–blown Pro Tools HD system, or Pro Tools LE running through a 003 or even an Mbox interface, the C24 could be the control surface for you. So, in a nutshell, the above reasons summarise why you should consider supplementing your £5 mouse with a seven–grand control surface. Oh yes, and you will need to have your head up and be actively communicating with the other people in the room, not focusing your concentration deep into the monitor screen. There will be alternate sets of monitors to be switched, external stereo inputs to listen to. Among other features, a talkback mic will be needed a listenback mic is nice. And by 'proper' recording studio I mean one with a separate control room and recording area, where you can record a band in an efficient, productive manner and mix efficiently, too. Although it is possible to make a complete multitrack recording and mix entirely within Pro Tools, a Pro Tools system in itself doesn't fully equip a 'proper' recording studio. The above operational reasons are enough to justify using a control surface in preference to a mouse, even though the control surface may be literally thousands of times the price. One more example? Have you ever seen a highly experienced engineer drape his or her fingers over the faders and control several at the same time? The mouse would retreat back into its mouse hole, curl up and die. With a mouse, you can only control one parameter at a time. This is a technique that old–school engineers will know very well indeed. When you mix with a mouse, you have to imagine the sound you want to achieve, then engage the brain's number–crunching central processor to make it happen.Īnd there is one thing that the mouse can never do, and that is balance one sound against another - the level of the bass versus the low–frequency EQ of the rhythm guitar for instance. Music emanating from the monitor speakers enters the brain, filters through the arty, non–analytical, non–technical regions, and almost without conscious thought the fingers move the faders, and reach out and twist the rotary controls. If you have ever had the opportunity of mixing on a conventional analogue console of a decent size (and these days many people haven't), then you will know the joys of mixing instinctively. Even the largest Pro Tools rig with a gazillion tracks can be controlled via an object no bigger than the palm of your hand.īut there is a drawback. And indeed it is entirely possible to mix using a mouse–and–keyboard interface.

Then progress was made: the 1991 unveiling of Pro Tools marked the beginning of the transition from mixing by console to mixing by mouse. You couldn't have a studio without one, and for preference it had to be huge. In days gone by, the centrepiece of any recording studio was the mixing console. Now Digi have turned their attention to the middle of the market, with a replacement for their tried and tested Control 24.

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The Command 8 and Icon have revitalised the affordable and the professional ends of Digidesign's controller range.

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