Live mixing with Linux - State of the art 2018
Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 2:39 pm
Hi,
I'm new here and I would like to know the current state of the art about LIVE MIXING with Linux.
I'm currently thinking about "putting my whole band in the DAW".
The band is a classic pop/rock band with drums, bass guitar, 2 electric guitars and 1 singer. The singer plays one of the guitar, we are also 4 members in the band.
We play with in-ear monitoring, always, also in the rehearsal. In any situation, in-ear monitoring.
The drummer plays with metronome. Always.
Our own songs are highly composed and they have a fixed structure. No place for improvisation, not even for a live gig, not even for a guitar solo .
1. My goals
I want to get rid of:
- the digital mixer (Soundcraft UI24R)
- Windows 10 and all the expensive plugins, allthough Reaper is a very nice piece of software (and affordable!).
- struggling with the "hardware" mixer of the Soundcraft UI24R and the software mixer of Reaper
- making plugins presets for the studio and then new presets for live because the hardware for studio is not the same as that for live gigs
- a lot of cables...
I want to put all signals of all musicians into one single computer that does ANY- and EVERYTHING: studio, live, rehearsal, experimenting...
On top of that, I want to "magnify" the arrangement of the songs by using live automation for live gigs.
For example:
- make the first guitar wide stereo on the refrain and then mono again 20% on the right canal during the verse
- put the drum toms +2dB up for a particular fill or break
- enable a psychedelic delay on the vocals for one sentence and then disable it
Ok? Of course we don't have our own sound engineer!
2. The hardware
I think the RME HDSPe RayDat could be a nice base to start with, coupled with 3 Behringer ADA8200 (or maybe 2 Ferrofish Pulse 16).
I've not already chosen a PC hardware. It will be something like a Core i7 or a Xeon E5 with a suitable motherboard.
No dedicated GPU, no wifi
Something reliable from http://www.da-x.de.
INPUTS:
Bass guitar is preprocessed through a Line 6 Helix LT.
Guitar 1 is preprocessed through a Kemper and a bunch of analog stomp boxes.
Guitar 2 s preprocessed through a Line 6 Helix.
--> 3 line level signals
Drums and vocals as usual with microphones.
--> 9 microphone level signals
TOTAL: 12 inputs
OUTPUTS:
4x stereo outputs for the in-ear monitoring.
--> 8 line level single outputs
Guitar 1 and 2, the bass guitar and the vocals as stereo outputs (for the main mixing console).
--> 8 line level single outputs
Each drum microphone as single output (for the main mixing console).
--> 8 line level single outputs
TOTAL: 24 outputs
If there is no main mixing console at the gig, I will use 2 main outputs (R+L) direct to the main sound system.
3. The software
I think KXStudio is at this time the best choice under Linux. Over the past years, I tried AVLinux and Ubuntu Studio but, for me, KXStudio delivers the best experience out-of-the-box and the Cadence suite is really awesome and makes Jack easier to manage (and understand).
Ardour will be the master of the system, giving metronome signal, managing automation of effects/plugins/level/pan and structuring all events occuring during the songs . I love Reaper too but this not really usable because of the plugin management (Win VST... ).
For the plugins, I will go 100% Linux, mostly using Calf but also other LV2 and LADSPA. I do not want to struggle with wineasio, linvst or any complicating bridge or semi accomplished piece of software to accommodate some Windows strangers .
4. The man
I'm the bassist of the band and I'm more or less "in charge" with the hardware and all the technical stuff.
The 2 guitarists feel also involved.
I'm not a Linux power user but I use Linux (mainly Ubuntu) since 2007 for everything... excepted for music production, like many other users .
I'm not able to compile a kernel by myself but I'm also not afraid by Linux and its complexity (from a non-dev point of view).
I'm an Open Source and technique enthusiast
THE QUESTION:
Will I waist my money and my time trying to get a system with acceptable latency (<10ms roundtrip latency, or less )?
We are musicians and latency is a critical thing for us.
As a comparison: RME Fireface 800 over Firewire to a modern Lenovo laptop with Core i7, Win10, all driver up-to-date, Reaper and Waves Plugins produces TOO MUCH LATENCY for us to play comfortably.
I'm new here and I would like to know the current state of the art about LIVE MIXING with Linux.
I'm currently thinking about "putting my whole band in the DAW".
The band is a classic pop/rock band with drums, bass guitar, 2 electric guitars and 1 singer. The singer plays one of the guitar, we are also 4 members in the band.
We play with in-ear monitoring, always, also in the rehearsal. In any situation, in-ear monitoring.
The drummer plays with metronome. Always.
Our own songs are highly composed and they have a fixed structure. No place for improvisation, not even for a live gig, not even for a guitar solo .
1. My goals
I want to get rid of:
- the digital mixer (Soundcraft UI24R)
- Windows 10 and all the expensive plugins, allthough Reaper is a very nice piece of software (and affordable!).
- struggling with the "hardware" mixer of the Soundcraft UI24R and the software mixer of Reaper
- making plugins presets for the studio and then new presets for live because the hardware for studio is not the same as that for live gigs
- a lot of cables...
I want to put all signals of all musicians into one single computer that does ANY- and EVERYTHING: studio, live, rehearsal, experimenting...
On top of that, I want to "magnify" the arrangement of the songs by using live automation for live gigs.
For example:
- make the first guitar wide stereo on the refrain and then mono again 20% on the right canal during the verse
- put the drum toms +2dB up for a particular fill or break
- enable a psychedelic delay on the vocals for one sentence and then disable it
Ok? Of course we don't have our own sound engineer!
2. The hardware
I think the RME HDSPe RayDat could be a nice base to start with, coupled with 3 Behringer ADA8200 (or maybe 2 Ferrofish Pulse 16).
I've not already chosen a PC hardware. It will be something like a Core i7 or a Xeon E5 with a suitable motherboard.
No dedicated GPU, no wifi
Something reliable from http://www.da-x.de.
INPUTS:
Bass guitar is preprocessed through a Line 6 Helix LT.
Guitar 1 is preprocessed through a Kemper and a bunch of analog stomp boxes.
Guitar 2 s preprocessed through a Line 6 Helix.
--> 3 line level signals
Drums and vocals as usual with microphones.
--> 9 microphone level signals
TOTAL: 12 inputs
OUTPUTS:
4x stereo outputs for the in-ear monitoring.
--> 8 line level single outputs
Guitar 1 and 2, the bass guitar and the vocals as stereo outputs (for the main mixing console).
--> 8 line level single outputs
Each drum microphone as single output (for the main mixing console).
--> 8 line level single outputs
TOTAL: 24 outputs
If there is no main mixing console at the gig, I will use 2 main outputs (R+L) direct to the main sound system.
3. The software
I think KXStudio is at this time the best choice under Linux. Over the past years, I tried AVLinux and Ubuntu Studio but, for me, KXStudio delivers the best experience out-of-the-box and the Cadence suite is really awesome and makes Jack easier to manage (and understand).
Ardour will be the master of the system, giving metronome signal, managing automation of effects/plugins/level/pan and structuring all events occuring during the songs . I love Reaper too but this not really usable because of the plugin management (Win VST... ).
For the plugins, I will go 100% Linux, mostly using Calf but also other LV2 and LADSPA. I do not want to struggle with wineasio, linvst or any complicating bridge or semi accomplished piece of software to accommodate some Windows strangers .
4. The man
I'm the bassist of the band and I'm more or less "in charge" with the hardware and all the technical stuff.
The 2 guitarists feel also involved.
I'm not a Linux power user but I use Linux (mainly Ubuntu) since 2007 for everything... excepted for music production, like many other users .
I'm not able to compile a kernel by myself but I'm also not afraid by Linux and its complexity (from a non-dev point of view).
I'm an Open Source and technique enthusiast
THE QUESTION:
Will I waist my money and my time trying to get a system with acceptable latency (<10ms roundtrip latency, or less )?
We are musicians and latency is a critical thing for us.
As a comparison: RME Fireface 800 over Firewire to a modern Lenovo laptop with Core i7, Win10, all driver up-to-date, Reaper and Waves Plugins produces TOO MUCH LATENCY for us to play comfortably.