How to build an 8in 8out recording rig on the cheap

Axe_meister

Some of you may remember me posting about getting a digi 001 and buying an old pentimum 4 PC to run Pro-tools. Well it worked "sort of" I ended up having all sorts of problems with midi latency, I could only use pro-tools 6.4 and windows XP. However I recently decommissioned an old family PC. A dual core AMD Athlon 64 X2 running at 2.6 Ghz and 4GB memory. With the aim of tuning it into an ITunes server for the Apple TV. So a quick reformat of the drive, and a clean install of windows 7 (32 bit) and I got thinking. So I take out the digi 001 PCI card and an old audigy 2 card. Install them and set about installing the drivers. The standalone digi drivers did not appear to work at first, Poo I thought, but then I remembered the problems I had with my MBox 2, the drivers would only work with a copy of pro-tools installed. So I installed pro-tools, first selecting XP compatibility mode (you must do this). Fired up Reaper and low and behold it could see all of the input/outputs of the digi 001. Midi works a charm with no latency or distortion (have a midi drum kit), I can load up loads of VSTis. So if you have an older PC (AM2/AM2+ chipset) or Intel Core 2 vintage, with a 5v PCI bus (later chipsets have 3.3V buses) you can pick up old digi 001 for peanuts (mine set me pack £50). Now the digi does not work well as a general sound card, hence my audigy 2 card. Both cards go into an old Yamaha 16 channel mixer (again picked up on the bay for £30), so I can have a different band mix compared to what I'm recording, 8 output channels from the digi and stereo out from the audigy. Unfortunately the digi only has two micro pre amps, but an old Yamaha FX processor from the 90s, increased that to three. I can now record a vocal, two guitars, a bass (DI from amp), the midi drums and stereo keys all at the same time with an input to spare. Not even used the ADAT inputs yet. I could even add a second digi for 16inputs!