How to make the most flexible and best use of the creamware

dodge · Post by **dodge** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 5:38 am

Hello,

I need some advice on how to make the most flexible / best use of the creamware FX and DSP. I currenly have a Pulsar II and a Scope SRB, a total of 21 DSP's. My main mixer is the STM-2448 with 12 stereo and 12 mono channels in use, a total of 36 channels alltogether. The 12 stereo channels are used for synth hardware connected to an A16 Ultra and ADAT. The 12 mono channels are used for the STS-5000 only. The I/O card is connected to the Pulsar II, since that's my 'main' board. I am working with 24bit/48KHz audio.

What I need to know is how to add FX to this setup. I would like to be able to route multiple channels from the STM-2448 to a single FX, obviously as stereo sources for the stereo channels and mono for mono channels. The FX output can be stereo.

I've heard about people using the bus outputs to connect to an FX and use an empty channel slot to put the wet FX signal back into the mix. Since I don't have any channel slots left that would not be an option for me. I could add a separate STM-2448 or a different studio mixer for the FX returns and output them to a separate ASIO destination.

Connecting an FX to a direct out for any channel would be pointless since that would be almost the same as an insert. I don't want to end up with let's say 8 separate stereo reverbs using almost the same settings. It's just a waste of time and resources.

What about an aux send? They appear to be mono sends with optional stereo return to me? That would not be very useful for the stereo channels I have.

I would like to be able to use a single stereo compessor (side-chain) for the low end, base drum and bass, since that seems to be a logical way to control the relation between to two. Using separate compressors from the channels seems rather pointless.

Thanks in advance.
Dodge

Post by **hubird** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 6:13 am

Hi Dodge, in real analog life fx sends were always mono, so I'd say what's the problem using the sends what they're made for?
Most fx even don't have stereo-ins, so...

Plato · Post by **Plato** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 7:00 am

As in the real world, connect Aux 1 to L input & Aux 2 to R input in stereo FX like reverb. [or odds for L, evens for R]
Use Inserts for compressors or whatever else takes your fancy....there's 4 on every channel.
You can even use inserts on FX return channels.
Get creative with routing....you can just about plug anything into anything, and if you're running out of channels use a sub-mixer for, say FX returns/keys/sampler outs. You could even route a whole seperate batch of FX to the sub-mix if necessary.....you've certainly got enough DSP.
Most of all use your imagination- SFP is one of the most flexible tools you could hope for.

bassdude · Post by **bassdude** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 8:49 am

Well I would simply use a multi channel dynamixer to sum the outputs of the stm2448 with the outputs of efftects. Just use your imagination! There are no hard rules with SFP.
Cheers.

dodge · Post by **dodge** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 4:36 am

Thanks for the info. I am working on a default studio setup because I like to work with a somewhat fixed routing scheme. I want to preset as much as possible so I can focus on composition and arrangement and not have to switch between working as a musician and a studio engineer all the time.