And, of course, a small-format digital mixer makes a powerful companion to a low-cost hard-disk recorder or PC-based recorder/player. But be certain that the sample rates, bit depth and I/O formats are compatible between these two units, allowing material to be transferred painlessly between mixer and recorder. (Don’t forget that all-essential word clock connection to prevent nasty "snats" and clicks as free-running I/O circuits re-synchronize with one another.) But automation data will now be in a separate file from the recorder, which is one of the main reasons why a DAW makes such creative sense; opening a single project brings in a total snapshot of all system parameters, including audio file locations, edit/crossfade parameters, processing profiles and mix levels. Easy.

Editing Capabilities. High-precision editing implies both a knowledge of where each audio file is a located, and the ability to “knit” them together into a multi-channel output. Here, the full integration of powerful sample-accurate record/replay functionality – for locating the appropriate digitized audio files on the storage media and then applying mix, panning and replay functions – is a unique feature of current-generation workstations, which can handle multitrack replay from single or multiple hard drives. A possible alternative would be streaming digitized data from a separate hard disk system via high-speed ports, but the integration of stop, start, pause and fast forward/rewind within the editor would involve some high-speed communications and the use of standardized control protocols. Although all of this is feasible, it is relatively impractical and not as cost-effective as incorporating all within a single system.

So, put simply, a dedicated recorder is great for multitrack tracking dates, but for creative editing the materials will need to be loaded into a fast, PC-based system that can bring to bear a powerful arsenal of sample-accurate functions to prepare multichannel outputs. Which, again, might be streamed from the PC back to the original recorder, either for archiving, or for playback through a dedicated digital mixer that could be used to prepare a stereo or multitrack mix.

The integrated Cubasis approach (click on image for full size)

One potential downside to this approach: making any changes to the edited track would require reloading the materials and modifying the component elements. (Again, this is a possible scenario, but one that can extremely time consuming and a possible hindrance to the creative process.)

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