A&H DB4 as main studio soundcard..

Performance & Techniques Music Production
1

A&H DB4 as main studio soundcard..

Hi all,

Set up my home studio a year or so ago and bought my first proper soundcard in the form of an Apogee Duet 2 (I’ve a MacBook Pro and am running Ableton Live).

Not long afterwards I downsized my DJ setup from a couple of Pioneer CDJ2K’s and a DJM2K to an A&H Xone DB4 and a couple of X1 controllers. I went for the DB4 partly because I’d owned a couple of A&H mixers in the past, and the fact that I’d have less studio spaghetti to deal with because it had a built-in soundcard and didn’t need connecting an Audio 8/10 or similar.

To cut a long story short, since owning the DB4, I haven’t really used the Duet 2. I really like the ease with which I can switch from monitoring my laptop output, mixing on Traktor and messing around in Live (going back to the Duet 2 involves switching monitor cables etc).

My question is, am I compromising anything in terms of audio quality by using the DB4’s soundcard for Live/production purposes? Lots of folk talk about the ‘sound’ of certain mixers etc., I realise it’s a digital mixer, but is (assuming all filters/effects/EQ’s etc. are turned off!) the DB4 colouring the output from the computer in any way? What about when I’m recording into the computer via the mixer? (ripping vinyl etc.)

Long-term I’m definitely looking to get more involved in the production side of things and would like to add more kit, I’ll keep the Duet if there’s a significant sound quality issue, but would rather sell it and invest funds in better monitors etc. if there’s no reason to keep it…

Opinions welcome and thanks in advance :smiling_face:

2

You should be fine mate. i use the soundcard in my mixer when i master my mixes as it is still all plugged in usually.

3

..cheers for the reply :slight_smile:

Do you have the DB4? is it your only soundcard?

4

No i have a denon but it is the same principle

5

My production setup runs from Laptop > Audio 10 > Xone > speakers

6

I do everything piped through my db2 and as long as you stay out of the red (or white in this case) you wont get much, if any color. I don’t know what kind of monitors you are rockin but my guess is that you would get a better sound by improving your monitoring and acoustics since that is almost always the weakest link in home studios - I know it is in mine.

In terms of recording, I’m not sure how good the AD conversion is on the xones since I pretty much just work ITB but you could always go for some classy preamps which will do a lot more for sound quality if you are recording live sound.