Pro tools as my "FOH"..feasible?

[Kimmi]

hey guys,

i currently have a project mix I/O and i intend to use it as my so called "FOH".

from what i've read up so far, correct me if i'm wrong. the usual line up is

Mixer ( analog/digital)-> power amps-> speakers ( powered/non powered).


However at the moment, i have an pm600 wharfedale powered mixer and 2 wharfadale loud speakers.

the speakers i have at the moment are non powered i think since the don have any power plug.

I intend to run guitars,drum and bass and all into 8 channels of my projectmix and run out out he output of projectmix into the pm600...

projectmix( mixer)-> pm 600 ( poweramp)-> loudspeaker.

i've yet to try but do intend to.

but before any irreversible damage is done,i'm hoping to get some advice from people who know these things.

why i intend to try because the pm600 has 6 inputs and pretty hard to control.i intend to use the plug ins from protools.

venue would be a room.

thanks in advance!!=)

 

[dude3d30]

Hi Kimmi.

I myself own a Project Mix I/O.

However, the project mix I/O is not built to use as a live mixing console board.

Please take note that, although its possible to run your inputs through your project mix and process them in Pro Tools, its highly not recommended for these few reasons:

#1) Stability

Depends on what system your using to run your Pro Tools, stability is a huge issue. If your Pro Tools ever crashes half way through your gig, it'll take a long time to setup again. Because, you have to reset doing your plug in settings and i/o settings.

#2) latency

If you're gonna use your Pro Tools for live input monitoring, you would want as low a Buffer Size as possible so that there will be no lack.

Depending on your operating system, it might not be able to handle such a lower buffer size for running 8 tracks simultaneously.

Also, there's a limit of the amount of plug ins you can use for all the 8 tracks before you start to hear a latency between the performer and your audio coming out from your speakers.



What i would advice is that you do away with the project mix, and just try to rent a small mackie analogue desk.

It has much more routing flexibility. ( The Project Mix has limited signal routing options)

And the Project Mix doesn't have a MASTER FADER to control Pro Tools.
You will need to create a Master Track Yourself and use your mouse to control it.

Moreover, you can barely do any foldback monitoring with the Project Mix.

Please take note


Cheers!

 

[Kimmi]

dude3d30

yea,was afraid of the crash part.


thanks dude!!...will do my research again.

 

[l0u5y]

if u wanna use a board for live sound that could be use with protools, might wanna get a digital mixer that could work with protools. btw, u dun have to use input monitoring to monitor. as ur project mix i/o has a lot of outputs, u could juz use 1 of them for monitors by using sends. and if u wanna monitor thru ur headphone, juz send watever u wan to an output then plug in ur headphone.

 

[dude3d30]

btw, u dun have to use input monitoring to monitor. as ur project mix i/o has a lot of outputs, u could juz use 1 of them for monitors by using sends. and if u wanna monitor thru ur headphone, juz send watever u wan to an output then plug in ur headphone.

Bro, still need to arm record in Pro Tools to hear your input source.

Project Mix only has 2 analogue stereo outputs anyway.

And the headphone output is not a separate buss.. it feeds from either one of the 2 stereo outputs.

 

[hardpan]

I believe you can use the M-Audio software mixer to route the particular output bus in Pro Tools directly to the headphone output of your Project Mix. Well at least that was how I did it when I ran tracks off Pro Tools with my Firewire 410.

Recently sold my 410 and now I do pretty much the same thing but with Logic Pro and my Firebox instead.