TM-30 Pro: DAW

For capturing a live performance to multi-track, it doesn’t get much easier than just connecting a USB hard-drive to the TouchMix-30 Pro and going for it.

But sometimes you might prefer to record directly to your Digital Audio Workstation – or DAW – software.

The TouchMix-30 Pro is Core Audio compatible so it connects easily to computers running OSX version 10.3 or higher without the need for any special drivers.

Connecting to your DAW is simple. Start by connecting a USB Type B cable to the “USB DAW” port on the mixer.

Then connect the other end to your computer’s USB. On the TouchMix, push “Rec/Play”, “Recording Mode”, and select “Multitrack DAW.”

Now open the Audio MIDI Setup utility on the computer. “QSC TM30 Pro” will appear in the Audio Devices window.

Select the mixer and make sure that the sample rate on the computer matches that of the Mixer.

The TouchMix sample rate may be set from the Rec/Play screen.

Now there are lots of DAW software packages available and we aren’t going to get into a discussion of which one is best.

That’s like talking about politics or religion. And various DAWs will differ in how they are configured to work with an audio I/O device.

So check with your DAW’s documentation for specifics. That said, here’s a generic overview of what to expect.

Typically, there will be three steps.

1) Select the TouchMix-30 as an input and output device to the DAW.

Since I’m using ProTools, I simply need to enable the TM-30 as an IO for the ProTools Aggregator.

You will also likely have to configure your DAW’s connections for both inputs and outputs.

For instance, I’m going to bring in 16 channels from the TouchMix, and map them to the first 16 inputs inside my DAW.

2) Add some tracks into your DAW Timeline. I’m adding 16, since that’s the number of channels I’m using on my TouchMix.

As you set up your tracks, you will also need to designate which TouchMix-30 input is going to feed each DAW track.

This is usually controlled by the individual track settings.

And 3) If you are going to play tracks back through the TouchMix, you’ll also need to designate which TouchMix input receives which DAW track.

This is most likely part of the DAW track settings.

Now that you’ve got your TouchMix-30 Pro and your DAW talking to each other, let’s look at what they can do.

A recording session has to start somewhere and that somewhere usually starts with tracking.

Say you’re going to lay down drums, bass, guitar, keyboards and scratch vocals.

Depending on how many mics you use, that could easily be up to 12 to 16 inputs.

That’s far more inputs than most USB audio interfaces offer. But the TouchMix-30 has inputs to spare.

Not only that, but we can use the mixer’s auxiliary busses for the musicians’ headphone mixes,

without any worries about the latency problems that can come up when you use a DAW’s monitor mix functions.

You could even let the musicians control their own mix from a smart-phone just like they do during a live performance.

Does the singer like to hear reverb in his cans? No problem – just use one of the six onboard effects.

Your DAW has lots of mixing capabilities and you’ve probably got favorite plug-ins. But the TouchMix-30 Pro is really easy to use and has all those great channel presets.

So maybe you just want to use you DAW for recording and editing audio while doing your mix down on the TouchMix. Here’s how to do it.

On the mixer, set all the inputs that have a corresponding DAW track to “Track”. Go to the 2-Trk Record channel, then go to the Setup page and select “Main LR.”

If you want to use the mixer’s output EQ and limiter, set the “Record Pick-Off” point to “Post”.

On your DAW, create two new tracks and connect their inputs to TouchMix channels 31 and 32.

These tracks will now record the TouchMix Main L/R stereo output. Arm these two tracks (and only these two tracks) for recording.

Locate the start of the song and start recording. You’ll now have a two-track mix down that is ready for mastering.

So that’s a look at how you can use your TouchMix-30 Pro with your DAW. You may just find that your favorite live sound mixer is also your best choice for a DAW interface.