Soundcraft Multi Track Recording Guide
Soundcraft Signature MTK
Recording Guide
S O U N D C R A F T S I G N AT U R E M T K R E C O R D I N G G U I D E
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Table of Contents
USB Overview........................................................................................................ |
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Installing the Drivers (PC Only)......................................................................... |
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Finding the Correct Cable .................................................................................. |
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Navigating the Control Panel ............................................................................ |
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USB Send and Return Channels ...................................................................... |
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M/L: Mic/Line........................................................................................... |
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Recording to the LR................................................................................ |
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Stereo Playback ................................................................................................... |
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Stereo Playback Using a PC ................................................................. |
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Stereo Playback Using a MAC .............................................................. |
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REAPER ................................................................................................................. |
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Multi-track Recording Using REAPER ................................................ |
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Multichannel Playback Using REAPER ............................................... |
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Inserting Plug-ins on REAPER............................................................... |
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LOGIC ..................................................................................................................... |
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Multi-track Recording Using LOGIC .................................................... |
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Multichannel Playback Using LOGIC ................................................. |
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Inserting Plug-in on LOGIC .................................................................... |
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ABLETON LIVE LITE ............................................................................................ |
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Stereo Recording Using ABLETON LIVE LITE ................................... |
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Inserting Plug-Ins on ABLETON LIVE LITE.......................................... |
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Soundcraft Signature MTK
Recording Guide
This Soundcraft Signature MTK Recording Guide is designed to give an overview on the Signature MTK’s multi-track USB functionality and how it can be used for various recording and playback applications. This guide walks through various recording and playback scenarios with different DAWs and explains how to setup your Signature MTK console, your audio drivers, and your DAW.
USB Overview
The Soundcraft Signature MTK consoles feature a USB class compliant ASIO audio interface that records multiple channels up to 48khz, 24-bit audio resolution to any DAW.
The USB port is a standard USB 2.0 connection that is compatible with any MAC® or PC as well as an iPad® (using a Camera Connectivity Kit). The Signature 12 MTK features a 14-in/12-out audio interface whilst the larger 22MTK features a 24-in/22-out audio interface.
For PCs, Soundcraft multichannel USB ASIO/WDM drivers are required (available for download on the Soundcraft website) and are used to adjust settings such as buffer depth and streaming mode. MAC® computers do not require these drivers as the Signature MTK USB audio interface uses Apple® Core Audio drivers.
Installing The Drivers (PC Only)
Soundcraft Multichannel Audio Drivers can be found on the Soundcraft website (www.soundcraft.com) under the respective product page downloads section.
The install package includes WDM and ASIO drivers for low-latency operation. The ASIO drivers include a control panel which is used to configure driver settings for best performance.
Before you install the PC drivers, connect the PC to the chosen console via USB and power up the console. Once the drivers are installed, shortcuts for the control panel are available on the desktop or under all programs- >Harman Pro->Soundcraft->Multichannel USB Audio as well as available in Windows® System Tray.
When the console is connected to the computer, taskbar icons will indicate a device has been detected; clicking the icon will open the appropriate control panel. When the drivers are installed on your PC, you will need to restart your machine for the install process to complete.
NOTE: Additional drivers are not needed for Mac as the Signature MTK uses Apple®’s Core Audio drivers for USB recording and playback.
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Finding the Correct Cable
The USB port on the Soundcraft Signature series is a ‘Type B’ connector (the standard type for all peripheral devices). USB host devices use the rectangular ‘Type A’ connector. In order to achieve a connection between console and host machine, a ‘Type A to Type B’ USB cable is required.
NOTE: USB cable quality can vary. Please ensure your USB cable’s integrity and data transfer rate for optimal performance.
Navigating the Control Panel (PC Only)
The Soundcraft Audio Driver settings can be found in the Soundcraft USB Control Panel. Within this menu, there are options to adjust the streaming mode of the Signature Series USB audio interface and the buffer size from 64 samples up to 8192 samples. Recommended buffer size will vary depending on application, however higher buffer sizes should be used when monitoring from
the DAW is not necessary. For most recording applications, a standard buffer size of 1024 samples is enough to ensure reliable operation and clean audio.
The streaming mode settings modify the bahaviour of the USB driver for maximum optimization when set in conjunction with the buffer size setting. A larger buffer size results in higher latency to your DAW but provides a more robust audio stream to your PC. A smaller buffer size reduces the latency to your DAW but can result in audio glitches and errors due to memory and CPU load on your PC. To adjust the buffer size of the USB stream, both the streaming mode and the buffer size settings need to be set correctly corresponding to one another.
For example, setting the streaming mode to ‘Reliable’ and then the buffer size to 1024 samples,
the system will then be running at 1024 samples and the audio will be clean. For lower buffer sizes, the streaming mode should be set to ‘Low Latency’ and the buffer size to 128 samples.
A mismatch between Streaming mode and buffer size could cause artefacts in the audio and could corrupt the audio recording. A mismatched buffer setting such as setting the streaming mode to ‘Reliable’ and the buffer size to 64 samples would result in distorted audio in your recording.
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To avoid artefacts and to produce a reliable recording you should select the appropriate buffer size for the streaming mode. When a mismatch occurs, a dialogue will appear at the bottom of the control panel menu with instructions of where to go from the current setting to make a compatible setup.
USB Send and Return Channels
USB Send and Return channels are numbered according to console channel ledgering, so Signature 12MTK’s input channels 1-12 for example are patched to USB audio channels 1-12 and Signature 22MTK’s input channels are patched to USB audio channels 1-22.
Console channels always send their post-gain, pre-EQ signal to their respective USB channel to be picked up and recorded by the PC/MAC Via USB. The 2-track (Master Left/Right) output uses the last 2 USB channels on each console and is always actively sending post fader level down the USB stream.
Console channels can be set up to receive USB Input and can be engaged per-channel with the USB RTN button located on each channel strip.
This means that channels that have been sent to the DAW for recording can then be returned from the DAW, back through the console, converted to analogue and mixed as a standard input source. This makes things like Virtual soundcheck and playback as easy as hitting the USB return button on the desired console channels. Graphs 1 and 2 show the relationship between the input channels coming from the Mic pre, the USB Send number and subsequently the USB return number for multichannel USB playback.
USB Send Channels (to DAW)
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Channel 01 |
M / L |
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Channel 02 |
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M / L |
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Channel 03 |
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M / L |
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Channel 04 |
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M / L |
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Channel 05 |
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M / L |
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Channel 06 |
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M / L |
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Channel 07/08 |
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M / L |
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Channel 09/10 |
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M / L |
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Channel 11/12 |
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L |
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Mix LR |
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GRAPH 1
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