Hi again…

Mac… thanks so much for the comeback. It opened my eyes to something.

Um… forgive me for this… it’s been a long time since I have been able to sit with my music.

When you mentioned that the SD2 had to be connected to the computer a flash went off. The way I had it set up was I only had the RCA out jacks on the SD2 connected to the mixer… the SD2 wasn’t connected to the computer. Doh!!!

And so I got out my M-Audio USB Midisport, connected it up and had the SD2 outputs going into the Mackie. Of course there was no surprise when I got sound.

I guess I was assuming that I would be able to use the SD2 directly into the Mackie, as it is an “audio interface” via FireWire. I guess "audio" would be the key word here. And I am really unable to see a way of getting around this with MIDI unless there is some kind of an adapter out there. (Maybe there IS???)

I also have to see if there is a way to be able to control my audio – vocals, guitar – with the Mackie. Results from a quick test showed me that the input volume can only be controlled in RealBand or Sonar. It doesn’t seem to matter what level I use on the Mackie, it has no effect on the levels in the software. But I’d have to think that there is in fact some way of achieving this. The mixer has a beautiful EQ on board that I would love to be able to use.

Anyway… I knew before I got the mixer that there would be a learning curve involved and so I’m going to have to be patient… and not expect to have it all figured out in a couple of hours. What makes it even harder, though, is the fact that I have no experience in using equipment like this. There's going to be a lot of "hitting and missing" as I go along.

Thanks again for your help. Do you see why I love this place?!?

/Bobby