The Gear

DigiMAX FS
PreSonus' DigiMAX FS served as the front end of the digital recording rig. Four units - each with eight mic/line inputs - took audio feeds from the direct outputs on the board and output the signal on the ADAT/dual S/MUX outputs. BNC outputs kept everything in sync, which is especially critical with this many channels and video in the mix!

FireStudio Lightpipe
The multiple audio feeds coming from the DigiMAX FSs were gathered by the FireStudio Lightpipe, which passed 32 channels of audio to the computer via a single FireWire cable. The JetPLL Jitter Elimination Technology keeps the signal nice and clean, and the front-panel monitoring made it easy to keep an eye on the levels. The PreSonus pieces worked flawlessly together and sounded great!

Recording 32 channels simultaneously in a live situation requires a serious computer, and Sweetwater's Creation Station was the perfect fit. With Cubase 4 installed, the rackmounted nerve center of this recording rig easily chewed through the task at hand without even breaking a sweat. Of course, the fact that Creation Stations are built from the ground-up for serious audio work - with cool features like an optimized-for-audio OS and whisper-quiet operation - doesn't hurt!