What would it take to give a LS9-16 the ability to record and have more input/output?

Jeff Williams

Jeff Williams

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Jan 18, 2011
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I'm a long time MixWiz user and I will be purchasing a new board in April. I've always wanted a LS9-16 but I've been considering a Presonus StudioLive 24 channel board.

So.. What would it take to give the Yamaha 24 channels, 10 outputs and the ability to record? Is it possible to do all of those with only 1 expansion port?

Please don't turn this into another "WHY I should by a Yamaha over Presonus thread."

I just am curious what it would take to give the yamaha the same ability in those departments (which are the ones important to me) so I can compare the cost difference.

Thanks in advance!
 
Re: What would it take to give a LS9-16 the ability to record and have more input/out

You've got one card slot that can do 16 inputs and 16 outputs maximum. Probably the most popular MY card for that is the MY16-AT, which has ADAT optical ins and outs. You'd have to add some 8-channel input/output boxes, from something as cheap as the Behringer ADA8000 thingy on up.

What do you mean by "ability to record"? The LS9 will do stereo MP3 recordings to a USB memory stick directly from the desk. It doesn't have a USB audio to computer capability like the Presonus, but a simple USB stereo line level interface is fairly cheap.
 
Re: What would it take to give a LS9-16 the ability to record and have more input/out

Scott Helmke said:
You've got one card slot that can do 16 inputs and 16 outputs maximum. Probably the most popular MY card for that is the MY16-AT, which has ADAT optical ins and outs. You'd have to add some 8-channel input/output boxes, from something as cheap as the Behringer ADA8000 thingy on up.

What do you mean by "ability to record"? The LS9 will do stereo MP3 recordings to a USB memory stick directly from the desk. It doesn't have a USB audio to computer capability like the Presonus, but a simple USB stereo line level interface is fairly cheap.
Click to expand...

The MY16-AT pairs nicely with an ADAT computer interface, such as the Presonus Firestudio Lightpipe (which does 24 inputs and outputs over ADAT), and I conveniently have one for sale. :lol:

There are higher-end multitrack recording options over Ethersound, MADI, Dante, and other networked-audio formats, but the easiest way to get multitrack to your computer is over ADAT.
 
Re: What would it take to give a LS9-16 the ability to record and have more input/out

Thanks guys. Regarding the MP3 recordings to a USB memory stick, is that a board recording? Or do I have the ability to record levels other than what's on the board?

I pulled up the spec on the MY16-AT, if I use it and the FireStudio for recording, can I get any more input/output for the board? Sorry to be dense, I just don't see a way to pull off both, it seems to be one or the other.
 
Re: What would it take to give a LS9-16 the ability to record and have more input/out

Jeff Williams said:
Thanks guys. Regarding the MP3 recordings to a USB memory stick, is that a board recording? Or do I have the ability to record levels other than what's on the board?

I pulled up the spec on the MY16-AT, if I use it and the FireStudio for recording, can I get any more input/output for the board? Sorry to be dense, I just don't see a way to pull off both, it seems to be one or the other.
Click to expand...

The MY slot is a 16 in/16 out interface. All i/o are available simultaneously.

The USB stick recording function on the LS/9 is 2 channel, and you can send any bus or "mix" to it... matrix, aux, L/R, etc.
 
Re: What would it take to give a LS9-16 the ability to record and have more input/out

i have my LS9-16 maxed out with all the goodies I could get. The MY16 card gives you the extra 16 ins and out via ADAT connections. To serve those i/o's I have 2 focusrite Octopre MKii Dynamic units that serve as a/d and d/a's. The system is set-up for 15 channels of direct outs (16 goes to smaart) via TRS connection on the focusrite. The cheaper version of this device would be the Behringer ADA8000. It does the exact same thing with a just a slightly lower quality level.

Everything is being clocked externally with a big ben and 75ohm terminators on the returns so that the number of connections are lowered during set-up. Otherwise you would need to create a loop with all the gear. The external clock isn't necessary but if you are doing in-ear mixes than I think you'll notice a difference. I'm not sure that I would bother with getting a cheap word clock. I would just use the internal clock on the ls9 before I went with something like a Hosa Clock.

I set-up mix 15-16 as a stereo mix for recording to the thumb drive. This is somewhat a reference mix so we can decide whether something was good enough to re-mix from the direct outs. It's somewhat a counter of the FOH mix in the sense that all faders are set to zero and if I need to go plus 4 or 5 on a vocal to get it to stand out, I'll pull that vocal down on the recording mix send to level it all out. The thumb drive mix is mp3 only, but post fader send so you can put compression on the outputs and it will reflect on the thumb drive mp3. You could send one channel to it if you wanted by making it a direct out.
 
Re: What would it take to give a LS9-16 the ability to record and have more input/out

You could also do it with an EtherSound expansion card and just connect via CAT5 to your computer for recording (using the Auvitran virtual soundcard) and use one of the many ES preamps for an additional 16 channels of input. The same would work with the Dante expansion card, but I don't know if it's easy to find Dante preamps.
 
Re: What would it take to give a LS9-16 the ability to record and have more input/out

Sorry if this veers somewhat from the Yamaha questions, but you might also consider on the recording end of things what actions and what software is required to support recording with both systems. Yamaha pretty much leaves you to figure this out, which is fine if you are comfortable with such things.

The Presonus on the other hand is extremely simple. Just open their included "Capture" program, choose a file location, hit a button to enable record on all channels, and press record. It is really almost stupidly easy. No mixer configuration required AT ALL other than plugging in the firewire cable.

Nothing against the LS9, I have spent plenty of time on them and like them quite well enough, but I do think if recording is a big factor that it's not only more expensive but slightly less convenient than the Presonus. I guess you should ask yourself how important the recording functionality is to you.

From a cost perspective, you could probably own a pair of the Presonus boards for similar cost to a "loaded" LS9-16. Considering they are linkable, that's a lot of flexibility for scenarios like 48ch FOH, separate FOH and MON consoles, etc.
 
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Re: What would it take to give a LS9-16 the ability to record and have more input/out

Jeff Babcock said:
Sorry if this veers somewhat from the Yamaha questions, but you might also consider on the recording end of things what actions and what software is required to support recording with both systems. Yamaha pretty much leaves you to figure this out, which is fine if you are comfortable with such things.

The Presonus on the other hand is extremely simple. Just open their included "Capture" program, choose a file location, hit a button to enable record on all channels, and press record. It is really almost stupidly easy. No mixer configuration required AT ALL other than plugging in the firewire cable.

Nothing against the LS9, I have spent plenty of time on them and like them quite well enough, but I do think if recording is a big factor that it's not only more expensive but slightly less convenient than the Presonus. I guess you should ask yourself how important the recording functionality is to you.
Click to expand...

Jeff, if someone is wanting multitrack recording functionality, there is a good chance they will already know what software they need to make it happen. Even with Capture, AFAIK, another program is still required to mix it down.
 
Re: What would it take to give a LS9-16 the ability to record and have more input/out

Silas Pradetto said:
Jeff, if someone is wanting multitrack recording functionality, there is a good chance they will already know what software they need to make it happen. Even with Capture, AFAIK, another program is still required to mix it down.
Click to expand...

Indeed. I know though from my perspective, a lot of times I am in a hurry and the recording can be an afterthought. I know I can have recording up and running reliably with the Presonus in next to no time and move on to other things. I could certainly set up something functionally similar with the Yamaha, but despite my strong software and recording background, I really don't see how I could easily match that speed of recording implementation on the LS9. There are a lot more steps in between and much greater potential for human error.

I don't want to sound like a Presonus fanboy, I like the product, but recognize what its intended use and limitations are and spec systems accordingly.

To the OP, again, sorry for the slight swerve of topic, though I think it's an important consideration.
 
Re: What would it take to give a LS9-16 the ability to record and have more input/out

From the standpoint of quick recording of multiple tracks, nothing beats the Presonus. Plug in a firewire cable and hit record. However, beyond that, the LS9 is a superior board in almost every way, and the price reflects that.
 
Re: What would it take to give a LS9-16 the ability to record and have more input/out

The next upgrade that my little rig going to get is an adat bridge- something like a MOTU 2408 so that I can run pro tools 9 and use the above stated gear as the interface.

I wonder if you used the Adat Bridge with the MY16 card would Pro Tools 9 see it as 16 inputs? This new non digi interface thing with PT9 is a little bit of a mystery to me still. Love the idea of being about to use PT as a stand alone recording software, but not sure what you can and can't do!

The other great thing about the LS9 is that it's a piece of gear that you can rent to your fellow board members because of it's standard status- you probably won't get too many requests to cross rent the PreSonus.
 
Re: What would it take to give a LS9-16 the ability to record and have more input/out

Jeff Babcock said:
Sorry if this veers somewhat from the Yamaha questions, but you might also consider on the recording end of things what actions and what software is required to support recording with both systems. Yamaha pretty much leaves you to figure this out, which is fine if you are comfortable with such things.

The Presonus on the other hand is extremely simple. Just open their included "Capture" program, choose a file location, hit a button to enable record on all channels, and press record. It is really almost stupidly easy. No mixer configuration required AT ALL other than plugging in the firewire cable.

Nothing against the LS9, I have spent plenty of time on them and like them quite well enough, but I do think if recording is a big factor that it's not only more expensive but slightly less convenient than the Presonus. I guess you should ask yourself how important the recording functionality is to you.

From a cost perspective, you could probably own a pair of the Presonus boards for similar cost to a "loaded" LS9-16. Considering they are linkable, that's a lot of flexibility for scenarios like 48ch FOH, separate FOH and MON consoles, etc.
Click to expand...


If, however, anything happens to the recording computer and you reboot, or unplug the FW or anything at all it kills the console for a few precious seconds and gives you a nice big pop through the PA. Be sure that your FW setup is bulletproof, and the cord is not able to be pulled on from anywhere.

DAMHIK....
 
Re: What would it take to give a LS9-16 the ability to record and have more input/out

We just rented an Alesis HD24 for a show we wanted to multitrack from an LS9-32. Rental for 3 days in LA was $120, including the MY16-AT card, the HD24, and the Fireport transfer unit. I bought a caddy and a 120GB IDE drive for $50 off ebay, and we were good to go.

Unless you're going to record every show, you could rent and pass that cost on to the customer.
 
Re: What would it take to give a LS9-16 the ability to record and have more input/out

Speaking of rental... you have a better chance of someone renting an LS9 from you than the Presonus if you ever want to get a little more out of your investment.
 
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