Wrapping my head around the outputs, could you lend a hand?

[ARNK]

Okay, first things first. Let me give you a quick rundown of my current setup.

I use a Roland Octa-Capture interface (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/OctaCapture). Currently, I have the following plugged in:

DSI PRO 2 > Stereo Out
Moog Minitaur > Mono Outo
Moog Mother-32 (x2) > Mono Out

This leaves me with Input 1 & 2 on the front panel. Now, if I'm not mistaken, I could plug the main L/R outs from the Tempest into these inputs and call it a day, but that would leave me with very little control indeed. I would like as much control over the Tempest as financially possible. So where do I begin? And what would be considered maximum control?

I'm debating on whether or not to purchase a second Roland Octa-Capture, or switch to a mixer such as the Allen & Heath WZ4:16:2 (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MixWizard416). But from what I can tell, to really have full control over each voice on the Tempest, 16 channels might not even be enough.

a) I'm interested to know how you've set things up on your end.
b) Am I correct in saying that each of the 6 voice outs are stereo, so depending on the sound being output, this could take up 12 channels on a mixer if you used a Y cable and panned then left/right?
c) In that scenario, what would the main left/right outs be used for? In all, the Tempest can take up to 14 channels on a mixer?
d) I know at least I can save a couple of channels by dedicating an out for kicks and one for bass, but how would you suggest maximizing the control you have over each out while not breaking the bank.

I know I'm kind of all over the place here & kind of lost, I'm sure I'll have follow up questions if anybody responds. Thanks in advance for your insight.

[Jinsai]

Tempest's voice allocation and outputs work a little differently than you might expect.

Each individual out represents a voice. So if you assign a kick to output 1, VOICE 1 is used for the kick, VOICE 1 is assigned to the individual output, and VOICE 1 is REMOVED from the stereo mix and the available voices.

This means that your kick only gets one voice, even if there are others available to use (if, for example, you're just playing a kick sound only). It also means that voice is no longer available in the voice pool for other sounds to use -- your main mix now only has 5 voices of polyphony to use, even if the kick is not triggering.

It will make your sounds more "consistent", which may be desirable.

a) I'm interested to know how you've set things up on your end.

Personally, I find the individual voice output limitations to not be worth it. I just use a stereo pair. If I really want separate sounds on tracks in my DAW, I will do multiple passes with instruments soloed or muted.

b) Am I correct in saying that each of the 6 voice outs are stereo, so depending on the sound being output, this could take up 12 channels on a mixer if you used a Y cable and panned then left/right?

Yes.

c) In that scenario, what would the main left/right outs be used for? In all, the Tempest can take up to 14 channels on a mixer?

In your "B" scenario, with all 6 individual outs used, the main left/right outs are unused, because all 6 voices of Tempest have been removed from the main outs. You could leave them plugged in for cases where you want a mix of things, perhaps dedicated kick and snare on 2 channels and the rest of your sounds in the stereo mix/voice pool.

d) I know at least I can save a couple of channels by dedicating an out for kicks and one for bass, but how would you suggest maximizing the control you have over each out while not breaking the bank.

It really depends on what you want, per above, and whether you're recording or playing live, and whether or not you mind doing multiple passes.

[ARNK]

Tempest's voice allocation and outputs work a little differently than you might expect.

Thank you for your insights, things are a bit clearer now. I'll take them into account as I experiment