[TakenGrace]

Thank you for your reply,

Why did you get rid of the iMac?... does not sound like you are doing anything heavy here, ... Pro Tools should have been very usable on the iMac. (was that related to problems you are still trying to solve here?)

I am a PC gamer, I do streaming, and pretty much everything else on my PC. I only fired up my Imac once a week to record the podcast episodes, but I would have to re-patch my mixer into my Imac, then back afterword. I got rid of it solely to save space and the headache of rerouting cable.

To use Pro Tools you need an interface that supports ASIO. The choice should always be to use an interface with a native ASIO driver. Pro Tools is not the only DAW that requires ASIO audio interfaces. And wherever possible you want to pick audio interfaces that have native ASIO drivers provided by the manufactures. And because those drivers are so important the quality of the driver and the vendor support for them should be important factors in selecting any interface. .

Makes sense, Any Suggestions for interfaces? I've only ever owned Motu Track 16 and The Mackie mixer.

"music in the background"... why not mix that in after you record the podcast. Why does that need to be playing while you record?

We record our podcast live, and we often play clips in the show and constantly change the levels throughout the show. The BG music adds a little extra for our live viewers

ASIO4ALL should not stop you using other Windows audio... in that those devices still should work in Windows... but it does not allow you to record them. I want to be clear that you are for example not trying to aggregate stuff in ASIO4ALL and causing more problems. Just don't do that.

I haven't altered Asio4all since I installed it. However, if I try to open VLC player, Skype, Discord, play youtube videos or generally anything that requires audio. I receive an "audio Codec error, please restart ". This is the root of all my problems on windows.

I am using Mackie as my interface, and while recording I'll be using Skype for remote calls, Usually Itunes for BG music and play youtube videos in the background. Currently, I have skype, iTunes, and the other audio items running off my phone which is running into tape in.

What does not make a lot of sense is the ProFX12 is only a 2x2 USB interface, you can record a mix output but it is typically far from being able to record individual inputs that people would normally want to do with a DAW, even for recording a podcast. And if you are trying to mix in Windows audio like of a Skype call then I would expect you want that on separate audio inputs not a final mix out the FX12.

This is where my inexperience comes in. I needed something that could run 5 mics a few years ago and buying a multi-channel mixer was not budgetarily viable. so I got this mixer. I have been thinking about alternative ways to record and your suggestions are a good start.

Here is my setup

Mics:
Cm414 Advanced Audio Condensor
Sennheiser Shotgun mics x 2
SM57 x 2 (rarely use)

All external audio is run to Tape in (i get this is not ideal)

Mackie ProFX12 is my interface connected with USB 3.0

Protools 11 is my DAW
and I use ASIO4ALL

Sound card (I'll have to get back to you on that when I get home. Likely just the stock windows card)

I also do record Audio for Youtube Videos, VO auditions, and stream games.


Thanks for the help,