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Sanskrit · 8th November 2009

Thought I'd post up some thoughts on the MR816X. I purchased the box about three weeks ago. I've been recording mostly vox and acoustic guitar through it, but I've also used the hiZ input for bass and elec. guitar. My benchmarks are nothin' to write home to momma about, but I imagine they're sorta stock lowender stuff: 1010LT, Soundcraft 200B preamps and a Behringer Vamp thingy -I've been using this as a DI. The MR is, of course, a definite step up. Generally, the sound stage is more open -wider, (um) deeper. I can hear reverb tails and compressor settings much more clearly. I've spent some time AB'ing the pre's against the 200B. The 200's seem to have more bottom -they sound "rounder," maybe "warmer." The MR's have more high end detail, more focus in the mids and more air on top. I recently recorded a full project using just the MR. On similar projects, singer-song writer acoustic stuff, I've found myself reaching for a fair amount of high shelf eq. Not with the MR, just a little bit of high pass roll offs. Not surprisingly, the hiZ input has been a great addition as well- bass and guitar both sound punchier, and more focused. I'm not sure how the unit is calibrated -if they're setting it up with 0 at -18 or -12. So far, I'm feeling like I can track hotter with the MR than I'm used to. With the LT I would really try to stay right around -18dbFS, but with the MR I'm feeling pretty comfortable with what I'm hearing with a target of -12. The unit set up easily. I made sure to get a FW card with a TI chipset. Its the only card on the PCI buss. I'm running XP SP2 in 32 bit "mode." The MR editor software isn't super intuitive, but its not rocket science either. ...GS has been a good place for me to learn about new gear, so I though I'd share.
Cheers.

8th November 2009	#66
Sanskrit Gear interested Joined: Oct 2009 Posts: 11	Thought I'd post up some thoughts on the MR816X. I purchased the box about three weeks ago. I've been recording mostly vox and acoustic guitar through it, but I've also used the hiZ input for bass and elec. guitar. My benchmarks are nothin' to write home to momma about, but I imagine they're sorta stock lowender stuff: 1010LT, Soundcraft 200B preamps and a Behringer Vamp thingy -I've been using this as a DI. The MR is, of course, a definite step up. Generally, the sound stage is more open -wider, (um) deeper. I can hear reverb tails and compressor settings much more clearly. I've spent some time AB'ing the pre's against the 200B. The 200's seem to have more bottom -they sound "rounder," maybe "warmer." The MR's have more high end detail, more focus in the mids and more air on top. I recently recorded a full project using just the MR. On similar projects, singer-song writer acoustic stuff, I've found myself reaching for a fair amount of high shelf eq. Not with the MR, just a little bit of high pass roll offs. Not surprisingly, the hiZ input has been a great addition as well- bass and guitar both sound punchier, and more focused. I'm not sure how the unit is calibrated -if they're setting it up with 0 at -18 or -12. So far, I'm feeling like I can track hotter with the MR than I'm used to. With the LT I would really try to stay right around -18dbFS, but with the MR I'm feeling pretty comfortable with what I'm hearing with a target of -12. The unit set up easily. I made sure to get a FW card with a TI chipset. Its the only card on the PCI buss. I'm running XP SP2 in 32 bit "mode." The MR editor software isn't super intuitive, but its not rocket science either. ...GS has been a good place for me to learn about new gear, so I though I'd share. Cheers.