Building an Apogee Symphony System

[hunthearin]

I'm currently running Logic Studio Pro on a Mac Pro 2 x 2.66ghz with an RME Fireface 800 as my interface. My sound quality is OKAY but I want to take it to the next level with a dedicated A/D system and outboard pres. I quoted a 16 in 16 out Apogee Symphony system at $8200.00, but why would I want those extra outs when I do everything "in the box" anyway? I'm a bit confused by this matter as I could get all 16 ins and only 2 outs for $5485.00. I'm sold on the Symphony system, so could anyone tell me what the wise thing to do would be as far as configuring a system?

Hunt

[ejsongs]

it really depends on your needs. you will need those extra outputs if you need to have hardware inserts. you would also need them if you want want to use and external summing device.

ej

[tiny333]

why not get a rossetta 800 and a symphony card?

that would be alot cheaper and give you 8 ins and 8 outs?

be under $3000 i think.......

fletcher does a great deal i got mine from him

there is a rossetta 200 if you only need 2 in 2 out....

Mercenary Audio - Digital Audio Converters (RADAR V, Apogee Rosetta 800, Apogee Rosetta 200, Apogee AD-16x, Apogee DA-16x, Apogee Big Ben, Apogee Ensemble, Apogee Symphony, Lynx Aurora, Lynx TWO PCI cards, Lynx One, Lynx AES16, Lynx L22, Weiss Conver

they sound wonderful i love them great for the money

[Max]

If you go the Apogee website, we have listed some sample Symphony configurations and the retail price. One of my favorites is the 16x2 system, featuring an AD-16X with the Mini-DAC. Couple that with 2 Mini-MPs and you have a system with the 16 in, 2 out, 4 great mic pres and monitor control all in a 2U for $7075.00 list.

Apogee Electronics: Products: Symphony, 32-channel PCI Card for the MacIntosh

[Doc Mixwell]

Originally Posted by hunthearin

I'm currently running Logic Studio Pro on a Mac Pro 2 x 2.66ghz with an RME Fireface 800 as my interface. My sound quality is OKAY but I want to take it to the next level with a dedicated A/D system and outboard pres. I quoted a 16 in 16 out Apogee Symphony system at $8200.00, but why would I want those extra outs when I do everything "in the box" anyway? I'm a bit confused by this matter as I could get all 16 ins and only 2 outs for $5485.00. I'm sold on the Symphony system, so could anyone tell me what the wise thing to do would be as far as configuring a system?

Hunt

It will ultimately depend on what your needs and wants are for this setup. Do you use Hardware inserts, do you plan on mixing OTB to analog gear? If you are mixing ITB, you can utilize outboard gear with Hardware inserts, which will be before any automation and physical D/A outputs, in your case, the tracks will feed a stereo mix buss.

Hardware inserts will require; INPUT (AD) and OUTPUT (DA) so you would need both stages to achieve this process. If you only have AD, you won't be able to send multi-channel outputs (DA) to separate analog outboard equipment and then return them to the AD.

If you don't have a need for outboard gear, and you just want to better your recordings, then this will be the way to go. Of course you need some way to monitor the inputs, and there are many ways of achieving this.

If the system you are looking at will be ONE AD16x, as well as possibly a Rosetta 200 for master stereo buss A/D D/A, then I would think you are more interested in upgrading the A/D process for achieving higher quality results in DAW land. It's a good idea, as it's also a good idea to have a dedicated master buss A/D D/A for monitoring and printing mixes back onto a stereo track in DAW land.

You can also run the Apogee AD16x in Advanced Routing, which will give you an additional 16 Digital Outputs FROM Logic. You can then run a stereo pair of digital outputs to a monitor controller with an AES input and monitor the tracks will ease to this devoted Stereo Buss.

Wait, it gets better, For mixing; if you have the Rosetta as another Master Buss A/D D/A, you can send the analog outputs to a stereo compressor or any other analog processor and re-record the stereo mix, back into the AD or Rosetta 200 A/D inputs, all the while monitoring via the Digital outputs of the AD16x to your monitor controller.

[hunthearin]

Originally Posted by tiny333

why not get a rossetta 800 and a symphony card?

that would be alot cheaper and give you 8 ins and 8 outs?

be under $3000 i think.......

fletcher does a great deal i got mine from him

there is a rossetta 200 if you only need 2 in 2 out....

Mercenary Audio - Digital Audio Converters (RADAR V, Apogee Rosetta 800, Apogee Rosetta 200, Apogee AD-16x, Apogee DA-16x, Apogee Big Ben, Apogee Ensemble, Apogee Symphony, Lynx Aurora, Lynx TWO PCI cards, Lynx One, Lynx AES16, Lynx L22, Weiss Conver

they sound wonderful i love them great for the money

I wont go in this direction for two reasons:

a. I feel as though the Rosetta 800 is too similar to the Fireface 800, which is the unit I am upgrading from - The Conversion Quality in the X Series is better (Is it not)

b. I like the expandability of the Symphony X Series and I believe that it is better suited for use with outboard Pres. I hope to use 4 racked SSL pres and 4 API pres with this unit.

[Max]

Originally Posted by hunthearin

I wont go in this direction for two reasons:

a. I feel as though the Rosetta 800 is too similar to the Fireface 800, which is the unit I am upgrading from - The Conversion Quality in the X Series is better (Is it not)

Don't feel, Listen. I think you will find your feelings about the Rosetta are wrong. That being said, the X-Series is the best there is.

b. I like the expandability of the Symphony X Series and I believe that it is better suited for use with outboard Pres. I hope to use 4 racked SSL pres and 4 API pres with this unit.

Either will work fine with outboard pres.

[hunthearin]

Max,

Your reply has answered my question, thanks for your help.

Hunt