High Quality Mic Pre w/ ADAT:suggestion?

[NIGHT'SCHILD]

I need some suggestions on a higher end unit. I haven't heard much about quality pre's with ADAT.

M-Audio is now making the Octane an 8 channel unit with ADAT. Presonus has released the DIGIMAX LT which has some great features. Are these any good?

[cfuehrer]

There's a new Mackie coming out, the Onyx 800R. The list of features sounds promising with 192kHz converters, M-S decoding and variable impedence on 2 channels. I mainly want to hear what others think of the new Mackie pres before I look into it though.

[Brandino221]

I have the Digimax 96. It's cool but I would not say has "color" to it I would also say it depends what you are going to track as well.
I DON'T like the Digi96 for tracking vocals or useing the DI for bass. The di is not all that. But if you are going to track drums for a demo I guess it's ok for the money. How much can you spend?
Don't rush into buying anything. Take your time and read on things before you check them out so you know what your are looking at. Hope that helped. Peace.

Brandon

[NIGHT'SCHILD]

I am looking to spend $1000-1500. Mostly I will be using the unit for drums but I want my drums to sound excellent. The Mackie sounds like a decent option I will have to look into it once it is available.
Are there any units utilizing tube technology w/ ADAT?

[hookiefree]

I'm looking for the same thing. 8 top notch pres with ADAT. Price is no object.

[Vilddyr]

If money is not considered (but still, it always is), i think the ISA 428 with digital expansion is very nice buy! So 2 of them, and you're flying!

[cdog]

High end for 8 channels of mic pres and A/D would start at about $5000 USD....

I would wait for the Mackie with your budget, its got some cool features and 192khz converters...

[NIGHT'SCHILD]

QUOTE: If money is not considered (but still, it always is), i think the ISA 428 with digital expansion is very nice buy! So 2 of them, and you're flying!

I have the Digi002, is it possible to have two of those units hooked up at the same time?

[Brandino221]

Just a thought. Save your money and buy good analouge pre amps. Pres with A/D the converters are not all that (most of the time). + they will get out dated. A few years from now you may not be able to use those features anymore. I feel that mic pres with A/D tends to sacrifice the sound on one of the sides (pre or converters) (most of the time).
I want my studio to have good analouge pre amps and cables that way all I got to do is up date the converters (HD 192) and my CPU (G5 Dual 2.0) and a good clock (Big Ben) as the years go on and I can use the analouge pres for a lifetime and keep adding more analouge pres.
Good analouge pres will last a very long time and 5 years from know won't be laughed at. Now I am sure there are a few low end pres that are cool and you might want to keep however, buy smart and think for the years to come.
Now that would be the way to go-- IF-- you want to keep things rolling and open a studio + make some cash. If thats the case then the Good pres will pay for themselves. If not then yeah don't spen big money on gear. But you just might change your mind once you get going.
I know I have made mistakes in the past so thats why I am giving you my 2 cents. I hope this helps you. Everyone has ideas. However, take everything in and see what works for you. Peace.

[kudzu]

Has to b ƒƒISA 428s. Had them for over a year...sound v.clean...variable impedance v.handy...work well on every thing...conversion suprisingly good...clock'm to a big ben now..got better

[olli]

has anyone used audient asp008 yet? i wonder if it has enough clean gain to use with ribbon mics?

[Nevelicious]

If you can find one, look for the Ramsa WZ96M. The converters are WAY underrated. If you do a search on them people rave about them. I have a pair and a Rosetta 800 and the converters are very, VERY similar. Incredible midrange. They came out with a model with mic preamps and another without. Check it out. My other choice is the ISA 428.

[maskedman72]

Originally posted by NIGHT'SCHILD
QUOTE: If money is not considered (but still, it always is), i think the ISA 428 with digital expansion is very nice buy! So 2 of them, and you're flying!

I have the Digi002, is it possible to have two of those units hooked up at the same time?

can anyone verify if this is possable?

[Gerax]

I belive it is possible, in fact the 428 was designed to be a 4 channel pre with an 8 ch A/D; in the manual and in the FAQs on ff web site they state that you simply hook the two pres to a single 8ch converter installed in one of the two and you're done (or use any other kind of 4 ch preamp for that matter).
Lightpipe out of it and go wherever you like, although I belive with a digi 002 you can only go 24/48, as higher sample rates aren't supported with ADAT protocol on it, it doesn't implement S/MUX (too bad).
With other hardware supporting S/MUX you can use the 2 ADAT ports on the ISA428 and feed 8ch@88.2/96KHz.

Hope this helps.

L.G.

[hookiefree]

Cool. Thanks. I've been reading up on the ff Liquid Channel and noticed the company has been getting slammed on this board a lot so if the 428 gets so many reccomendations it really must sound good.

[duaneadam]

I don't know how high end you want to go but the Weiss AD has a very good mic pre as well as an excellent digital compressor, a limiter plus world class 24/192 conversion. In can also be used as a make up gain amp for passive mixers. It's expensive but a bargain IMHO considering how much it does and how well it performs.

duaneadam

[Snatchman]

Originally posted by olli
has anyone used audient asp008 yet? i wonder if it has enough clean gain to use with ribbon mics?

Olli, I contacted a rep (can't remember exactly where) and he said his store did a "shootout" with the Milliennia ,Grace , API and the Audient. The Audient sounds closer to the Milliennnia,not as fast as the API. I'm actually considering the Audient also, I'll "look" at it a little closer though! Hopes this helps.

[olli]

I´ve been testing asp008 with adat card for two days now. i´ve compared it with my dacs clarity micamp (which i admit is unfair, since dacs costs 5 times as much per channel) and mackie 1202vlz. i´ve only tried asp008 with its own adat AD.
First, its gain pot goes from 0 to 60db. +30 position is at two o´clock, +60 at five. Since I´m recording mostly acoustic instruments, useful gain range is +30 - +60. It´s a pain to adjust stereo pairs with so little useful pot rotation. That said, recording loud sources like drums, this would be a good thing (theres more than 180 degrees for 0 - +30db).
With aea r84, it does not have enough gain. Its +60db (full gain) is somehow something like 12db less than +56db with dacs (Dacs goes to rme adi8, set to +4. And yes, dacs trim knob is at 0). Even with condesers as room mics i had to turn the gain southeast.
Trying different impedance settings was interesting. There is a z switch for 200 O, 1,2kO and 5kO. As you might guess, with r84 there is a dramatic change between 200 and 1200. But since there is not enough gain in the first place, 200 setting makes no sense. It´s just more quiet. With condensers there is a difference between 200 and 1200 as well. That would take some more exploring, every mic seems to behave its own way.
With condensers asp008 sounds clean and open compared to mackie vlz. 25-250 Hz hipass filter is a nice feature.
Its self noise is -89dbfs peak, -98db rms, measured with rme digicheck. I think that is ad noise? Adat ad is 44,1 or 48kHz only. Optional aes/spdif is 44,1, 48, 88,2, 96. aes card might have better overall performance too.
Its balanced analog outs are d25. With this unit I would not choose ad option (unless aes/spdif is way better), but go to external ad instead. Unfortunately i did not have a d25 wire to test its analog outs.
I did not try DIs.
If you need 8 moderately priced channels for drums, this could be it?

I´m taking this unit back and getting less channels for the price instead. I think i must have a pre with rotary gain switches, not pots. After i got the dacs micamp there seems to be no way back. now i´m thinking about investing in millennia, or try bg1s. Has anyone heard about Daking IV? Also, Dacs will start manufacturing clearblue 8ch around christmas, and it will cost £1150 ex vat or less. Or..

with kindest regards,
olli