8CH mic pre w/ ADAT

[The 3rd Flaw]

Hi, I need an 8ch mic pre with adat out to expand my recording system (FW1814)

Only really looked at the ADA8000 due to price and the ability to give me another 8ch out into my mixer for summing.

What are your experiences with the ADA8000 and what are the other options?

Price is a major point at the moment.

[matthew.sawicki]

I have an ADA8000 and I've gotten decent results for it. In no way would I use it as a main pre, but as a backup set or whatever, I think it's fine.

[Land Fish]

I would say get one, or wait around ebay until you see a used Lucid.

that is the only behringer product that I actually think is good. They just got something right about it. Yeah the cheap electrolytic capacitors are going to get saggy in 8 years, but technology will have improved so much by then that it will be time for something new anyway.

Another option would be the Alesis AI-3. and you may want to check out black lion mods if you are in the converter market/research mood.

if you are stuck in 48k land. you might as well get one. IMHO, you really aren't going to get a noticeable improvement unless you spend over $1000, or can do higher samplerates. The samplerate limitation kind of makes the high end converter debate nil. Increasing the samplerate does way more to help the tone than the price/quality in 48k land.

The converter quality of the behringer is surprisingly good, I'd say on par with a Tascam DA-88 or even better. I'm not sure if it sounds good because it's clock is slaved to my Motu, but I did a session before I got the clock sync cable and had it running free wheel, and there where no clicks or odd noises. The preamps are not the greatest, but clean, everything kind of seems to have a 60hz high-pass quality to it though. I avoid using it for kick and bass tracks. I've had mine for about 5 months with a Motu 896. I have more problems with the 896 itself more than the ada8000. but hey man. price... can't beat it.

[The 3rd Flaw]

What about an 8ch line to ADAT interface? Are there any out there that would be a better choice than the ADA8000

[eh91311]

Originally Posted by The 3rd Flaw

What about an 8ch line to ADAT interface? Are there any out there that would be a better choice than the ADA8000

Alesis AI-3 for 8 ch line ADAT I/O. Not all that much different than the ADA8000. Both have similar parts inside. Buy a used ADA8000 and upgrade later.

[tnjazz]

Originally Posted by The 3rd Flaw

What about an 8ch line to ADAT interface? Are there any out there that would be a better choice than the ADA8000

Pretty much anything is a better choice than the ADA8000.

Unfortunately, the nearest choices are also twice the price. So it will depend on your budget. If you had closer to $450-500, you could check out some of the following (all are only considered "decent" pro-sumer units by most folks here, but certainly better than the Behringer):

Presonus Digimax LT or FS
M Audio Octane
Focusrite Octopre
MOTU 8 Pre

These are all preamp units, but also do line level conversion. For a dedicated line unit, the AI-3 is a nice budget choice.

Still, I do have to agree that Behringer didn't do all that badly in creating an 8 channel lightpipe box at the $250 price point.

[minus-sounds.com]

Originally Posted by The 3rd Flaw

What about an 8ch line to ADAT interface? Are there any out there that would be a better choice than the ADA8000

Look at the RME ADI-8 series, DS (96kHz) and QS (192kHz).
RME: Home

[Sid Viscous]

The ADA8000 is a fine device for the money. Don't listen to these haters. There are two issues with it. The first isn't a huge deal, the second has plagued a bunch of people. Issue one, the the line level inputs go through the mic pres and don't sound all that good for line inputs. Issue two, the power supplies can be wonky. Mine died after 2 years. I gut fairly good drum tracks out of it for that amount of time, though. I replaced it with a Digimax FS, which is much better and has better features.

[drummin4christ]

Go with the Presonus Digimax FS.

I just did some preamp shootouts with the XMAX pre in the Digimax vs API's and you would be very surprised at the outcome. I will post the two clips soon and let people try to choose between the two.