Art Tubefire 8

[recordinghopkins]

Originally Posted by lukejs

Sounds halfway descent considering the gear... just wondering why you would mix this type of music on that console... Didn't the extra ADDA conversion degrade the sound ?

Degrade the wrong notes? Ha. This was a one take deal, captured during a rehearsal for the composer to have a reference for his publisher. Pristine signal chain was not a concern.
Intuition and theory would suggest that conversion to analog and back would affect the signal integrity, but to be quite honest, I can't hear it happening. All I can hear between ITB and analog mix is the subtle color of the desk. The HD24xr does quite well, and the extra conversion stage wouldn't be the weakest link in the chain by a long shot when we're talking about using the tubefire with groovetubes and shure mics for classical work. My sapphyre is an extremely quiet desk and paired with HD24xr conversion, it has no effect on the dynamic range and nowhere near the coloring effect of the tubefire.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't a critical recording. If it had been, I would have chosen different mics and mic amps, but I probably would still mix through the sapphyre. Classical snobs would probably scoff at that, but to hell with 'em. If it sounds good, I'll try it. I guess I'm a rebel.

[lukejs]

Originally Posted by recordinghopkins

Degrade the wrong notes? Ha. This was a one take deal, captured during a rehearsal for the composer to have a reference for his publisher. Pristine signal chain was not a concern.
Intuition and theory would suggest that conversion to analog and back would affect the signal integrity, but to be quite honest, I can't hear it happening. All I can hear between ITB and analog mix is the subtle color of the desk. The HD24xr does quite well, and the extra conversion stage wouldn't be the weakest link in the chain by a long shot when we're talking about using the tubefire with groovetubes and shure mics for classical work. My sapphyre is an extremely quiet desk and paired with HD24xr conversion, it has no effect on the dynamic range and nowhere near the coloring effect of the tubefire.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't a critical recording. If it had been, I would have chosen different mics and mic amps, but I probably would still mix through the sapphyre. Classical snobs would probably scoff at that, but to hell with 'em. If it sounds good, I'll try it. I guess I'm a rebel.

As someone famous once said...if it sounds good, it is good !! (wasn't that Bruce Swedien ?)

Just curious about something... in the manual of the tubefire, it says that the output knob is the tube stage ( in the diagram) ... but... on another page of the manuel it says that increasing the gain adds more tube warmth..... I think the manual is wrong... you get more tube when you increase the output knob , and lower the gain....right ? For example....lowering the output knob to about 11 oclock and increasing gain should give you a cleaner sound.... that's how I hear it.....

[number3prod]

Love'em. The only issue are the drivers, very sad dev work there.

The pre's sound great. I'm thinking about going straight out of the pres and into a MOTU 24io or Lynx (if I can afford it).

Note: You can only go straight through the TubeFire not the OctoTube. TubeFire has the source buttons that allow you to choose the preamp (or DA converter) as the source for that output channel.

If you can find them, they are WELL worth it.

[TurboJets]

Originally Posted by number3prod

Love'em. The only issue are the drivers, very sad dev work there.

Do you feel that's why they discontinued the original Tubefire? I mean, it's not like they weren't selling like hotcakes.

[joethfc]

Originally Posted by Studiodawg

I was reading on ART's website yesterday that TubeFire 8 is discontinued.

Shame, I wanted to get one in the near future how long would it be until I can't find one anywhere? Will there be many on ebay.

[tekn0]

i am looking into getting one as well.

[dotcomsean]

yeah the drivers were such a hassle in XP (supplied, and updated by ART). i tried all the hotfixes, bought a TI based firewire card, bought another TI based firewire card that was PCI-E...nothing worked.

what worked for me was upgrading to Win7. from what i understand Win7 has a revamped audio stack more like the Mac. i currently have 2 Tubefire8 units, and they work flawlessly in Win7 and Win8 Dev.

i'm bummed they discontinued this unit.

[recordinghopkins]

I may consider selling my two units, PM me if you're interested.

[127Riot]

I think as far as preamps go for computer based recording the ART Tubefire 8 is an amazing awesome preamp. I havent used the converter side of it yet just the preamps through my Apogee AD-16X. if you cant get a good recording with this preamp. the problem is not the preamp. Its you.