Sound Devices USB Pre 2 upgrade

[Baithak]

Hello everyone : i just noticed that Sound Devices has upgraded their USB Pre to USB Pre 2 and made some nice improvements plus added the ability to be used as a monitor controller. The say that the pres on it have the 744T topology so, it should be a good addition to a 744T based kit. Looks like another great addition to the company's already impressive toolkit.

USBPre 2 Microphone Interface for Computer Audio | Sound Devices, LLC

Baithak

[sanjari]

Anyone have any experience with the pre's on the 744T ?

[ghellquist]

Originally Posted by sanjari

Anyone have any experience with the pre's on the 744T ?

I believe the pres to be same on the 702, 722, 722T and 744T. These are low-noise, high gain, clean. Not esoteric, no transformer, not adding any specific sound. Some, like me, like them and use the boxes a lot, other find other recording boxes to be better suited to their taste.

// Gunnar

[Maclogically]

I am really curious about this interface on the D/A end. I really hope it is up there with the best computer interfaces - I have been looking for a compact 2 ch 1 stop shop crucially with limiting in the analog domain for a really long time. It does have the digital i/o though so could use it with my lavry D/A but hope it is up to snuff for travelling at least.

As an aside it is class 1 compliant and can be powered by usb power (i am thinking about those things you get for charging mobiles without power) in standalone mode so in theory could be used with an ipad and the camera connector as a backup backup recorder or again as a very compact hobbyist recorder for travelling if you are already taking the ipad.

Anyhow I am receiving this product very happily - it has a great and unique combination of features and as long as the D/A is comparable at least with something like the rme interfaces then i will be first in line!

[Maclogically]

as to the pre's sound devices make good pre's for location recorders and to my ear they are in the top 3 in this area. how they compare with the current crop of soundcards i dont know - i for one would be interested in a shoot-out

[MichaelPatrick]

Price will apparently be $650...

Sound Devices USBPre2 Audio Interface - Miscellaneous - Trew Audio

The preamps are apparently the same as the 788T. A shootout here of the 788T against a Nagra VI, which is top of the world in location recorder sonics.

Nagra VI / Sound Devices 788T shootout

The 788T not only holds its own, it's right in the fight as some people prefer it to the Nagra. The sound quality is just outstanding. I know because I have one and did the shootout with a friend who owns the Nagra.

[ysmgj]

sweeet!

i've been looking for something like this for ages and all the prosummer stuff just didnt have what i was looking for.

october couldnt come sooner.

[echoromeo]

I'm sure it sounds great, and the build quality is like the other devices - quite sturdy.. but no word clock?

Originally Posted by Baithak

Hello everyone : i just noticed that Sound Devices has upgraded their USB Pre to USB Pre 2 and made some nice improvements plus added the ability to be used as a monitor controller. The say that the pres on it have the 744T topology so, it should be a good addition to a 744T based kit. Looks like another great addition to the company's already impressive toolkit.

USBPre 2 Microphone Interface for Computer Audio | Sound Devices, LLC

Baithak

[MichaelPatrick]

Originally Posted by echoromeo

I'm sure it sounds great, and the build quality is like the other devices - quite sturdy.. but no word clock?

Seems so.

But it's apparently NOT designed for in-studio use where a rack-mounted AD or DA is better. It's an accessory for remote recording and a high quality AD/DA for any computer that needs only two tracks.

Even tho there's no WC it can clock devices connected to the SPDIF or Toslink output.

I think it would be a perfect companion to a Tascam DR-680 because the later has 6 mic/line inputs and two digital input channels. With a USB Pre 2 you could record all 8 channels simultaneously, and two of them would have the same sonic quality as a SoundDevices 788T!

[tuRnitUpsuM]

thumbsup thumbsup thumbsup

liked the first, just might love this one. Linux support included as well...Very nice touch Sound Devices. Was hoping for a revision with a 24-bit output. But the extras are just wonderful.

Laptop and this = a seriously capable mobile rig....Sturdy aluminum,seperately selectable inputs, wide bandwidth, great dynamic range, Bus-powered, standalone mode, multi platform support, great sounding amps, high-output headphone amp, real metering on I and O, hardware control !! (software, we all have enough of that stuff) , hardware loopback , honestly ! whats not to love?

Outstanding job !! ....looking forward to picking one up. (Pricing is right on the money too - pun intended).

[sanjari]

How do these preamps compare to something like a Millenia ? Would the AD/DA be comparable to something like a RME Fireface ?

Steve

[jonesge]

Joe Ramos in support at Sound Devices has confirmed that:

The iPad and the Sound Devices USBPre2 Are Not Compatiable

He said: "The issue is the Operating System of the iPad."

He also confirmed that the USBPre2 would operate as a stand

alone device if powered with 5 volts into the USB jack.

What portable 5 volt source could I purchase that would work with the USBPre2?

[MichaelPatrick]

myGearStore Just Mobile Gum Pro USB MP3 iPod GPS PDA External Battery - 4400mAh - Accessories for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch/nano, Macbook, Blackberry, and more!

This is just one; there are other brands out there.

Originally Posted by jonesge

Joe Ramos in support at Sound Devices has confirmed that:

The iPad and the Sound Devices USBPre2 Are Not Compatiable

He said: "The issue is the Operating System of the iPad."

He also confirmed that the USBPre2 would operate as a stand

alone device if powered with 5 volts into the USB jack.

What portable 5 volt source could I purchase that would work with the USBPre2?

[ysmgj]

this is probably a silly question,...

the headphone monitor mix control,... i understand listening to pc output and listening to direct analog output on their own,... but when would you want to listen to half n' half and why?

[tuRnitUpsuM]

Overdubbing... you'd want to hear the playback and the source at the same time..especially if trying to correct timing errors. Just an example...im sure there are many more.

[ysmgj]

but doesnt standard pc playback during overdubbing include the audio coming from the DAW as well as the audio going into the DAW anyway?

oh, wait i get it, i think,...

without the half n half, you're hearing playback and input from the DAW only and wind up having to deal with latency when overdubbing.

at half n half you hear both so latency isnt an issue?

[tuRnitUpsuM]

yep, you got it..

monitoring from the software incurs more latency than from hardware itself. miliseconds mind you but any added latency adds up to something that just doesnt feel right when you are correcting the timing of pre-recorded tracks with newly recorded (overdubbing).

[Douglas Whates]

How much latency can I expect on playback when using a unit like this. I have no experience of USB interfaces. Can it effectively replace a soundcard? In other words, could I use this soundcard with Samplitude (or similar Cubase/Logic for example) and play back mixes with effects etc. without too much latency/delay?

Douglas.

[ysmgj]

cheers for that turnitupsum.

naturalstudio, yes, from what i understand, if you're overdubbing/multitracking then you'll get 0 latency by having the mix control midway,.... which would mean that you hear the playback from the DAW and you'll hear whatever you're inputting without it going to the DAW and coming back, if you dont enable monitoring of the channel in the DAW.

no idea how it would handle latency of ITB fx though,....

[tuRnitUpsuM]

naturalstudio

depends on alot of things... ive had/used the first USBpre.. which was a USB 1.1 device with 24-bit record/16-bit playback so when i had it i used it to track only, with occasionally listening to finished stuff or commercial Audio. So yes , it will become your soundcard - and one that sounds very good ill add. Latency is better with 2.0 ... the bandwidth allows more stuff to happen. It'll really depend on how much they've changed the units converter and its relationship with the driver in the chipsets. But it should be fairly low to not worry about though. Can't give you a for sure until ive had one in my hands..hope you can understand that. I think they'll be out in October?

ysmgj


very welcome

Nothings ever 0 latency .. they are allowed to call it that because it is less than 1 sec. But even listening to monitors incurrs latency and thats in Real-Time. Spot on with what you wrote though. The efx latency should be taken care of theorhetically by the DAWs ADC. But naturally nothing is ever "all things being equal". So will be effected by which DAW used also. As some still dont have compensation.

cheers

USBpre was really nice, this one's an almost no-brainer pickup if you can work with low channel counts. Swiss army knife for mobile 2 track work etc it has alot going for it...

[ysmgj]

lol less than one is hardly zero, damn advertising people

i emailed SD the other day, and they said the AD is the same as the 7xx series AD. the DA, however, is slightly different but still from Cirrus the makers of the AD.

so it might just sound better than the first version?

so with driverless gear the DAW's ADC handles the latency,.....very cool indeed.

if only SD made it so you could use the mic pre's and the line ins at the same time for 4 channels simultaneously,....that would be just perfect.

[Douglas Whates]

Originally Posted by ysmgj

i emailed SD the other day, and they said the AD is the same as the 7xx series AD.

This is very interesting. So, you could buy one of these and a laptop and have recording quality which, in theory, should be nigh on identical to the Sound Devices 7xx series recorders.

I may consider this route instead of the Nagra LB or Sound Devices 702.

[Douglas Whates]

Originally Posted by tuRnitUpsuM

The efx latency should be taken care of theorhetically by the DAWs ADC. But naturally nothing is ever "all things being equal". So will be effected by which DAW used also. As some still dont have compensation.

Would the delay be small enough for live performance of a VSTi - or is that entirely dependent on the DAW?

Basically, with this USBPre 2 as my main soundcard, I'm trying to work out whether I could:

A. playback and edit fairly dense 12 - 16 track mixes without there being a huge delay every time I hit play.

and

B. play Virtual Instruments (VSTi) live.

Anyone know?

[ysmgj]

if its down to your DAW then it would depend on the specs of your machine, and just how dense your dense is,.... ie is it just 16 tracks of audio or are we talking 16 tracks of audio and fx?

it would be similar with the vsti, it would depend on what you're loading, how complex, and if your machine can handle it.

oh and fyi, on mac there's a program called aggregate device and on pc there's asio4all which can take a bunch of seperate inputs and outputs and combine them all into one big virtual machine.

i guess you could theoretically run as many usbpre's as you had usb ports. no idea if it would all sync up properly though.

[esaias]

hey wow, that's a USB 3 connector right there!

strange that there's no mention about it anywhere

-tomi

[ysmgj]

holy crap so it is,...

i thought it was just a standard B port like on printers.

[Douglas Whates]

Thanks for all the replies. I got some good info direct from Sound Devices too. Sounds like this unit will, essentially, be exactly the same audio quality as the 702 through 744 recorders. Also, seems latency shouldn't really be any more of an issue than with any other USB interface.

So, I guess it comes down to whether a standalone recorder or a laptop plus this USBPre 2 would suit my way of working more.

Thanks again.

Douglas.

[MichaelPatrick]

Originally Posted by naturalstudio

... guess it comes down to whether a standalone recorder or a laptop plus this USBPre 2 would suit my way of working more.

Or both simultaneously!

[Douglas Whates]

Originally Posted by MichaelPatrick

Or both simultaneously!

$$$

[tuRnitUpsuM]

Originally Posted by ysmgj

lol less than one is hardly zero, damn advertising people

i emailed SD the other day, and they said the AD is the same as the 7xx series AD. the DA, however, is slightly different but still from Cirrus the makers of the AD.

so it might just sound better than the first version?

so with driverless gear the DAW's ADC handles the latency,.....very cool indeed.

if only SD made it so you could use the mic pre's and the line ins at the same time for 4 channels simultaneously,....that would be just perfect.

Yep, same AD as 7 series which is really good stuff and the DA is 24-bit which (im sure will sound as good as the AD) is a step up from the 16-bit. So double bonus. Think of all the 2 channel interfaces out there... this thing is what they wish to be (and market as such in the sense of using "pro" just about everywhere they can...SD USBpre2 is a 7 series recorder without the built in recording part- hands that part off to the 'puter).

There are drivers... or the unit wouldnt be able to "talk" to the Software Application. Im sure SD just built off the universal USB driver with alot of tweaks to get it to where they wanted it. Im no "expert" tho... i dont even like "experts" bunch of herd followers. lol.

Effects and such will be compensated by the ADC (thats its sole purpose)... but the I/O will be dependant on how Sound Devices "worked" the USB driver.