Mobile Setup, To apogee or not to apogee?

[Count Dz]

Right now I have:
G4 1 Ghz Pwrbook w/ 756MB ram
002r
Big Ben
1 Neve 1073
2 BAE 1084
1 BAE 1272
1 Lil' Freq
1 UA 2-610
1 Dangerous 2 bus

I am in the process of having a mixroom designed and built. I like to do remote recording so I obviously plan to record on location as I am not probably going to be able to track here, maybe vocals. I want to get some better conversion as I am not really feeling the 002r, I also have a TDM w/ 882 and a Quicksilver Dual 800 that I'm probably gonna trade in.

So let me see if I got this right. You can use a Rosetta 800 as your converter and lightpipe it 48k to your 002 and of course you don't need the apogee firewire card, correct? I ask this because I wanna make an investment in a converter that I'm gonna be able to use when I upgrade to HD this month before their upgrade expires (I gotta that ol' TDM to trade in)...but I gotta wait a few months cause I'm gonna go a lil' more hi end mobile. My list goes as so:

1 Macbook Pro Dual Core 2.0
1 Magma Chassis (this is where my delay is, they gotta redo for the new cardbus)
Protools HD 1 Accel

The question is should I buy a Rosetta 800 and then purchase a AD16 later or should I wait and buy 2 Mytek 8X196's? And I do know that a Big Ben w/ an AD16 is overkill but right now I feel it makes the 002 sound mucho betta .

I will be recording mostly rock and jazz on location and mixing everything from the rock and jazz to producing electronic and hip hop, r&b. I am in the ATL for crying out loud and I gotta pay for the equipment somehow. Right!!

If anyone has any ideas please feel free to make suggestions. This is GS so I shouldn't expect anything less .

I apologize for the long post but I've seen people get beat down around here for not elaborating on setup and what they're gonna be doing with it .

[jslevin]

Okay, here's a few thoughts.

First, I doubt there is any rush to trade in anything, as I've never seen a Digidesign trade-up deal that was better than (step 1) sell your old stuff, (step 2) buy new stuff at cheapest available price, new or lightly used.

Second, nothing could be more redundant than a Big Ben with an AD-16x, as the latter essentially includes a Big Ben master clock. If you need extra word clock outs -- and you probably don't -- you can always get a Lucid CLKx6 for 300 and change.

Third, good luck getting Digidesign support for a MacBook Pro with a Magma chassis anytime this year or possibly ever.

Fourth, there's no such thing as HD 1 Accel.

That should be enough to get you started.

I personally think for what you're doing -- mobile recording -- the Apogee stuff is kind of overkill. Something like an RME Fireface or Metric-Halo 2882 would probably sound great.

JSL

[Count Dz]

Originally Posted by jslevin

Okay, here's a few thoughts.

First, I doubt there is any rush to trade in anything, as I've never seen a Digidesign trade-up deal that was better than (step 1) sell your old stuff, (step 2) buy new stuff at cheapest available price, new or lightly used.

Well I don't know I got a ol' 882 and a d24+farm card that can't be worth more than $2,000 if that. Trade in value for a HD1 Acell costs me $3495. After May 22, $5495 Ouch! I don't think I can milk anyone for the difference

Second, nothing could be more redundant than a Big Ben with an AD-16x, as the latter essentially includes a Big Ben master clock. If you need extra word clock outs -- and you probably don't -- you can always get a Lucid CLKx6 for 300 and change.

Third, good luck getting Digidesign support for a MacBook Pro with a Magma chassis anytime this year or possibly ever.

Ya but won't the BB make the Rosetta 800 sound better. I have no experience with any converters or clocks other than Digi and of course my BB.

Hell I haven't used support in so looong I can't remember. I know I'm gonna be treading on some what new ground but at least by then Apple will have worked the bugs outta the Macbooks, hopefully. Then maybe Magma will pick up the slack.

Fourth, there's no such thing as HD 1 Accel.

Ya that's what I thought but this is from Digi's website on upgrades:

'Exchange to Pro Tools|HD 1 for PCI or Pro Tools|HD 1 Accel for PCIe'

[James Lehmann]

Originally Posted by jslevin

I personally think for what you're doing -- mobile recording -- the Apogee stuff is kind of overkill. Something like an RME Fireface or Metric-Halo 2882 would probably sound great.

Right on. Metric Halo 2882 for the 8 I/O or just a ULN-2 for 2 superbly transparent pre-amps. There are folks using these boxes every day very successfully in the recording and broadcast industry and quite a few live sound guys too - the raw A-D and D-A is extremely good. High-End Forum maybe, but Metric Halo is absolutely not a 'compromise' solution'. Best of all - you can then throw your whole studio into a backpack with the Powerbook!

Alos - Metric Halo MacIntel drivers have been shipping and working since Feb.

[T.RayBullard]

If you post this in the remote section youd get more hits.

[Count Dz]

Alright so I'll try it there, thanks. I thought maybe it should go there but then I was thinking the apogee and mytek stuff was high end.

There's such a fine line.....between clever and stupid .

[Count Dz]

Hey T.Ray it seems that no one is interested in the Remote Forum....

[MDM]

To Metric Halo defenitely

Very good sounding converters, very good preamps in the ULN2 and very good service - these guys are so cool really !