Apogee Duet and other preamps

[BConrad]

Hey all,

question to those who own the duet or are at least familiar with it. Is it possible to plug in an external preamp into the duet's unbalanced instrument inputs? I considering buying one this month in t'he quest to set up a little studio. with a set up as so..
Mic-->pre-->instrument input (duet)-->macbook pro. also can you recommend any other interface that competes with the apogee for around $500 or lesss?

thanks,

[vijsolo]

I did not use the Apogee, but acoording to specs it will not work. You will have a line out on the preamp that should be connected to the line input of the instrument and apogee does not have that.

If you need two channels I would recommend looking at

Emu Tracker Pre USB 2.0 Audio Interface

then you will have 300$ extra to buy a better preamp. You can then plug into interface line input (emu has two of those) or use the channel insert.

Cheerz!!

[matt thomas]

you plug it into the mic inputs, and switch them to line inputs in the software

I don't think anything competes with it, assuming you only need two analog i/o and are using a non Pro Tools apple computer

matt

[desotoslo]

Originally Posted by matt thomas

you plug it into the mic inputs, and switch them to line inputs in the software

I don't think anything competes with it, assuming you only need two analog i/o and are using a non Pro Tools apple computer

matt

thumbsup

for that 500 price point, duet is a stunner... conversion is excellent, and the pre-amps are totally usable, even good.

i think anyone would be glad they eeked out the extra 100 or 200 bucks over the competition.

[ohmicide]

you might like the echo audiofire 2 or 4

headphone amp and the pres are not a good as the duet but i hear from a lot of users that have both that it's very close in quality of converters

audiofire 2 doesn't have any preamps and it's very tiny so that might be a winner

[ProducerWanabe]

Hi I am new to this site, and this is on of the best gear site i have seen.
I own a Macbook and just so happen to have Echo's AudioFire4. I was thinking about buying a pre amp (Gold Age Project pre 73), then I heard everybody is talking about Apogee's Duet. Which one is better in sound quality? AudioFire4 + Gold Age Project pre 73? or Apogee's Duet? Thanks.
P.S is it true that Duet can't connect to a external Mic Pre?

[fakiekid]

Originally Posted by matt thomas

you plug it into the mic inputs, and switch them to line inputs in the software

I don't think anything competes with it, assuming you only need two analog i/o and are using a non Pro Tools apple computer

matt

this.

Maestro controls all your I/O etc. From there you can change the XLR's from Mic to Line.

[desotoslo]

Originally Posted by ProducerWanabe

Which one is better in sound quality? AudioFire4 + Gold Age Project pre 73? or Apogee's Duet? Thanks.
P.S is it true that Duet can't connect to a external Mic Pre?

I haven't used the Golden Age, but though the Duet pres are good and usable for lots of stuff, a good external pre will likely trump them. And yea, you just run line in and use whatever pre you want through the duet.

[Danner]

Just to be clear. The Duet can support 2 simultaneous tracks recording at a time. Those two sources can connect to the mic inputs or instrument inputs. I don't think you will find a better preamp than the one in the Duet, unless you spend a pile of cash, so why not just use the Duet's pre's.

I only make this point, because I tought you might be trying to get 3-4 mics recording at one time.

[slymo]

I'm running through a hand made API clone into the duet using the the mic ins and switching the duet pres off in the software like mentioned already. When I need more gain than my external pre will give without a bunch of noise I just use the Duet pres. They are fine pres but my external pre sounds punchier.