Jump to content

so, what converters are you using?


Recommended Posts

  • Members

i'm sure this thread has been done before, but i thought it would be interesting to see what you guys are using

 

i have a motu 828mk3.. i feel it may be time for an upgrade

 

one option i'm looking at is a firewire mixer such as the allan and heath zed r16

 

or of course i could possibly go doen the the apogee or lynx path

 

so what do you guys use?... and how much of an improvement was it for you over what you were using before?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I'm using M-Audio 1010LT cards. I'm not thrilled with the converter quality

but my choice was based on the cost and number of inputs. The cards are normally $250 new and I got

three of them for $50 each so I saves $600. I had an older Isis card before that which had better quality but

wasnt upgradable to a newer OS like XP and above.

 

Motu is supposed to be very good. If you cant make decent recordings with those units,

then your improvements should be focused elsewhere. Mics Preamps, enviornment, sound source etc.

 

Apogee is supposed to be really good but It means switching to apple. Going to Lynx makes no sence.

Your software and hardware choices would be severely limited and there would be no audio improvements

in the process. Once the converters do their job, you're just dealing with ones and zeros.

 

If you arent running Firewire, You'd probibly want to do that just for the stability alone.

Allen and Heath are supposed to have a good rep but I've never used their gear and havent

read any reviews by users here. I like the idea of a mixer interface but I dont think they've

passed the trial by fire challanges yet so I'd have to really scrutinize them before deciding

on a purchase.

 

In any case when you do decide on something, be sure to

google up all the dirt you can on them first. Read all the reviews, Forums, and Q&A material you can.

Most only read the advertisements and only find out about the limitations and faults after thay own them

and read up on problems they run into. First thing I do is read the manual then visit any forums thay have.

If I see many pages of people having the same problems, it can be a real mind changer. If nothing more serious

than inexperienced users shows up then it may be a deal maker for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Started on an original Mbox. Upgraded to an 002. Had that modded by BLA to their HD mod. Then got a Metric Halo ULN-2. There are definite improvements in my upgrades. However I also improved the room as I upgraded gear so it's hard to say exactly how much between them. So by the time I went from the BLA 002 to ULN-2, it wasn't a startling upgrade, but there was an improvement. I'm to the point my room and monitors probably need to be improved to hear much difference. And even at that I may not hear a whole lot. In fact I think a lot of interfaces these days are to the point of being hard to hear the differences, and I'd have to spend quite a bit to improve my room too much more.

 

I'll also add that my church has an Allen and Heath iLive system that we record our services with. I don't know if the ZED series shares anything with the iLive, but it sounds really really good. So I wouldn't be afraid of it. Also my dad's band has a MixWiz3 that is incredible for the price. So if you like what the Zed has I say go for it.

 

Also as mentioned MOTU makes very good quality stuff. Also check out RME for some very nice stuff also. And if you go Mac I can only highly recommend Metric Halo. The only downside is Mac only, but I am a true fan.

 

And a newcomer that has my attention is the UA Apollo. Has a lot of the same features as MH but has Thunderbolt. Something MH says they're looking into.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Apogee Rosetta 800, which I like. I may consider switching to the UA Apollo at some point should it turn out that their converters are at least as good as the Rosetta 800.

 

 

I must admit, the Apollo looks like a mighty enticing product. I'm not sure if Jon or Craig has dibs on testing one out, but if not, I may just have to see if I can arrange for a review loaner to try it out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

I must admit, the Apollo looks like a mighty enticing product. I'm not sure if Jon or Craig has dibs on testing one out, but if not, I may just have to see if I can arrange for a review loaner to try it out.

 

 

Phil, Craig is doing a Pro Review on the Apollo, and will put it through its paces. Including testing the converters and mic preamps, as well all want to know about those. And yeah, it does look mighty enticing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Craig is doing a Pro Review on the Apollo, and will put it through its paces. Including testing the converters and mic preamps, as well all want to know about those. And yeah, it does look mighty enticing.

 

 

i'll be interested to see his opinion... i hadn't heard of the Apollo until i stumbled across a recent thread on gearslutz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It really seems promising. You can cram it full of those incredible UAD plugins just like their cards, but it has pres and converters as well, and the price is reasonable for everything that you're getting. And those UAD plugins don't become obsolete, from my understanding.

 

Let's put it this way...I have an Apogee Rosetta 800 converter which I'm really happy with, and I am still interested in this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I have sort of a mixed bag of converters. Comes from buying stuff one piece at a time, I suppose. Right now I'm running one Avid Omni, a Lynx Aurora 16, the converter card on my Focusrite ISA-428 and an Apogee Rosetta 200.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

My whole studio is a mixed bag of stuff!!!
:D

 

Ha! Mine too. :) Honestly, if I was doing it all over again, I'd probably either have a rack full of RNPs or a small console with decent preamps in it, a couple of Lynx Auroras, and be done. I like my studio and it's been fun getting lots of different stuff to try out, but still.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...