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[spellchecker]

i'm looking to get rid of the wee desk and buy a dedicated pre amp unit instead. its use is targeted primarily towards my condenser microphone, but i like the idea of having ts/trs connectors for putting other instruments too.

i've been looking with admiration at focusrite's trakmaster pro, and also other models on ebay like the voicemaster and the older penta 2u unit. they have built in compression/eq too, which appeals greatly.

at the moment i use my desk as a phantom power source really and try to leave the eq to software - but i'm not really happy with the pre-amp sound and think i can do a lot better, which is my wish for upgrading.

i read that the trakmaster pro and other focusrite introductory channel strips / preamps have SPDIF out. i have a m-audio delta 66 with 2 spdif connectors - does that mean that i could save a trs connector on my breakout box and use SPDIF instead? i've never used SPDIF before.

and what's the whole thing with wordclock and syncing...? i've never used that either, but i notice my line6 pod pro has wordclock syncing as well.

any other suggestions for preamp choice? top end of my budget is currently about 250 quid.

[Flash@TMB]

How many channels do you need?

You might get a semi decent 2 channel preamp for £250, but for an 8 channel you'd be looking at a grand.

I have a nice 2 channel valve preamp for sale. It has gain, pad, colouring, phantom power and nice old fashioned meters. It's less than a year old and has only been used 35x. Condition is as new and it's rack mountable.

[Keilan 303]

If you could rustle up the cash you could pick up the presonus firepod. I think they're under 500...but they have 8 Class A mic pre's with high headroom/low noise...it uses neutrik dual XLR/TRS connectors, and the first 2 inputs also have hiZ inputs for guitars/bass direct. You can find a new one on ebay...theres nothing in the way of dynamics processing or EQ, just gain adjustment (and a headphone level that goes up to 11!!) I think you can also daisy chain two of these devices together for 16 IO, 24bit, 96khz! Its a firewire device so obv only useful for computer recording (not sure if its any use for your schminux though )
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PreSonus-FIREP...QQcmdZViewItem

As for world clock...I think its basically a method for ensuring all digital devices are operating at the same clock rates and the latency is the same for them all, maybe compensates the latency on all devices so they all talk to the PC at the same rate. For example, say you had two different AD converters you were recoridng with at once, if the latency on one device was out by a few ms it would cause all sorts of problems...so the world clock keeps all the devices in sync with each other and with the use of a clock generator (such as apogee big ben http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/bigben.php see what you can take out of that), takes the job away from that device and the computer, possibly resulting in better latency times as its one less job they're doing?? Thats just a made up theory and may be totally well out!

[spellchecker]

Originally Posted by Flash@TMB

How many channels do you need?

You might get a semi decent 2 channel preamp for £250, but for an 8 channel you'd be looking at a grand.

I have a nice 2 channel valve preamp for sale. It has gain, pad, colouring, phantom power and nice old fashioned meters. It's less than a year old and has only been used 35x. Condition is as new and it's rack mountable.

what make / model is it?

i don't need 8 channels, but two would definitely be nice.

[spellchecker]

Originally Posted by Keilan 303

If you could rustle up the cash you could pick up the presonus firepod. I think they're under 500...but they have 8 Class A mic pre's with high headroom/low noise...it uses neutrik dual XLR/TRS connectors, and the first 2 inputs also have hiZ inputs for guitars/bass direct. You can find a new one on ebay...theres nothing in the way of dynamics processing or EQ, just gain adjustment (and a headphone level that goes up to 11!!) I think you can also daisy chain two of these devices together for 16 IO, 24bit, 96khz! Its a firewire device so obv only useful for computer recording (not sure if its any use for your schminux though )
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PreSonus-FIREP...QQcmdZViewItem

As for world clock...I think its basically a method for ensuring all digital devices are operating at the same clock rates and the latency is the same for them all, maybe compensates the latency on all devices so they all talk to the PC at the same rate. For example, say you had two different AD converters you were recoridng with at once, if the latency on one device was out by a few ms it would cause all sorts of problems...so the world clock keeps all the devices in sync with each other and with the use of a clock generator (such as apogee big ben http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/bigben.php see what you can take out of that), takes the job away from that device and the computer, possibly resulting in better latency times as its one less job they're doing?? Thats just a made up theory and may be totally well out!

nice hypothesis, makes sense especially wrt latency and stuff, i can imagine that being an issue. ta!

and yeah, the firewire stuff probably wouldn't work. firewire support on linux is actually pretty good, it's just firewire soundcard support isn't so good!

i'm probably going to upgrade to the m-audio 1010 with the 1U breakout unit, the delta cards work incredibly well under linux and the zero latency monitoring is good. i notice also that the focusrite trakmaster pro has monitor in and out so that you can make your own headphone mic using the unit, which would be dead handy.

[Keilan 303]

Originally Posted by spellchecker

nice hypothesis, makes sense especially wrt latency and stuff, i can imagine that being an issue. ta!

.

I think it's born out of the MIDI world, different devices could have different ideas as to what 120bpm is (just like 2 watches may lose a second or two between each other, maybe over the course of a year or two!! ) so using a single clock keeps them all at the same time.

The Maudio 1010 looks cool....means you can use Pro Tools (M powered) hehe
Perhaps some of the Joe Meek little boxes, or something like the Focusrite TT Pro is what you're after?

[spellchecker]

Originally Posted by Keilan 303

The Maudio 1010 looks cool....means you can use Pro Tools (M powered) hehe
Perhaps some of the Joe Meek little boxes, or something like the Focusrite TT Pro is what you're after?

haha, you'll never stop trying and i'll never give in! it's linux for good!!!

i had looked at the twintrak and the voicemaster as well. on looking at the specs further, they do look a hell of a lot better for not too much more. the trakmaster pro doesn't have the class a preamps, at least. the twintrak also has compression for each channel, which is nice. hmmm....

[Flash@TMB]

Originally Posted by spellchecker

what make / model is it?

i don't need 8 channels, but two would definitely be nice.

ART TPS II (tube preamp system 2)

http://www.boomerangsounds.co.uk/pro...od=92&xSec=140

£202 in the shops including VAT. You can have mine for £150, and it's good to go now!

[spellchecker]

Originally Posted by Flash@TMB

ART TPS II (tube preamp system 2)

http://www.boomerangsounds.co.uk/pro...od=92&xSec=140

£202 in the shops including VAT. You can have mine for £150, and it's good to go now!

hmm, not too bad a price for the gear. why are you selling it again?

found a review here, it does not bad:

http://www.musictechmag.co.uk/mtm/reviews/tps-ii

it doesn't have eq, compression or any filters / passes on it. they may not be for everyone on a channel strip, but i think i'd like to have them at the stage i'm at.

[Flash@TMB]

Originally Posted by spellchecker

hmm, not too bad a price for the gear. why are you selling it again?

found a review here, it does not bad:

http://www.musictechmag.co.uk/mtm/reviews/tps-ii

it doesn't have eq, compression or any filters / passes on it. they may not be for everyone on a channel strip, but i think i'd like to have them at the stage i'm at.

We're selling it because we bought an 8 channel Audient job, which is even nicer. and these days we a further require 6 channels in addition to the 16 preamps we already have on the desk.

EQ, compression, and filters are usually not a good idea in a cheaper product because they compromise the sound. Especially in an analogue product. If you want something that does every thing under the sun and are willing to sacrifice sound quality then get a Behringer LMAO!

We originally purchased this valve preamp because it produces a nice warm natural sound. Being a decent sounding valve preamp is it's strong point. You'll get a tranny preamp much cheaper.

Also if you're using it for recording then your software should handle all the EQ, compression and filering at the digital level.