Mixer or standalone preamp with M-Audio Delta 1010?

Posted on Aug 02, 2007 12:23 am
PTS
Member Since: Aug 02, 2007

I'm kind of a beginner to computer recording, and recently bought a Delta 1010 soundcard with 8-channel breakbox. It doesn't have preamps and the only adjustable part is a button for each channel which switches from -10db to +4db signal levels (which would you generally use for direct guitar or vocal microphone?)

I'd like to hear from other Delta 1010 users (or just people in the know) to fill me in on whether to buy a standalone preamp or mixer? I'd love some suggestions on 8-channel models of either, I'm ideally looking to spend around $300 on one, but will go as high as $600 if it's worth it in the long run. I'm looking to only produce decent sounding demos, not major label album cuts.

At the moment I'm using my old single channel guitar tube preamp with it, for pretty much everything. It seems to generally lack volume though (have to wack EVERYTHING up to 10 to get near the reds) and I'm sure I can do better. The most important think to me is a no nonsense unit with pres that produce a crystal clear signal with minimal hiss and noise. I will eventually be recording a whole band and utilizing all 8 channels.

For my cans I'm using a Behringer headphone amp coming from Delta's main 1/2 outputs, which works and sounds great. I'm not even sure what I'll need when I upgrade and buy a pair of monitors?

I mostly write and record guitar based music and use Adobe Audition and Ableton Live on a 3ghz / 1gig RAM PC with Win XP.

Thanks in advance!

Paul S.

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