hardware choices

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http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member Since: Nov 27, 2007

Ok, i need some info on a new interface, desk, or whatever you think some of the best products are out there atm to get a more better quality sound.

Im just not overly happy with my Tascam US1641. There's nothing wrong with it, im just outgrowing it is all.
Im using a good pre, running it thru the tascam and i think thats where it gets butchered somewhat.

I dunno whether to go with a digital desk or what?
I want a much more polished product than what im getting now.
Its kinda sounding a little bit lo-fi and luck lustre.

some product suggestions would be great.
It doesnt have to be one product does all either so a good desk might be in order, i just dunno what or why.

i wanna keep using my outboard pre and run it thru something that wont degrade that signal.

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The Czar of BS
Member
Since: Dec 31, 2007


Dec 21, 2010 11:09 pm

Wanna buy a PM5D? Come on! Sure you do! Who wouldn't want a $65k USD board?

I got one for sale.....

I could ship it out tomorrow........

It has a road case.....

You could be the envy of your neighbors...... Just saying........

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Dec 22, 2010 01:11 am

check's in the mail man,
I would apprecitae it if you would send it before the check arrives though.

Typo Szar
Member
Since: Jul 04, 2002


Dec 22, 2010 04:33 am

do u use more inputs than ur pre supplies? if u dont, y not just get a dedicated A/D converter, then the sound will be purely ur pre and ull have gear that just makes sure the pre gets into the digital realm unharmed

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Dec 22, 2010 07:03 am

actually cruxy i dont use anymore in's than the pre can give at this point man. I never thought of it that way to be honest and that's quite a good way of looking at it.

ya see this is why i like to run things by people here.

So answer me this if you can mate,

if im going thru the interface via my pre, digitaly,
would that signal be still running thru the tascams A/D converters after the pre?

Coz i know the pre has decent A/D's as well. If that was the case then the signal would going thru pre's A/D's, then get trampled and butchered to **** by the Tascams??? therefore killing the nice pre tone somehwat?


Typo Szar
Member
Since: Jul 04, 2002


Dec 23, 2010 02:22 am

i wouldnt know the specifics, but im guessing if ur hooking up ur pre DIGITALLY to ur tascam DIGITALLY it wont convert something that is already converted. Ofcourse there r probably reasons not to put even more in the path if its not needed. Now if u were running an analog out from ur pre into the tascam then yes, it would be converted to digital by the Tascam and hten the converted signals quality would depend on teh tascam not the pre.

but if ur pre has a digital out, and there is a better way to get that out into ur computer, id suggest doing that

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Dec 23, 2010 03:24 am

yeah man, i think this really needs to be looked into before i go any further here.

I really like the idea though of the really good A/D converter. i think that'll make a big difference here.

Then i could go analog from the pre to the a/d then into the comp.
You know when you just feel like something is wrong with yer setup, you cant figure it out, but you still fell there is something not right somewhere?

Tis what i feel.

Im sus on the Tascam is all i can say.
I will see what info i can find mate.

Typo Szar
Member
Since: Jul 04, 2002


Dec 23, 2010 04:34 am

All i know really is that im not a fan of Tascam, especially their onboard pres and im quite suspect of their A/D, even though i cant really hear it yet, their overall build quality in other areas just dont bode well for me.

I think however, when u get into dedicated A/D converters ur lookin at much more pricy gear, but ofcourse it really opens up the world of quality and also pres, since u can dip into the more vintage or strictly analog high end. Personally, i wouldnt go that route unless i had a buttload of cash, but thats because i never have enough inputs. If ur strictly a 1 or 2 input at any one time kinda guy, y not that those inputs count as much as they can?

http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007


Dec 23, 2010 01:43 pm

Looking forward to seeing what you settle on. I got all my upgrade gear this week. Still waiting on my Pelican case+5u rack and when that's in I'm going to post some pics. Stoopid holiday season is keeping me from giving everything a proper testing this weekend.

I got a rackmount case with wheels because I can pickup my whole studio, move into a nice acoustic space (possibly rented for a half day), track drums, then go home and take care of all my overdubbing needs. You may only use a couple pre's at one time now, but if you're mobile you could get a drummer in a nice sounding drum studio to track for you, if that's interesting at all to you.

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Dec 24, 2010 04:21 am

i had a look at the apogee rosetta 200, but im still gonna have to go thru the Tascam at the end though right? to get it to the computer?

I have sent Tascam a message asking what the go is with running thru the digital input, whether it bypasses the pre's and if it will interfere in anyway with the signal coming thru it.

If it doesnt then i cant see there being a problem, but if they cant give me a straight answer then i dunno.

this sounds like a good product though, have squiz tell me what you all think.

there was also an API AD2 that looked good, comes with 2 awesome pre's as well as the kick *** A/D converters.


http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Dec 24, 2010 05:05 am

I just realised though,
I'd be doing the same thing as im doing now,
Running a pre with A/D's thru the Tascam again.

Or do these A/D units hook straight up the compy with no need for the interface? I dont think thats the case.

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Dec 26, 2010 08:06 am

..............bummmpppp......

edit0r
Member
Since: Aug 17, 2004


Dec 27, 2010 07:22 am

Have a look here www.apogeedigital.com/products/x-cards.php

Lets you connect the interfaces straight to compy.

Going to buy it? Keen to know what you think about the change from Tascam to Apogee.

http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007


Dec 27, 2010 01:32 pm

Why are you worried about the SPDIF going to your Tascam before going to your PC? Once the A's been D'd, the D will be the same no matter where you send it, right? I know crux mentioned that but went on to say you might try to get the SPDIF connected to your PC directly. Personally, I don't see why that's necessary. I can't imagine why an interface would convert a digital signal to analog, only to convert it back to digital. Seems like that would make irrelevant the whole reason to have SPDIF connects.

If you're really worried about that aspect of it Tascam could answer that better than we can.

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Dec 28, 2010 06:23 am

yeah look i just dunno Quince how the Tascam is wired to be honest.
I dont know enough about it to call anything.
I sent Tascam a message about a week ago should be hearing back soon. the 28th to be exact.

@colonel,
Yeah mate no worries will keep you posted.

Thanks everyone for the interest. Will keep this thread alive and post my findings/choices etc.

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Dec 28, 2010 07:23 pm

ok, yep as ya metioned Quince, the digital in is bypassing everything. Pres and anything else.

Cant work out why its sounding a little boring to my ears though.
Im gonna do some more messing with things and see..

Anyone got any ideas why things are sounding flat? Even if you think its my bad mixing.
Maybe my lovely pre isnt so lovely after all?

Maybe i have setting in Cubase on or off?




http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007


Dec 28, 2010 07:40 pm

Shoot man do you want to email me a song you're worried about sounding flat and tell me exactly what sounds flat about it to you? Everything I've heard from you sounds pretty thick to me, but I'm rarely at home listening on monitors when I do listen. I'll be sure to listen on my monitors if you email me for a reminder. Maybe your listening environment is the bottleneck?

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Dec 28, 2010 08:36 pm

Yeah you might be right man, im just wanting a touch more Oomfh and colour, I have a few ideas on why things are sound scratchy which is high time i took a look at and its to do with my pre amp settings going in.

Basicly im always having to scoop the living crap outa the mid range after recording and its still sounding very lofi because i cant seems to scoop enough out,
i have yet to mess with the pre amp settings much eq wise because when i do all the gain seems to go out of the guitars in this case.

this is something i need to fix and give another go and see what happens.

I also think my gain staging needs a good look at too.
This pre amp is a good one, so deducting all the bits and pieces from the equation now im gonna have to look deeper into my end here first.

Thanks for the interest dudes.


http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007


Dec 28, 2010 09:43 pm

Curious: what commercial release do you listen to and think to yourself, "these guitars sound more hifi than my guitars."?

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Dec 28, 2010 10:24 pm

To be honest i havent been listening to bugger all of late, ive just been mucking around with some eqing just now and have found some freq's in there that were adding to the problem.
around between 500 and 1k its pretty disgusting in there, scooped some of that out and the guitars are alot more transparent which was another thing annoying me. They were fatiguing and stood out too much.

I guss im not trying to compare to professional recordings Quincy, i have nowhere near the gear and not enough knowledge to get it there. There's that and i keep forgeting im using ampsimed guitars, they have a tendancy to sound this way.

Having said that though, amp sims are a great way to learn about settings before you go in.

Typo Szar
Member
Since: Jul 04, 2002


Dec 29, 2010 02:50 am

wat mic r u using? amp? guitar?

sweet pres dont make up for everything before them, and its not just about having the best gear, its about having the gear that makes the sounds u want and capturing them in the way they need to be captured.

if u have ugly frequencies in there, its most likely a mic issue than anything.

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Dec 29, 2010 07:42 am

My mics are all fine, sm57, sm7b for guitars and vocals, but have been using an aPod Farm Platinum for guitars thus far.

The main issue is i need to do some slight scooping before i come out of the pre i think. Plus as i mentioned take a look at my gain staging "alot"more this time. I think its gonna make some big differences.

That, and im gonnna use my rig this time instead of POd.
i got me 2 amps actually an 80watt transtube combo and a 6505 100 watter, both Peavey. Using a digital pedal in front of the 80 watt, and a Maxon 808 in front of the 100 watter.

edit0r
Member
Since: Aug 17, 2004


Dec 31, 2010 08:30 am

Maybe demo some impulse response cabs and amps? Supposed to sound pretty mean.

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Jan 03, 2011 10:34 pm

Ok digging deeper, i have found out a few things about the latencey **** that was going on, and as a result i have managed to get my latency down to 128 on the Mac which about 2.9ms input.

The previous latency of 4ms was enough for me to hear in the phones when recording guitars especially.

This was causing me to play quicker, which was resulting in the guitars being slightly ahead of time, which in turn was making songs sound edgey, scratchy, uncomfortable, and unpleasing sonically to my ears at least.
there's that, and it was forcing me to over eq, the drums especaily, coz the guitars sitting too much in front were killing them.

over anaylizing? possibly, but the result regardless has,

1. stopped an from an impulse buy.
2. wasting money.
and
3rd. and most importantly,
fixed my problem resulting in quite nice sounding music, even if you dont like metal.

For those interested in getting more outta what their recordin then this bit of info may help.

http://www.unitedmusicians.info
Contributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007


Jan 04, 2011 09:07 pm

When are you going to sell a CD? Your attention to detail is awesome, I like your songwriting and I want to keep your music in my car.

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Jan 04, 2011 09:46 pm

hahahaha really? awgh shucks dude.
well no need to buy my friend, i will send you one or you can download when i finish it.

should be soon,
just going over the guitars now, at lightning speed too, though im being held up here by unrellenting wheather (HOT HUMDID).

cant get to do the vox when its like this, just too hot with no aircon.

its raining right now after 3 to 4 days of 40deg C and 25deg C at night, so you can imagine how crazy humid it is.

Anyway,
Will keep you posted man. Cheers for the interest.


Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Jan 05, 2011 02:38 pm

Ill take that tascam off your hands ;) Would be nice to use with the laptop as a mobile setup.

http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007


Jan 06, 2011 01:19 am

gonna have to hold on to ol Tassie for a bit longer for now i think, but after that Cap, tis yers.

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