Spend My Money!

Posted on

Member Since: Dec 23, 2002

My school finally sorted out my financial aid and sent me my refund check. Instead of using it to buy books or food or something silly like that, I've decided to upgrade the ol' 'recording studio.' I recently got a shiny new Windows PC (to coexist with my aging iMac), so processing power is no longer an issue.

Anyway, the check is for about $550, and I'm willing to spend a bit more if necessary. I'd like to upgrade to being able to record at least eight tracks simultaneously. Since I'm switching OSes and software (I used to use an antiquated version of Pro Tools Free), the software doesn't matter -- I'll be learning something new no matter what. External boxes, PCI cards -- they're all fair game.

What does everyone recommend in this price range? I was looking at the Prosonus Firepod ( service.bfast.com/bfast/c...mp;bfmtype=gear ), but I only picked that because I'm a Mac guy and like FireWire. This is a totally new area for me, so I'm looking to your sage guidance so I don't sink half a grand on a piece o' junk.

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Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Oct 20, 2005 02:30 pm

First, that aid, use it for school...don't be doing stupid things with my tax dollars.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Member
Since: Dec 23, 2002


Oct 20, 2005 02:39 pm

It's an unsubsidized load from my bank. The only person whose money I'm wasting is my future self's.

:-)

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Oct 20, 2005 02:40 pm

Unsubsidized? So full interest and stuff? OK then, carry on.

Prince of Cat Ears
Member
Since: Jun 17, 2004


Oct 20, 2005 03:11 pm

Only thing about the firepod you may want to keep in mind is that (to the best of my knowlege) you really won't have much luck expanding on it if you decide you need more in a year or two.

The Eternal Student
Member
Since: Oct 08, 2005


Oct 20, 2005 03:17 pm

What pissed me off is that when I consolidated both of my subsidized student loans, one a perkins, and one a stafford, the freaking perkins loan went to unsubsidized after being consolidated, so I'm screwed out of $500 of interest while I'm in grad school. I could have just killed those idiots who failed to tell me that would happen.



The Eternal Student
Member
Since: Oct 08, 2005


Oct 21, 2005 11:45 am

You may look into M-audio components since they're both protools (thus mac) compatible as well as PC. I'm still waiting for my M-audio firewire 18/14 to show up. Dumb UPS showed up when I wasn't there, though I can't blame them for not wanting to show up after 7 pm...lol.

Member
Since: Dec 04, 2003


Oct 21, 2005 04:36 pm

In defense of the Firepod (in relation to expanding its capacity) it has two Firewire ports on it for daisy-chaining another Firepod to it (which would give you 16 individual preamps). I haven't actually tried this as I only have the one and I'm not sure if you could hook up another firewire device to the Firepod (seems like a driver issue would come up?) but nonetheless, it is expandable

Prince of Cat Ears
Member
Since: Jun 17, 2004


Oct 21, 2005 04:52 pm

My understanding with trying to daisy chain more firepods is the synch between them. Evidently it isn't equipped to synch more than one of them.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Oct 23, 2005 03:39 pm

Have ya looked and anything from ESI yet?

www.esi-pro.com

Both dB and myself use their stuff, and a few others here as well.

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