Advice re recording with no desk plse

[Malascope]

I'm planning a new recording setup that will enable recording live drums etc. I'm planning on using Scope & I want to arrange the setup with no physical desk.

I need something that contains high quality mic preamps, high quality AD/DA conversion & prov's enough in & out connections to allow flexible routing to monitors, headphone sends, hardware devices etc.

Is the A16 Ultra the answer & is it the only answer?

Any advice appreciated.

[dawman]

Just the best sounding answer in it's price range.

I bought a Behringer thinking that it would be O.K. since it was for live work, and it was a decent sounding mic pre for that.

But then I got an A8 from Creamware and it was noticably better, but lacked the I/O's needed.

Then along came the A16U.

The other 2 are history.

[Malascope]

Thanks for that Jimmy. I can't see in the pictures where the trim pots are. Are they on the front?

Has anyone had experience with Presonous gear? I like the idea of the Digimax D8. It doesn't have the same no of in/outs but it may be a good starting point.

Cheers
Mal

[MikeRaphone]

A16U has no preamps onboard, just 16 AD/DA channels...

Good luck with your setup

[Malascope]

Thanks Mike

[garyb]

the digimax is prosumer quality, which is pretty good, but not great. it's a slight step up from the ADA8000 behringer. the only major disadvatage is that you will still want the DA for multiple outputs. the line inputs would be missing as well. for the dollar the behringer really can't be beaten. it's $230 in the USA including shipping for 8 decent mic pres and line ins AND outs, which can be used full duplex. most Scope cards could use two of those...

what is your buget for mic pres? how good do you want it to sound? i know that you don't want a desk, but an old recording or broacast board would have superior pres and if you weren't going to use it as a traditional desk, you could mount it flat against the wall and just use the channel direct outs into the A16. you could find a board like this for $400 to $800(ramsa WR series, hill, '80s soundcraft, etc). for low budget pres that are truly professional grade electronically this oneis really nice...if you aren't playing around then this oneor this onewould be a good mate with the A16 or better...

[Malascope]

Thanks Gary. Maybe the top end pres are out of my budget & I'd like to avoid the desk if possible as space is an issue.

I'm thinking the ADA8000 might have to be good enough along with one of the RNP8380's.The way I read it that should allow me to record up to 10 tracks at a time via a scope card (8 via ADAT link + 2 via analogue in) with enough outputs for monitors etc.

Thanks for the advice

[garyb]

my pleasure.

yes, it should work just so. that's a good way to go. if you're on a tight budget. you'll still have a quality pair of pres and 16 i/o and 16 mic pres for just a little bit more than just 8 preamps alone. the behringers are a bit thinner than the presonus, but not by much. it won't be the difference between a good and a bad production, for sure! the ADA8000s are way more useful. if you mix on the Scope mixer, you can patch in and out and back into the computer all you want in realtime, so you can integrate any hardware you want into your mix. also, when recording, if you monitor playback and inputs in the Scope mixer, punchins are realtime with no latency and with 18 analog outputs, you can have a control room output, and a headphone output, and anything else you can think of. most of the time, you can just use the RNP(vocals, bas guitar or electric guitar directly, etc.)

you also might want something like this so that you have a volume control for the monitors that you can touch.

[Malascope]

another cool idea Gary

[pollux]

Thanks Gary. Maybe the top end pres are out of my budget & I'd like to avoid the desk if possible as space is an issue.

I'm thinking the ADA8000 might have to be good enough along with one of the RNP8380's.The way I read it that should allow me to record up to 10 tracks at a time via a scope card (8 via ADAT link + 2 via analogue in) with enough outputs for monitors etc.

Thanks for the advice

If you can afford it, the focusrite octopre LE is a very good 8 channel preamp.(around 450 euro)

Otherwise, the SMPro Audio PR8-E works decently in front of an A16 too, and it's not expensive at all (around 150 euro).. I've two of them in my rack and I'm very happy.

Both of them have ADAT out addon boards.

[Malascope]

Thanks pollux. Yes the Focusrite Octopre LE looks like a really nice piece of gear with some excellent reviews.

I

[Jah Servant]

I want 2 focusrite 828's and and A16xlr, that's a great setup to me, but pricey, however in the future it will come, "so let it be written, so let it be done". Check the Mackie 8 channel onyx rackmount, I hear the onyx preamps are very nice. A little more cost than the focusrite optopreLE but much the same as the focusrite optopre.
I'll tell you I have a behringer ddx3216 desk and when I bought a focusrite voicemaster pro I noticed a big difference, so I'm sure the focusrite optopre will work good for you too if you go that way.

[garyb]

the onyx preamps are so much marketing hype. they're not bad by any stretch, however...