PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

hello there people.. i was thinking of getting a s/h luna 2496 box, but i have the scope pro card w/ 'classic' i/o - no zlink, so i guess this means that is not an option? (i read also that it has rca connections which is kinda bad anyway - why would they choose that?). so i can choose from alesis ai3 or behringer ada8000? is there any advantage to either one of these units - i dont have any experience w/ behringer stuff but you always read about the poor quality of their stuff, plus the ada8000 has inputs on the front which i dont like so much - so i guess id be more inclined to get the alesis. i wonder how others are going about using external gear w/ scope and if there are any other options that i am not aware of.
thankls for your time and any help here is much appreciated.

cheers!

A16 is the pro alternative
My both Luna's serve me well, I only regret the input level is low, but it was me who decided to accept that
RCA works well in a home studio with short lines.
keep it simple where complexity isn't needed

yeah, the behringer is the better buy, if you must go with the cheapest thing. the ADA8000s sound pretty good and the mic pres are usable. the A16Ultra is in another league. the A16's inputs are phase coherent, unlike the behringer or alesis(according to bose).

The Luna box only has RCA inputs, so it's kind of pointless for any pro work (almost all studio equipment uses TRS). I have the Alesis AI3 and it has served me well, but it looks like it isn't available anymore. I think the A16 Ultra might be the only thing around at this point. The A16U has ADAT as well as Z-Link, so you can use it with anything.

Shayne

hello there again. thanks for the responses, and sorry to drag this topic up again. but i wonder if anyone can tell me about using another soundcard that has some kind of breakout box w/ analog inputs and adat i/o. i know this wouldnt be any advantage over using something like the ada8000 and whatnot, but it would be preferable to me since i have very limited space and may also be cheaper
i wonder if i could use something like this - http://www.alesis.com/product.php?id=96 - (or something similar) as an alternative, would i simply see the adat inputs in the scope mixer, or would you have to route them into scope via the software included with such a device?
again thanks for your time.

you are insane.

an ada8000 is not any bigger, and at $230 shipped to your door(in the USA), it can't get much cheaper.

I considered this unit | EDIT - referring to the Alesis iO26, of course | once (just the moment it was announced), until I found out that is has adat ins instead of outs (which rendered it useless for me the very moment I realized that).
and since the mic pres (and of course whatever comes in via adat, maybe even an ada8000 ) go into your computer via firewire (real firewire, not z-link) the adat ports won't show up within scope, of course.
this box may be a nice on-the-road gimmick for use with a laptop, nevertheless. but it's definitely not a mic pre to adat converter.

-greetings, markus-

Another vote for the Behringer ADA8000...you could run 2 if you want 16 inputs + 16 outputs also. These use the Alesis ADAT chipset and Alesis AD and DA converters, so is very similar to the AI-3.

good point Husker - as it can be misleading...
the circuit design + the quality of the passive(!) elements + stability of the clock can make a significant difference, even if some core parts are identical.

since I never had (or heard) one, I can't tell if this applies to the ADA 8000 - it's just a general context sidenote

cheers, Tom

The passive components I would guess are very similar quality to the Alesis unit. The clock is provided by Scope through optical, almost directly to the Alesis ADAT chipset. Power supply is similar to Alesis quality... so all up the Behringer is similar to the AE-3.

But I would say the A16Ultra is another class altogther. The Alesis AD and DA chips are not exactly high end (I priced them at $1.30 each a couple of years ago)..

Personal experience with ADA8000 is that it is very transparent (at line level at least) - I can run a complex analog source (Andromeda A6) into the unit, route via scope and back out again and not hear any (obvious) degradation is quality. I have also run a Rode NT-1A into the mic pre's with very nice results (much better than I got with an Alesis 'mini mixer' thing).

I have also tried an old Fostex digital mixer with ADAT, and it was noticeably worse that the Behringer.

So for the money they are a bargain way of extending i/o in Scope land.

(if I remember rightly, both garyb and Scope4Live also have good things to say about them, and nobody would argue with them )

thanks again for the responses people. i just saw that alesis unit and it looked kinda pretty, but i guess its not to be anyway behringer here i come!