On 3/22/2021 12:15 PM, Barry B wrote:
What I want -
More channels of high quality mic preamps, above all.
The ability to get all of those channels simultaneously through high quality conversion by an interface.
What I want to spend -
As little as possible to get quality gear. Hoping to stay under $2K.
One thing you haven't said anything about is how you're mixing. Is that
"in the box" with Samplitude? I ask, because you do have a Mackie mixer
in your collection.
You have some pretty good gear right now. If there's a weak link, it's
probably the M-Audio Delta 1010. It's going on 20 years old and they're
making much better converters today, at practically giveaway prices.
The Mackie VLZ preamps are actually pretty good - Not a Great River, and
a notch down from a Scarlett or Clarett (there's really very little
difference between those two) but certainly still usable. I'm not trying
to talk you out of buying a box of 8 preamps with or without an A/D
converter, just telling you that what you have now isn't so bad.
Focusrite Clarett 8Pre USB - would cover all the bases, very cost effectively, but unsure about ACTUAL quality of pres and stability of drivers, based upon reviews.
I'm not sure of any issues with the Clarett series, but I've heard from
a very reliable source that more than a smattering of people have been
having trouble with Scarletts, but he didn't tell me the nature of the
problems. Focusrite had a reputation for solid drivers in the past but
maybe they've become sloppy because of price point and the fact that
there are more inexperienced users buying into the gear than 15-20 years
ago. I reviewed a Saffire and was quite pleased with it. A friend bought
a recent Scarlett and we puzzled for an hour or so over the built-in
monitor mixer because there was little text and mostly graphics on
screen and we couldn't figure out what was what. But it did pass audio
nicely.
In the Mackie VLZ to Great River huge spectrum of pre quality, where do the Clarett pres lay? Are the driver
instability issues related more to user error/ignorance (typical) or are they a real issue?
As far as preamps go, it would be a matter of preference. Do you have
the Great River NV series or the earlier generation? The NV is designed
to have Neve-like coloration while the Clarett is designed more for
purity. I have an early Great River MP-2H that I got while I was working
with Mackie in the VLZ days. One evening after work we did a shootout
between the Great River and a 1402VLZ with mixed results. Neither was
better, just different.
Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 - Same questions/issues as above, only cheaper and of lesser quality, but readily available now.
Are the Claretts hard to get? They've been out for two years now. Maybe
it's a China manufacturing thing (though that's only an assumption of
both). I think that maybe, just maybe, the reason they're short on
Claretts is because they're pushing the Scarletts hard and not saying
that the Clarett is really substantially better, at least for the
general user. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't both use the same
converter chips and that the difference may be in the power supply,
analog output circuitry, and maybe just a little difference in the preamps.
Catch is it would rely on the A/D conversion of the Scarlett. I couldn't find any information or comparison between Scarlett and Clarett converters. Anyone have any experience with both? Feed the Scarlett's ADAT In with the OctoPre's ADAT out, Scarlett's USB to my computer, and all sixteen channels available on my DAW?
That's just how they designed it to be used - with the OctoPre as an
expander. In general, Don Pierce is correct - there may be measurable
differences between different units but there are are enough other
things that can get in the way of a pristine recording that you should
consider functionality and cost first (as you're doing) and then think
hard about the small differences.
RME UCX - seems to be highly regarded as much better than the Focusrite stuff above, although much more expensive but still within shouting distance of my budget... but... only two mic pres, and the price would obviate purchasing additional quality mic pres for me right now. I COULD wait... if the RME was truly a HUGE step up from the Focusrite stuff.
I think that they're different in enough ways so that it would be hard
to say which was better for your purposes. Focusrite has always made
good sounding preamps so there's no reason for them to make a
not-so-good one with the Scarlett. RME always gets a nod for good
preamps on their interfaces, but they're most famous for the cleanliness
on the digital side and their well written (and their generally
trouble-free) drivers.
Interface format - Currently have USB 2.0 only. For the stuff I do, any concrete advantage to a new laptop with 3.0 and/or Thunderbolt capability?
Nope. You can run 64 channels at 24-bit 48 kHz over USB 2.0. But one of
these days, sooner than you think, someone is going to start supplying
drivers that depend on some niggle that USB3 offers - it could be
something like you can get enough current to provide a bunch of mics
worth of 48v phantom power from a USB port, but only two mics worth from
USB2, and then they saved money by not supplying an external power
supply and connector as a few manufacturers are doing now. A lot of new
gear is coming with USB-C connectors now, so you might need to stockpile
some adapters or cables soon so you can plug in the gear you buy after
this run - and you WILL buy some more gear.
ADAT optical - never used it. Apogee PSX100 has ADAT I/O, and can use them to spread higher resolution sample frequencies over multiple channels on an external recorder. Any way to put it's ADAT I/O to good use with any of the above products?
Generally, ADAT optical just works, but you need to understand how to
set up a master/slave for clocking, since each one has its own digital
clock. The ADAT sMux convention uses two cables to pass the advertised
number of channels at 2x sample rate, and some offer just one connector
so an 8-channel preamp will get you four channels at 2x sample rate.
There's also a definition for 4x sample rate but hardly anyone uses that.
I've truly enjoyed using the Great River and Apogee, and get really frustrated when I need more than those two channels. Have not yet desired more than ten simultaneous channels, but could see using it if I had the capability. I'm not starving anymore. and want to be less frustrated.
Got enough good mics?
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