I need to buy 16 channels of decent sounding low-priced mic preamps for
live recording into Protools and Tascam DTRS.

I will be probably recording rock/metal types of bands, but have a blues
festival soon that I need to record at, and I could be recording other
genres as well.

I already own two decent 4 channel mic preamps...a Millennia Media Quad
4 channel mic pre and a Focusrite Red 1 4 Channel mic pre.

I need to add 16 channels of mic pre to this existing 8 channels to give
24 channels of mic pres.

The options I am considering for the 16 channels of mic pre I need
are...
FMR Really Nice Preamp
PreSonus M80
Presonus DigiMAX
TL Audio 5001 (not really keen since valves)
Audient ASP008
Focusrite Octopre

Could you comment on any of these mic preamps, and maybe recommend which
would give the best sound quality?

I am not interested in the extra features of these mic pres such as
limiters/compressors, digital outputs, stereo mix bus, etc. I am only
interested in which of these mic pres has the best sound quality in the
mic preamp section.

Are there any other options in this price range that I should be
considering?

Should I buy 8 channels of one type, and 8 channels of another type, for
different sounding mic pres, or should I buy all 16 channels of the same
type?

I am not really keen for a valve preamp, since over a long period of
time I assume that the tubes specs will change and the sound of the
different channels will change in relation to each other. Where a solid
state preamp is more likely to stay sounding the same on all channels.

Thanks,
Simon
Canberra
AUSTRALIA

Should I buy 8 channels of one type, and 8 channels of another type, for
different sounding mic pres, or should I buy all 16 channels of the same
type?

For live recording, especially in a festival-type situation where you don't
always know what's going to happen next, probably having 16 identical channels
is best. And in this price range, in this type of application, you want as
uncolored a preamp as possible, because the colored preamps are colored bad. So
I think a couple of rows of RNPs are probably your only alternative.

Peace,
Paul

You mentioned some good choices and not so good ones in my opinion.

I have used/owned both the Digimax and Octopre and I did some
comparisons. The Octopre was much, much better. I was very
dissapointed with the digimax compared to the Octopre. The octopre was
cleaner, less noisey, more open/transparant sounding; all around a
better sounding unit.

As for your list, The FMR pre's are probably the best sounding on your
list but 8 of them will run you around $4000 USD or so while 2
octopre's will only run you about $2500.00 USD. So, how much do you
want to spend?

I do have 2 other suggestions for you to consider,

Option 1- Buy a Mackie 1604vlzpro, I know they get slammed and I'll
probably get flamed for suggesting it, but seriously for $1000.00 USD
you get 16 mic pres that to me were better than the Digimax although
not as good as the Octopre and you get a whole freaking mixer thrown
in with the deal!

Option 2-
Rent some pre's equal in quality to the ones you currently have
because none of the ones you mentioned are close except the FMR.

For what it's worth, my wallet voted for the Octopre when I was making
this choice for live remote pre's to add to the front end of a Digi
002 for low budget but good quality location work.
Chris
Wavetrap


Simon wrote in message ...
I need to buy 16 channels of decent sounding low-priced mic preamps for
live recording into Protools and Tascam DTRS.

I will be probably recording rock/metal types of bands, but have a blues
festival soon that I need to record at, and I could be recording other
genres as well.

I already own two decent 4 channel mic preamps...a Millennia Media Quad
4 channel mic pre and a Focusrite Red 1 4 Channel mic pre.

I need to add 16 channels of mic pre to this existing 8 channels to give
24 channels of mic pres.

The options I am considering for the 16 channels of mic pre I need
are...
FMR Really Nice Preamp
PreSonus M80
Presonus DigiMAX
TL Audio 5001 (not really keen since valves)
Audient ASP008
Focusrite Octopre

Could you comment on any of these mic preamps, and maybe recommend which
would give the best sound quality?

I am not interested in the extra features of these mic pres such as
limiters/compressors, digital outputs, stereo mix bus, etc. I am only
interested in which of these mic pres has the best sound quality in the
mic preamp section.

Are there any other options in this price range that I should be
considering?

Should I buy 8 channels of one type, and 8 channels of another type, for
different sounding mic pres, or should I buy all 16 channels of the same
type?

I am not really keen for a valve preamp, since over a long period of
time I assume that the tubes specs will change and the sound of the
different channels will change in relation to each other. Where a solid
state preamp is more likely to stay sounding the same on all channels.

Thanks,
Simon
Canberra
AUSTRALIA

Hello,

RME Quadmic, 4 channels 375 Euro. If you wait, the RME Octamic the same as
Quadmic but with 8 channels, RME quality.

www.rme-audio.de

Cheers



"Simon" escribió en el mensaje
...
I need to buy 16 channels of decent sounding low-priced mic preamps for
live recording into Protools and Tascam DTRS.

I will be probably recording rock/metal types of bands, but have a blues
festival soon that I need to record at, and I could be recording other
genres as well.

I already own two decent 4 channel mic preamps...a Millennia Media Quad
4 channel mic pre and a Focusrite Red 1 4 Channel mic pre.

I need to add 16 channels of mic pre to this existing 8 channels to give
24 channels of mic pres.

The options I am considering for the 16 channels of mic pre I need
are...
FMR Really Nice Preamp
PreSonus M80
Presonus DigiMAX
TL Audio 5001 (not really keen since valves)
Audient ASP008
Focusrite Octopre

Could you comment on any of these mic preamps, and maybe recommend which
would give the best sound quality?

I am not interested in the extra features of these mic pres such as
limiters/compressors, digital outputs, stereo mix bus, etc. I am only
interested in which of these mic pres has the best sound quality in the
mic preamp section.

Are there any other options in this price range that I should be
considering?

Should I buy 8 channels of one type, and 8 channels of another type, for
different sounding mic pres, or should I buy all 16 channels of the same
type?

I am not really keen for a valve preamp, since over a long period of
time I assume that the tubes specs will change and the sound of the
different channels will change in relation to each other. Where a solid
state preamp is more likely to stay sounding the same on all channels.

Thanks,
Simon
Canberra
AUSTRALIA

Well, a couple of rack mount mic preamps are a lot easier to lug around than a
mixer.

Also, I am paying these off at my local music store, I do not have the money up
front, so I need to buy new porducts that are available from local distributors,
which rules out second hand.

The Audient ASP-008 8 channel mic pres are the same as what they use in the
Audient live and recording mixing consoles. I was hoping that someone might have
tried them out, but it is a very new product and I doubt most people have seen
them. Audient is run by the two founders of DDA consoles, so they do have a long
track record in designing consoles...
http://www.audient.co.uk/asp008main.html
....they are supposed to have a clean/transparent/detailed/uncoloured sound.

I think I am leaning towards the FMR RNP and/or the Audient ASP-008 at the stage,
with the PreSonus M80 as my third choice.

Thanks,
Simon
Canberra
AUSTRALIA


WillStG wrote:

Here's a couple of very good multiple micpre units that will blow your
Presonus M80/Digimax/Focusrite Octopre's and the like right out of the water.
They aren't as transparent as your Millenia or Red units but they do have a
great rock coloration those things lack. And they're dead cheap!
This one you could get 24 micpres for $1575!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tegory=23 785
And this one 32 micpres at $1400!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tegory=23 785
But the downside is these particular Soundtracs consoles are in the USA
and Canada while you're in Australia.... But think about it. You can just use
the direct outs on a good analog console whicg are real cheap these days.
Here's a smaller 16 channel Souncraft 660B that's at $500 "Buy it now" at
$800, you can use the channel insert sends as direct outs...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tegory=23 785

What do they sound like?

RME audio cards always seem to get good reviews, but I have no idea what sort
or quality of sound these preamps would produce.

They certainly don't look very sexy, looked more sort of PC/cheap utility
sort of device, so I didn't consider it.

How would they sound compared to the FMR RNP?


I purchased my QuadMic for basically the same reason that you are
looking for preamps: I do lots of live recording and I needed to add
more portable preamp channels; the QuadMic was a good choice for
inexpensive, clean, mic preamps. If you think that the outside view
isn't very impressive, take a look at the inside view:
http://www.rme-audio.com/english/mic...mic_inside.htm
It looks a lot nicer than a lot of gear that cost Much more!

I wouldn't buy the QuadMic as my primary preamp, but you already have
4ch of great preamps and 4ch of good preamps, so the QuadMic will be
used to fill in on secondary sources. For that purpose, at this
price, it can't be beat.

Steve

www.lexington125.com

(hollywood_steve)
I wouldn't buy the QuadMic as my primary preamp, but you already have
4ch of great preamps and 4ch of good preamps, so the QuadMic will be
used to fill in on secondary sources. For that purpose, at this
price, it can't be beat.

It just occured to me that he might also consider the 4 channel Sytek
micpres. He needs 16 channels, he could probably find them about $850 each
which would get him 16 channels for around $3400. Maybe he could get one unit
with all Burr-browns in it.


Will Miho
NY Music & TV Audio Guy
Fox And Friends/Fox News
"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away..." Tom Waits

There's a 16-ch preamp from Trident-MTA, the iX-One. No idea about
quality, but at least the pic & the specs look nice...

http://www.sfb.net/products/trident-mta/ix-one.htm
http://www.sukoppaudio.com/trident_11.htm

Samuel

No Australian distribution though.

Rules it out for me.

Thanks,
Simon
Canberra
AUSTRALIA

There's a 16-ch preamp from Trident-MTA, the iX-One. No idea about
quality, but at least the pic & the specs look nice...
http://www.sfb.net/products/trident-mta/ix-one.htm
http://www.sukoppaudio.com/trident_11.htm