Is it time to ditch the Mixer for channel strips?

T

TommyNad

New member
I am running a old Sound Trax Topaz 24x8x2 board that I had in my studio way back in the 90's. It was the board I used to use with my Tascam MSR24 one inch deck. At the time it seamed like the most advanced recording setup a guy could wish for.

So a decade or two goes by and I start playing again. I setup a new personal studio in the space that was the office in my house by scavaging most of the best parts from my old setup. sadly, I dont have the space in my house that I used to have in my old place but I dont need to mic up an entire band's worth tracks at a time any more either.

To make a long story short...

I have been using it as a preamp for my Delta 1010 / Sonar producer 8.5 setup.

Do you think I will get any noticable bang for my buck by replacing it with some channel strips? I was hoping to get a couple of 2 channel tube preamps and free up some much needed space in my office.

I would be willing to drop some cash on good preamps but I dont think will be spending more then a grand or so for four channels. I will need 48v phantom for some of my mics. I still have a couple of old Yamaha 20 -20K EQs and some compressors, (DBX Symetrix). Lexicon Multi FXs, an old Yamaha Rev7

What would give me the most for my money?

Thankful for any info I can get!
TommyNad
 
I'd stick with the Topaz unless you have a dire space issue... I don't think you'll beat that sound at $250 a channel...
 
Of course every board is different but there has been little change, let alone anything resembling improvement in topology of pre's in the past decade. Soundtrax had decent build, solid reputation for usable pre's. Generally speaking I think I preferred/prefer (considering I still have a 24 channel board I use only occasionally) the faders and EQ on A&H boards (but this was primarily based on live use) for which Soundtrax was more or less direct competitor. But pres are usable and if you think you need track EQ, prior to A/D and analog monitoring options then keeping the board in play is a pretty obvious choice.

At the $250 per point, as has been said, it is unlikely you'll see significant improvement over the pre's on the board . . . you can get usable stuff (FMR RNP comes in at $250 for two channels) that is different then the board and even stuff you might like better (I've actually found the Black Lion Auteur (also $500 for two channels) to be pretty useful as a fairly portable unit that I don't have so much invested that traveling with it makes me nervous) but generally speaking $500/channel seems to be price point where both subjective and objective suggests noticeable improvement . . . things like True Systems solo or building a lunch box out of SCA models, for slightly less then $500 per the DAV BG-1 probably also qualifies.

In addition to space and that most Home based project studios do not need (or necessarily benefit from) a console the size of the 24-8-2; biggest issue is that, if I remember correctly, the Soundtrax were not wired +4dBu . . . not an insurmountable issue, nor certainly a deal breaker if you already own the board but an irritant if left uncorrected and that fixing requires measurable time or money

But I think the major issue remains space. If you can make the board 'fit' without major modification (to space) keep the board use it and add out board pre's (which you will want in any case) as you have room in the budget (only caveat to that is that if -10 dBv is an issue you find difficult to live with and the modification is as expensive as a mic pre you might move in that direction immediately . . . keep board as back up etc.)
 
I'd look into the Seventh Circle stuff--especially if you can DIY. Lots of people love them.
 
Will you be doing a one-man studio?? If so, how many tracks do you see yourself recording? I'd say most one-man studios use up to 2 tracks 95% of the time. You also said something about wanting a tube pre, but maybe there's times when you'll want a clean channel also.

UAD came out with a new pre that can blend tube and clean channels.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/710/

If you're looking at spending up to $1k, I'd say dump the mixer and the idea for a channel strip and get something like this. Then do the rest of your channel strip in Sonar. UAD DSP and plugs work great too. You might have money left over to buy a dsp card and some plugs.

just an idea.
 
At this point it's a one man show.

My studio is small, more like a small drum or large vocal both (maybe 12 x 14) I have some treatment on two of the walls and I wanted to get rid of the board and make one desk/studio station at one end of the room to free up some "open" space.

I really only need my DAW and one rack to hold a couple of compressers, gtr pre's, EQ's ,Ref amp to run myTanoys PB8's and NS10M's. I have a small Fender Blue Tube amp that I use to get a sound and let mic gain and pre-amps do all the work.I have been using a line 6 rev2 for electric high gain sounds and for the money and the space I have it's not that bad sounding. I use alot of drum loops because I can do real drums in my townhouse.

I was thinking of 4 channels of tubes so I can do multiply mics on my acoustic gtr's. I have an SM81 and a AKG 414BU. Both are old and have been in cold storage for only a decade or two but still seam to be OK. I also have an AKG C1000 and another sure pre amp mic with a remote condensor head. (dont remember the name).

You can tweak almost anything in Sonar 8.5 so I hve been running the MICS into a channel on the Topaz board and bypassing the onboard EQ and sending it to a group that connected to my Delta 1010. Then I fix it in Sonar using digital magic.

Like everyone with a home studio, I want the sound Eric Clapton had on unplugged with out spending the money! Sonar 8.5 has some new channel strip plugin's so I am not sure if a tube pre will warm up the sound that much.......
 
i'm with mofo for the most part...the topaz was a decent example of that times circuit topology... and cant be beat on a $200ch basis... if you do decide to fore go the topaz ya might want to rack mount say 4 of those ch strips...
 
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