Soundcard(s) suggestions to meet my needs?!

[Cazzbar]

OK, I'm looking for an interface for live recording with 8 Mic Pres and 8 Line Level Instrument Inputs, and at least 8 Analogue outs... and importantly 16 channels of ADAT out to fed a HD24.

Firewire or PCI (for home use) but it needs to be able to function in standalone mode for live use... with basic standalone mixer functions a nice luxury.

Any suggestions?!

I accept getting all this in one unit may be a bit much to ask, so I'd be happy for something like a MOTU 8Pre light-piping into something with 8 Line Ins and 16 ADAT Out

Or maybe an 8 Line In A/D converter (Alesis AI-3) light-piping into a Firestudio (which has 8Pres and 16 ADAT out, no built in mixer but this can be setup with a laptop) but I haven't found an A/D converter with any channel gain controls, which I'm sure I'd need

I know people rate the Fireface 800 as the holy grail, but with only 4 Pre amps it just isn't enough... I'd use all of those on the drums leaving nothing for vocals

I've been looking so much I'm starting to feel queasy, so any fresh ideas would be most appreciated!

Cheers

[Carter]

Well my reply will be (because I own it and I know it works!) the Firestudio and a Digimax FS, the Digimax has 8 pre's with gain control over all of them. do some research on these units they are great!

[pkmusic]

I know people rate the Fireface 800 as the holy grail, but with only 4 Pre amps it just isn't enough... I'd use all of those on the drums leaving nothing for vocals
Cheers

If not mistaken, Fireface 800 has 8 mic pres. Channel 7-10 both have an XLR and TRS connections that can be used simultaniously. So that's 8 mic pres.

[Cazzbar]

Well my reply will be (because I own it and I know it works!) the Firestudio and a Digimax FS, the Digimax has 8 pre's with gain control over all of them. do some research on these units they are great!

Cool, I didn't know about the Digimax FS. Although thinking of cost, is that system giving me 16 Class A Preamps where I only really need 8? Albeit I need gain control on the other 8 Line level inputs? I'm assuming here the amp needed to boost a mic level signal is more expensive than that required to boost a line level signal... or do they/should they both use the same high quality preamp?

[Cazzbar]

If not mistaken, Fireface 800 has 8 mic pres. Channel 7-10 both have an XLR and TRS connections that can be used simultaniously. So that's 8 mic pres.

OK, I'll love what you say to be true... but this is a quote from RME's website

On the front side, the Fireface 800 has 4 discrete balanced microphone inputs with class-A stage, separate activation of 48 V phantom power and separate XLR/TRS inputs, where the latter can also be used as adjustable Line inputs with a gain range of 50 dB! Two of the four mic inputs are permanently available as channels 9 and 10, the other two can be used together with or alternatively to the inputs 7/8 on the back

The extra TRS connections on input channels 7-10 expects Line level inputs, and not Microphone level inputs. I know you can plug a Mic with a TRS connection into a line level socket, adjust the gain and 'it works'... but you're not getting the correct mic preamp treatment this way are you?

And whether each channel has a preamp for the XLR connection and the TRS connection, both sharing the same gain knob and thus making 8 preamps instead of 4 I don't know

[Hard2Hear]

Only 4 Pres on the FF800.

The Presonus, a MOTU 896, or a Focusrite SaffirePro would work. The 896 has the best true standalone mode.

[Cazzbar]

Only 4 Pres on the FF800.

The Presonus, a MOTU 896, or a Focusrite SaffirePro would work. The 896 has the best true standalone mode.

Thanks for the confirmation on the number of pres on the FF800

Although the MOTU 896 only has 8 ADAT channels out (need 16) and the Saffire Pro/Firestudio has 8 Mic/Instrument Pres where I need 8 Mic inputs and 8 Instrument inputs

Thanks for the help so far

[Hard2Hear]

Oh I see. Youre not going to get a unit that does standalone then.

Ive sat up PCs like that using a RME HDSP 96/52, and a couple RME Micstacy's. You get 3 sets of adats on the HDSP card. But its not cheap and its not standalone.

[Cazzbar]

Yeah it's tricky, and I'm only trying for record a 4 piece band live

So that's 8 Mics (4 around the drums, 1 lead vocal and 3 backing vocals) and 8 Line Instrument inputs (direct bass, emulated guitars, stereo keyboards and stereo fx)... all linking via lightpipe to a HD24.

The closest I've come is an Alesis AI-3 (8 Line in A>D) lightpiped to a Firestudio (8 Pres + 16 ADAT out) and the mixes done by plugging in a cheap laptop to set the DSP chip on the Firestudio. Just there's no gain control on the AI-3, I normally have to bump up the instrument gain when plugged into a standard mixer.