4 Unit Rack setup

mosz

New member
I'm curious to know if I understand the recording process and if my setup is correct. Right now I have a 4 unit rack with 2 slots open. I have a Focusrite Clarett 8pre and a Power Conditioner in the rack. I haven't purchased a compressor because I'm not sure if the signal chain needs a preamp. If so, then I will most likely add an ART TPS II Tube Preamp and an ART Pro-VLA II. If I understand the signal flow i will go:

1. Mic
2. Preamp
3. Compressor
4. Clarett

I'm trying to keep costs down and the only reason I got the Clarett 8pre was when I was about to order the 4pre for $599 I saw that amazon had the 8pre for $650! Plus I already had a the rack so it worked out. My setup is mainly to record commentary but I do occasionally get a few musicians dropping by. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
Mine has a Akai DR-8 disk recorder on the bottom to anchor it. ART DPS, ART DR-1, ART DR-x, DOD 866 ii
 
Hey,
You're asking if you need outboard preamps?

The Clarett appears to have 8 preamps (as the name would suggest) so no, you don't need to buy preamps.
It doesn't however, have sends/returns so that means you can't patch other hardware into the the chain. It's just mic - preamp - computer.
If that's all you need, job done. :)

If you want to patch in other gear, though, then yes, you would need an outboard preamp and would take take its line output to your processing units.
The line output of the last processing device would go to the clarett line inputs.

Mic - Preamp - process1 - process2- clarett line in - computer.

They way the clarett is made, the front gain knobs will probably still have some effect even when you're using line inputs (TRS...not XLR!) so you'll want to try to set those for unity/no amplification, or as close as doesn't matter.

Hope that helps.
 
I appreciate your advice.

"You're asking if you need outboard preamps?" - Yes. I wasn't sure if I needed better preamps but a bit more research along with your answer, it looks like the internal preamps should be fine. If I only had an interface, no internal preamps, then would the setup would be Mic-Preamp-Compressor-Audio interface?
 
Basic interfaces just have the line-in jacks - like the Cheap Behringer.

So, you need the preamp section to raise a MIC level to above a whisper.

Boxes up front can be useful and fun, but one can do about anything with computer editing
 
Basic interfaces just have the line-in jacks - like the Cheap Behringer.

So, you need the preamp section to raise a MIC level to above a whisper.

Boxes up front can be useful and fun, but one can do about anything with computer editing

The Clarett is an interface with pre-amps, so OP is all set.
 
I appreciate your advice.

"You're asking if you need outboard preamps?" - Yes. I wasn't sure if I needed better preamps but a bit more research along with your answer, it looks like the internal preamps should be fine. If I only had an interface, no internal preamps, then would the setup would be Mic-Preamp-Compressor-Audio interface?

Hi again,
Your clarett has microphone preamplifiers, analog to digital converters, and a digital audio to data interface, all in one box.
If it only had line inputs then it would be analog to digital converters and digital audio to data interface.
You'd need to add external preamps in front of it for use with microphones.

I don't think it has compression built it, but that's very much a luxury or preference. It's not essential for simple clean recording.

As Gecko says, you're all set! :)
 
The Clarett is an interface with pre-amps, so OP is all set.

He knows he's all set with preamps, but that wasn't the question : )

I guess he is just putting together a mental block diagram ? Further, in regards to the compressor, why is it these ( 8pre ) don't have inserts ? I guess the modern market does it in the box ?

I've got inserts on chan. 1 & 2 of my interface so I can muck-up the signal. But many people just compress the interface signal in the DAW.

But, I have the stereo rack stuff for a reason. Two channel strips could be fun
 
The Clarett 8Pre has lots of line inputs and outputs on it. So you can always loop in a compressor using those and the routing software that comes with the Clarett. I think that most of the big name DAWs also have ways to route signals in and out of hardware inputs/outputs, so you should have multiple options of ways to route signals through a compressor or other outboard gear.
 
So here is my setup. I didn't want to lose the headphone amp space to a preamp but I guess I'm all set. The Tascam is just a place holder and is not connected. Thanks for everyone's input. Now is there another unit I could add that would improve the the overall recording? At this point it's mainly an aesthetic reason. Here's what my setup looks like. IMG_3278.JPG
 
Hey. That looks nice!

Long shot, but if the tascam has adat output and the clarett has adat input (which I think it does), you could rig them up for a 16 mic-preamp setup. :)
 
The Clarett 8Pre has lots of line inputs and outputs on it. So you can always loop in a compressor using those and the routing software that comes with the Clarett. I think that most of the big name DAWs also have ways to route signals in and out of hardware inputs/outputs, so you should have multiple options of ways to route signals through a compressor or other outboard gear.

Well, they go out to in to measure Latency. Is that good on these modern boxes ? There has been software to do internal routing for a couple decades, now, but I hadn't seen interface MFG catching up with that. I've seen online some of the elaborate driver extensions. Is that working pretty well ? I still go mixer direct out to a box and back in to extra channels and that is quick.
 
Well, they go out to in to measure Latency. Is that good on these modern boxes ? There has been software to do internal routing for a couple decades, now, but I hadn't seen interface MFG catching up with that. I've seen online some of the elaborate driver extensions. Is that working pretty well ? I still go mixer direct out to a box and back in to extra channels and that is quick.

When I route things in and out of my interface, there isn't really any appreciable latency introduced. I think that ReaInsert reports about 6ms round trip. But as long as ReaInsert knows about the latency, it'll compensate for it. So that'll keep things in phase when rendering and playing back.

When I use TotalMix instead (that's RME's control panel/routing software), I can hear a bit of comb filtering if I try to monitor the dry and wet signals at the same time, so there is at least a couple of ms of latency introduced in there somewhere. Not enough to affect timing of a performance, but it would drive an engineer crazy if he were trying to keep things in phase with each other. So I don't get too fancy with routing when I'm recording a multi-mic setup like on a drum kit. Instead I'll track straight into the interface and use ReaInsert after the fact, since it'll compensate for any latency in the round trip out and back in through the converters.
 
If I had two Clarett 8pres that would work since they have sub 2ms latency and there are videos from Focusrite showing how to do it. I haven't tried it with the Tascam but if I ever need that many I'll keep it in mind.
 
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