Talk to me about converters

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ryguy76

New member
Here's the scoop. I am downsizing my studio significantly as I'm moving to a much smaller house. (Better quality, less space). I have a 2 room studio in my current house that hasn't seen much use in the last 4.5 years as life got in the way. I don't plan on recording others any more, but want to keep the ability to record myself when the inspiration hits me. That said, it will be in a "multi purpose" room in the new house and a significant downsize.

I have Motu 828 mk3 currently, but typically use my P-Solo preamp and the converters of the Motu. I'd like to flog the Motu, but keep the P-Solo. I just need a respectable converter option that would pair nicely with P-Solo, not take up much room and be somewhat affordable.

What are my best options out there now? Being out of the game for the last 4.5 years has left me very unsure of how to best address this.

Ideally, I'd like to only have monitors, preamp, and converter on the desktop. Everything else would be done in the DAW. Maybe I'm better off selling the P-Solo and Motu and buying an Apogee Duet??
 
There are lots of 2-channel USB audio interfaces on the market and a number of 4-channel ones. Almost all smaller interfaces will have mic preamps on them, but usually also line inputs as well (typically just padded down and fed to the mic pre) for you to connect your P-Solo. How many inputs do you need? Are there any other features you want?
 
bouldersoundguy said:
There are lots of 2-channel USB audio interfaces on the market and a number of 4-channel ones. Almost all smaller interfaces will have mic preamps on them, but usually also line inputs as well (typically just padded down and fed to the mic pre) for you to connect your P-Solo. How many inputs do you need? Are there any other features you want?
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I don't know if I can get what I'm after as I don't really want a built in preamp. I'd rather have a dedicated I/O box that has solid converters only. Ideally, what I'm after is something that is a small footprint, quality converters and has these IO features... Either balanced 1/4" or XLR main outs, XLR or balanced 1/4" In, USB, FW or Thunder, (I have an i7 mac mini), headphone out with a master volume knob.

Just not sure if that's a pipedream with the available gear on the market today. I don't want to have to go through the pre of an interface. If I could bypass that, then as long as the converters are decent, having the built in pre's might not be a bad thing.
 
I'm sure you can bypass the internal pre with most converters/audio interfaces these days (as is the case with my Prism Lyra 2, though the pre is pretty good and I use it when recording piano solo...)

Any idea on budget? Apollo Twin? Focusrite Clarett? Lynx Hilo? Antelope? Benchmark ADC? Or even Prism?
 
greengyozaman said:
I'm sure you can bypass the internal pre with most converters/audio interfaces these days (as is the case with my Prism Lyra 2, though the pre is pretty good and I use it when recording piano solo...)
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In most cases that I can find documentation on they simply pad down the line input and feed it to the mic preamp. You're not bypassing anything, you're adding more components to the path. For the most part it's fine, an external preamp will combine its colored sound with the relatively neutral sound of the internal preamp.
 
greengyozaman said:
I'm sure you can bypass the internal pre with most converters/audio interfaces these days (as is the case with my Prism Lyra 2, though the pre is pretty good and I use it when recording piano solo...)

Any idea on budget? Apollo Twin? Focusrite Clarett? Lynx Hilo? Antelope? Benchmark ADC? Or even Prism?
Click to expand...

Budget... Ideally, I was hoping to be in around $500. But I get wowed by bells and whistles easy, so who am I kidding. I'm likely going to spend the money I have available when my other gear sells, so up to 1k is realistic.

I threw up the P-Solo for sale in the HR ad section. I think I'm going to attack this differently. Rather than find a converter I/O option, I'll get an all-in-one with good preamps and converters.

At this point, I'm looking at an Apogee Duet, a Crimson, an Apollo, the Roland Super UA and the Audient iD22/iD14.

bouldersoundguy said:
In most cases that I can find documentation on they simply pad down the line input and feed it to the mic preamp. You're not bypassing anything, you're adding more components to the path. For the most part it's fine, an external preamp will combine its colored sound with the relatively neutral sound of the internal preamp.
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Yep, that's what I was thinking would happen and what I'd be aiming to avoid if I kept the P-Solo.

Farview said:
I would vote for the Apollo. It will also get you UAD plugins, which are awesome.
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The difference of Solo vs Duo is just in DSP effects, correct? Are these effects accessible in mixing too, or just tracking? and in the event that I chose the Solo and am running the reverb, I could apply this to as many tracks are required, or is it limited to a single track? I don't have any experience with UA plugins/DSP's.

Thanks.
 
ryguy76 said:
The difference of Solo vs Duo is just in DSP effects, correct? Are these effects accessible in mixing too, or just tracking? and in the event that I chose the Solo and am running the reverb, I could apply this to as many tracks are required, or is it limited to a single track? I don't have any experience with UA plugins/DSP's.

Thanks.
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It's just a difference in the amount of processing power available for the UAD effects. (their effects only run with their DSP) The effects are available during mixing. You can apply as many instances of as many plugins as the amount of DSP allows. The duo has twice the DSP as the solo, so you can run twice as many plugins on it.

Other than the plugins that they just give you when you get the unit, you do have to buy the ones you want. They are all top quality and the company frequently has sales and other promotions to help out.

I bought in to the UAD thing a very long time ago, so I don't know what the new ones come with.
 
Having some experience with the apollo twin my vote goes to that as well. Just a fantastic high end interface and if down the road you want more I/O you can add another 8.

The 2 preamps that come with it are pretty nice though and the modeling is pretty good.
 
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