advice on a board

[garbagelarge]

my set-up right now is a mackie onyx 1620 with the firewire option. the first 8 direct outs go to my otari 8-track 1/2" tape machine. - so ideally i like to track to the computer and to tape simultaniously. when i want to play back the tape, however, i have to unplug all my mics and plug in the tape returns, and change the gains, etc... so im thinking id like to get an 8 or 12 channel board that the tape returns will always be pluged into, and i could also run it's direct outs (or inserts) to the 8 line inputs on my mackie - that way i would have 16 mic pre-amps going to firewire. i'll need the kind you can flip between line input and mic input on each channel with a switch. the quality of the preamps are a priority over e.q. and other things (though id like to have sweepable mids) so im looking for the ideal board for this. any thoughts?

one idea was a soundcraft 800b - the 8 channel version
i was thinking probably an older board

thanks, ben

 

[ssscientist]

so ideally i like to track to the computer and to tape simultaniously.

Would that be for backup purposes or because you're hoping that tape will give you something that the computer won't? If it's the second one how would you store the reel to reel tracks? If you're planning to archive them on computer there are many plugins that simulate the tape saturation of a good reel to reel - the PSP Vintage Warmer is just one of them. Also, tape is expensive and hard drives are cheap.

Onto the main question.

You could go with an older board like the Soundcraft 800B. Older boards suffer from maintenance issues and unless you are really ready to tackle the various problems that may arise I would recommend you go with a small format mixer like a Mackie 1604vlz or one of the Soundcraft M series.

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