Yamaha N8 - modern equivalent?

[russ1974]

I'm currently running an Alesis USB 2.0 8 channel mixer, which gives me separate 8 channel recording in Cubase. It works "ok", but it's time to upgrade to something of better quality. Primarily the issue I have is with the poor quality preamps that add in a lot of hiss. I get rid of it in Cubase using noisegate/etc but I feel like I'm also losing a bit of the audio quality by having to do this. My main use is vocal recording (Rhode NT1A), with somebody else playing acoustic or electric guitar and sometimes KB/piano. I want 8 channels rather than 4 "just in case", e/g 2nd microphone or other instrument. Anything over 8 would never be used, but I don't mind going for a 12 channel if the feature/quality is good and it's not too large.

I've been looking around and the Yamaha N8 Firewire looks great - but I see it is around 6 or 7 years old from what I can gather. Is there a "modern day equivalent", or perhaps something coming out soon so I should hang on a bit? My computer doesn't even have Firewire ... it has USB2 and USB3. I don't mind adding a PCI card but it does seem like the N8 is going to be replaced soon or maybe there is already something else better out there. I know I'd be very happy with the N8, but don't want to buy something that is approaching end of life.

My main requirements are;
- Decent brand with good quality preamps (Yamaha/Allen Heath/etc). I've done my time with Alesis/Behringer/etc which have all served me well, but want to step up to the next level!
- Ability to record multiple channels at the same time in Cubase, not a 2 channel mix down. So USB2/USB3/Firewire (preferably USB).

I do want a mixer, not just an audio interface.

Any ideas ??

Thanks

 

[CoolCat]

If youre tired of using it then get another, but that should work fine.
The digital world hasn't changed much and you have USB 2 which is also fine.

As for getting the gain on your mic before noise comes into play, you can turn down your preamp and use digital gain(preamp plug in or something), or buy a higher powered preamp, 70db apprx, and go into your Line In and skip the preamp.

Here's a test I did on a cheap interface and the preamp noise was fixed.
The gain was boosted using slight changes in plugins and you always have the slider in your DAW at the end.

Notice doing this without anything plugged in can help remove the room and other factors.

 

[DM60]

If youre tired of using it then get another, but that should work fine.
The digital world hasn't changed much and you have USB 2 which is also fine.

As for getting the gain on your mic before noise comes into play, you can turn down your preamp and use digital gain(preamp plug in or something), or buy a higher powered preamp, 70db apprx, and go into your Line In and skip the preamp.

Here's a test I did on a cheap interface and the preamp noise was fixed.
The gain was boosted using slight changes in plugins and you always have the slider in your DAW at the end.

Notice doing this without anything plugged in can help remove the room and other factors.

I would confirm this is sound advice. I would also suggest, before doing anything, double check your room noise, I downloaded dB meter from the Android store (they have then for Apple)just to check ambient noise. Right now I am running around 55dB, so I set my gate filter to just above that.

Point is, if your room is noisy, putting gain on it will not solve the problem in the end. Just a friendly thought.

 

[russ1974]

Hi guys - thank you for the advice, it is very much appreciated.

But really I do want a new mixer ... and would be grateful for thoughts on the hardware side of things, as I want to replace my Alesis with something higher end. I want to treat myself to a new hardware mixer for Christmas you see ... so the advice above is great, but I want to replace my Alesis