RETRO digital interface?

E

EarthlingMusic

New member
Hi all. This is my first post in the forum so forgive me if this topic is covered elsewhere but what I need to know is this:

I have a MacBook Pro (2009) running Snow Leopard. I also have a Presonus Firestudio Project interface w/ a dbx 376 tube channel strip via SPDIF.
On that machine I am also running Cubase 4LE which came free with the interface when I bought it a lifetime ago.

Granted, this is all old s**t but it all worked out really well for my first recording back in 2011. Today, because of money and time constraints I figure why not save myself some money and do my next recording with the same gear.
I would however like to upgrade my interface to something that was of higher quality from the 2009 - 2012 period. Something that would work with my old MacBook Pro over Firewire 400/800, maybe with SPDIF capablilty.
I want whatever was a level or 2 above the Presonus Firestudio Project at that time. Does anyone have any suggestions? What were you using back then?

Thank you!
 
A couple questions for you. If you were happy with how your last recording came out.........and assuming everything still works well........why change? Secondly.......you don't detail why you want to change your interface. Change for change sake may not be what you need to get a better product..........or it may........but tell us more about why you want to change your AI.
 
MIckster asked "why change"? And I ask the same question as well.

If what you have is still working and you want to save yourself some money, just go with what you have.

Upgrading your interface is not the best investment in improving quality, because that's not where the greatest gains in quality are to be found. You could go for "level or 2 above the Presonus", but that would require a considerable outlay given the the Presonus converters and pre-amps are pretty good.

I do speak from experience seeing as I am still using a pair of Presonus Firepods, the first of which I got in 2003, and both of which are still doing fine.
 
I'm thinking about changing because I have always felt the preamps on the Presonus were colored in some way. I even felt this when I decided to purchase but it was affordable so I went with it.

Back in 2011 I used it to record drums only. Pretty much everything else was done through the DBX 376 going through the Presonus. If I was using 2 mics on an acoustic instrument, the higher quality main mic went through the DBX.
The DBX sounds gem mint but it's just 1 input and it's not usb or firewire equipped.
It would be great to have that kind of quality for drums. They turned out ok enough last go around but I feel it could have been better. It would also be great to use 1 box.

For this next recording my original intention was to go into a legit studio. I really wanted my next recording to as pro as possible ( and I wanted to put the burden of all the tech stuff on an engineer/producer so I could focus on performance ) but life happens
and plans had to change, so the thought is if it would only cost a few hundred bucks to get a set of higher quality preamps for an obsolete gear price, I would do it. I could maybe even get enough dough from selling the Presonus and one of the DBX's ( I have 2 ).
 
I agree with the other posters, the Presonus is unlikely to be a problem and an upgrade would be in the $1000+ for any PAPER benefit and still unlikely to be audible. If ANY pre amp was coloured I would put the finger on the DBX! Are you sure you have it the right way around?
The Presonus pre amps have good headroom at +14dBu so I doubt you are pushing them too hard but, as an "old timer" are you sure you are not running everything a bit hot? Each channel needs to be averaging around -18dBu* and peaks no higher than -8dBfs or so. I do recall the Cubase book I had yonks ago said "run each channel as high as possible without exceeding peak level". Even at 16bits (and you ARE 24 bits are you not?) that is just palin wrong.

The AI lacks separate line inputs which is a shame but you could run a pre amp into the front XLRs and a couple into the inserts but I really don't think you need to. The Firestudio got a good rep in Sound on Sound especially for its preamps!

IMHO if you have moolar to flash put it into better monitors and the room.

*Old Cubasessss did not have dB markings on their meters so keep mid scale or try any other DAW! Reaper is favourite.

Dave.
 
Hi and welcome to HR!

I agree with the other chaps. It's more likely the that presonus preamps are fairly clean sounding and you happen to prefer whatever the DBX is doing.
In simple terms the DBX is maybe unique, or special, rather than the presonus being lo-fi or weak some way.

That said, you're in a nice enough place for considering upgrades because firewire is a great way to go on mac and people aren't really buying firewire gear anymore.
There are great bargains to be had from the guys who are jumping to USB-C/Thunderbolt/whatever.

There are a few options that would give you multiple line inputs, then you could add on whatever standalone preamps you wanted, or a mixer with direct outs per channel.
I don't mean a mixer for a mixer's sake - I mean, it'd have to be something with a desirable sound.
Maybe not what you're thinking; Just a suggestion. :)

Something like a motu 828 mk2 plays nice with mac, probably isn't that expensive anymore (used, of course), and has 8 line inputs, adat for 8 more, spdif, midi, and two built in preamps just for good measure.
It's got the same in outputs, so plenty of routing options for headphone amps and looped processes, if that tickles you.

Something from RME or Apogee would be a few steps above the presonus for sure, in terms of on board preamps and, I guess, conversion, but I do worry you might buy something with high quality clean preamps then realise that's not what you were looking for.

How about the software side of things? Have you played with any old compressor modelling plugins, or anything that's made to emulate 'vintage mojo', or whatever?
Saturation plugins, Vintage warmer, that kind of thing?
It's surprising what a barely audible amount of dirt can do to a signal. ;)
 
If you're happy with the Presonus Firestudio , why the need to upgrade. Now, i am a Presonus user and if i had the money i'd go with the Quantum Thunderbolt.
 
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