Hello, clever people - I'm hoping someone can help me make a sensible choice of pre-amp for my new mics... I have a pair of Oktavamod 012s (for stereo recording of acoustic 12-string guitar) and an Oktavamod 319 (for my rather gruesome voice), and need to get the wonderful outputs thereof into Pro Tools on my MacBook Pro without messing them up too much. Guitar and voice will be recorded separately so I only need a stereo unit (or two mono units.) My interface is an M-Box 2 (which has to be connected so I can run Pro Tools), but obviously I don't want to use its rudimentary pre-amps. I've come up with five options:
1. Use my TL Audio C1 compressor as a stereo mic pre-map: but I have no idea whether the pre-amps therein are good enough to do justice to my new mics.
2. Buy a FMR Really Nice Pre-amp at £325.
3. Buy two VTB1s at £130.
4. Buy a Focusrite Twintrak Pro at £280.
5. Buy a Focusrite Twintrak Pro with A/D board at £340.
The first four options would presumably involve taking a line level output from the pre-amps into the M-Box line inputs for A/D conversion; option 5 would enable me to take an S/PDIF output into the M-Box, giving better A/D conversion.
My experience of Focusrite kit in my past life as a live sound engineer leads me to crave the Twintrak Pro; the intrinsic skinflint in me says "use the C1 and spend the cash on beer"; but the small yet insistent voice of reason requires me to seek your wise counsel. Whatever I settle on need to be available in Europe, and I need to make a decision by Thursday. Any ideas, please?...
1. Use my TL Audio C1 compressor as a stereo mic pre-map: but I have no idea whether the pre-amps therein are good enough to do justice to my new mics.
2. Buy a FMR Really Nice Pre-amp at £325.
3. Buy two VTB1s at £130.
4. Buy a Focusrite Twintrak Pro at £280.
5. Buy a Focusrite Twintrak Pro with A/D board at £340.
The first four options would presumably involve taking a line level output from the pre-amps into the M-Box line inputs for A/D conversion; option 5 would enable me to take an S/PDIF output into the M-Box, giving better A/D conversion.
My experience of Focusrite kit in my past life as a live sound engineer leads me to crave the Twintrak Pro; the intrinsic skinflint in me says "use the C1 and spend the cash on beer"; but the small yet insistent voice of reason requires me to seek your wise counsel. Whatever I settle on need to be available in Europe, and I need to make a decision by Thursday. Any ideas, please?...