Interface for drums

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sk8a123

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i know this topic has been covered already but i desperately need an interface to record drums. i was doing some searching and found this http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Nady-PRA8-Mic-Preamp?sku=185277

and i thought, wow... what a piece of junk, who sells an 8 input for $130. but then i read the reviews and they are quite good so now i am confused. I've heard really good things about the Presonus Firepod.. and the tascam 1641.. so why would this product be so cheap?
 
The title of the first review I saw was "Noisiest piece of junk I've ever owned". Not very encouraging.

Nady is a fairly respected brand name that I would've trusted a few years back. But since most manufacturing has moved to China, relying on brand names is more or less a crap shoot. Even Piaggio has cheaped out on their top-of-the-line Vespa. Quality is dead, and no one seems to miss it.
 
It is very cheap because it is a preamp, not an interface. It won't connect to your computer through a USB or FireWire out. However, it supplies 1/4 inch outs for each preamp channel so you can connect it to a mixer or an interface without preamps or you could use this as an external preamp to bypass the ones inside a mixer or interface.
 
Look at the Behringer ADA8000; use the ADAT to connect to your interface.
 
guitarplayr82 said:
It is very cheap because it is a preamp, not an interface. It won't connect to your computer through a USB or FireWire out. However, it supplies 1/4 inch outs for each preamp channel so you can connect it to a mixer or an interface without preamps or you could use this as an external preamp to bypass the ones inside a mixer or interface.
Click to expand...


Dang, so does this mean if I don't have a mixer it's completely useless? And all my tracks won't come out seperate?
 
sk8a123 said:
Dang, so does this mean if I don't have a mixer it's completely useless? And all my tracks won't come out seperate?
Click to expand...

Well it's basically 1/2 of an interface. It will amplify your mics to line level, but it doesn't do the AD/DA conversion to get to your computer and back. There are no pictures of the back of the device, but from the description I think it has a 1/4 inch output for each mic input (eight outputs). So you would have seperate control over each channel, but you still can't connect it to your computer without an AD/DA converter.
 
Oh great. So if I get the behringer ada8000 it will be able to connect to my comp?
 
sk8a123 said:
Oh great. So if I get the behringer ada8000 it will be able to connect to my comp?
Click to expand...

If you got the Behringer ADA8000 you wouldn't need the Nady preamp as the ADA8000 has preamps built-in. However, the ADA8000 still doesn't have a USB or FireWire output so it will require you to get an ADAT interface to get the output from the ADA8000 to your computer.

I personally think you'd be better off with something like the PreSonus Firepod, as you mentioned in your first post. It will keep you from buying a bunch of external boxes and it will give you better quality since you won't have to do as many conversions and everything will be self-contained.

Some alternatives to the Firepod:

http://tascam.com/product/us-2000/
http://tascam.com/product/us-1641/
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackUltra8R.html
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/ProFire2626.html
http://focusrite.com/us/products/audio_interfaces/liquid_saffire_56
http://focusrite.com/us/products/audio_interfaces/saffire_pro_40
http://www.motu.com/products/motuaudio/896mk3/
http://www.motu.com/products/motuaudio/8pre/
http://alesis.com/imultimix16usb
http://alesis.com/multimix16usb20
 
guitarplayr82 said:
If you got the Behringer ADA8000 you wouldn't need the Nady preamp as the ADA8000 has preamps built-in. However, the ADA8000 still doesn't have a USB or FireWire output so it will require you to get an ADAT interface to get the output from the ADA8000 to your computer.

I personally think you'd be better off with something like the PreSonus Firepod, as you mentioned in your first post. It will keep you from buying a bunch of external boxes and it will give you better quality since you won't have to do as many conversions and everything will be self-contained.

Some alternatives to the Firepod:

http://tascam.com/product/us-2000/
http://tascam.com/product/us-1641/
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackUltra8R.html
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/ProFire2626.html
http://focusrite.com/us/products/audio_interfaces/liquid_saffire_56
http://focusrite.com/us/products/audio_interfaces/saffire_pro_40
http://www.motu.com/products/motuaudio/896mk3/
http://www.motu.com/products/motuaudio/8pre/
http://alesis.com/imultimix16usb
http://alesis.com/multimix16usb20
Click to expand...

Definately a HUGE help. thank you so much!
 
Link works, I and a few others here, have this unit and can attest it's a nice device.
 
moresound said:
So that's 8 preamps in and 4 more 1/4 on the back side?
How are the pres?







:cool:
Click to expand...

8 preamps plus 2 1/4 on front(9,10) then 4 more 1/4 on the back(11,12,13,14)
for $219 this sounds like a great deal.

Does usb 2.0 work same as firewire where it can send multiple tracks?
I know usb was only a stereo track.
 
buzzard bass said:
Nothing to compare them to bro.
Click to expand...

OK then I don't need a comparison. Are they squeaky clean sounding or a bit noisy when turned all of the way up if to be using a ribbon microphone?
And can the unit be used with any DAW?







:cool:
 
Not tried it like that, and no ribbon mic. Just showing the punters an option mate.
 
moresound said:
OK then I don't need a comparison. Are they squeaky clean sounding or a bit noisy when turned all of the way up if to be using a ribbon microphone?
And can the unit be used with any DAW?







:cool:
Click to expand...
Not squeaky clean, but I've used worse.

Inputs 9 and 10 (1/4 on the front) double as DI inputs for guitar.

So far I've recorded with Cubase, Reaper, and Audition 3.0.

I have mine in a little rack/bag and use it for mobile recording mainly. Great little unit.
 
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