A/D/A Converters Comparable To My Alesis HD24XR???

[Nate74]

I use a Topaz 8 analog board to record onto an Alesis HD24XR. I like the sound I get, but realize that since I do most of my mixing on my PC, I could theoretically use some sort of A/D/A converter to record directly to my PC right?

At the time I bought the Alesis, I seem to recall the general consensus here was that for the price of the HD24XR, you couldn’t get 24 better converters. Is that still the case?

If I did go to a pair of the 8-track converters I see out there, do they just connect with firewire to my PC? What units should I be looking at?

BTW, sounding this dumb and unknowledgeable is a big part of why I haven’t looked into this earlier…

 

[xstatic]

The Alesis converters really are not bad, and the XR is even a little nicer. I would say that they easily hold their own even against brands like RME. If it were me, I would just be interfacing my Alesis directly through the ADAT optical ports through an RME or Lynx PCI card. Doing it this way allows you to record the digital signal off the Alesis directly through your software while simultaneously feeding the analog outs to your console for latency free monitoring.

If you really do wnat to go with different converters though, I would consider something like the Lynx Aurora converters. At $3000 for 16 channels of both A/D and D/A it seems to me to be the best bargain on the market for quality converters. You may even want to consider starting with adding a clock to your Alesis, and then maybe upgrading to the Aurora's later.

 

[Nate74]

Thanks X. Good advice. If it would cost me 3k to get 16 channels of comparible A/D/A converters, seems like the 24 on the Alesis still are a pretty good deal.

Do you see any advantages to going straight to PC? My concern there is the additional hardware as well as my 1.5 year old PC maybe needing an upgrade to handle it...

Thanks again. As always, knowledgable advice.

BTW, I hope you don't mind the props in my signature. I recently re-read a 3 year old post where I tried to defend my Mackie 24:8 to you. I now can't imagine ever going back to it...

 

[xstatic]

I have been doing it this samew way now for about 4 or 5 years now, so your computer can likely handle it. As far as additional hardware goes, all you would need is an RME Hammerfall card (9652, or HDSP 9652) which can be found used for as low as about $250, and I may even be selling mine soon to move to the Lynx options for other reasons. For what its worth, I would consider the Aurora converters an upgrade to the Alesis, but the Alesis HD machine still seems like an excellent value to me

I also left you a message in your Topaz thread about me coming down to LA later today.