Audio Interface Diagram W/other gear

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pyr0x

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Hi

I feel kind of stupid asking this question but I haven't ever really seen this specifically mentioned before. I don't quite know how to word my question so I'll just describe what I'm trying to get at.

Disclaimer: I'm not a complete noob but I'm not anywhere near pro. I have my own studio with some professional gear and acoustic treatment. Been doing this as a hobby for a few years now so I'm familiar with the appropriate terms, gear, etc :). Just wanted to make that clear so you understand where I'm coming from.

Ok, the good majority of us, I'm guessing, utilize a PC/MAC with a DAW to "manage" the audio. Every person who uses this method must have an audio interface to feed their entire audio chain into their computer. I currently only have an audio interface and use the built-in preamps. There are plenty of you, casual and pro's, who have many rack mounted processors, compressors, gates, preamps, etc. I'm going to attempt a "drawing" of what I assume is a common chain.

Mic-->Preamp-->Compressor(etc)-->Audio Interface-->Computer

Assuming this is If this is the appropriate chain then what do you pro's use for an audio interface. Most audio interface's, I think, have built-in preamps. If it's common for professional audio engineers to use their own preamps then why would most AI's include preamps? I guess I just can't fathom the idea of a high-end pro engineer chaining everything into a presonus firebox.

The reason I am asking this is because I will hopefully, soon, be in the market for a separate preamp. I just want to understand common uses amongst other studio geeks.

If someone could enlighten me on this topic I would greatly appreciate your time :D. Thank you!
 
Audiofire 12 is popular and has no preamps - must use external preamps.

RME Fireface 400,800 are popular - they have bypassable preamps (using the TotalMix routing software that comes with them)
 
i'm looking at present into the motu 24i/o so i can integrate an old soundcraft board... i think it'll be set up such that 16 of the SC channels will feed directly to the first 16 in's on the I/O leaving 8 more for any specials or FX... the first 16 outputs of the I/O will feed back to the SC for analog summing and fz rouying leaving 8 outputs for monitoring etc... make sense??? the motu is pretty cost conscience at @$1500 with the pci card... the next step is the new SSL convertors a big step up at @$3k the rme are more ...
 
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