Best hook up for a delta 44?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Laredo
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Laredo

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Howdy,
So here's what I got.....I just purchased a delta 44 and a brand new computer (200 GB hard drive, 3500+ AMD Athlon 64 bit processor, 1GB of ram) and I'm running N-track 24 bit. I now need a headphone amp that lets me run two mono inputs in to it and it needs to have a stereo output that mixes those two mono inputs into one stero mix and then lets me plug my headphones in so I can hear the whole mix. I also need a decent 4 channel preamp to up the volumes for recording. Is there a mixer that could do all of this? Or should I go with two seperate products? Help Please. I'm on a budget here....
Thank you for your time.

Laredo
 
Mixers (particularly small, budget mixers) tend to be somewhat of a compromise. They give you lots of channels and ins/outs for routing, but the quality of the preamps & eqs are often just "o.k."

How much are you willing to spend? That's really the key. Yamaha and Soundcraft are decent budget mixers to look at. Some of the newer Mackie (Onyx series) mixers are supposed to have better sounding preamps. You'll want something that has line outs for each channel, or at least insert points for each channel, so you can go directly into your Delta card.

Alternately, you could get a few outboard pres and a separate headphone amp for monitoring. I have the Presonus HP4, which I've found to be very useful for switching between my main monitors, headphones, and computer speakers.
 
Would the Presonus HP4 beable to work as a preamp for recording and let me listen to the mix coming from the computer on headphones as I'm recording?
 
Nevermind, I see now that the Presonus HP4 is just a headphone amp. Can that mix down two mono inputs from the delta 44 and let me listen to them through my headphones as a stereo mix? If so, I'll purchase that and just worry about a preamp.
 
IMO, neither of those units would be better than just getting a small mixer. If you're on a tight budget, something like this might be better and just skip the whole headphone amp idea.
 
Would this have atleast 4 seperate outputs for four seperate inputs? And would I beable to plug in my mix (coming from two mono outputs on the Delta 44) and mix them down to a stereo mix on my headphones and beable to listen to that mix coming from the computer while I'm recording?
 
Laredo said:
Would this have atleast 4 seperate outputs for four seperate inputs? And would I beable to plug in my mix (coming from two mono outputs on the Delta 44) and mix them down to a stereo mix on my headphones and beable to listen to that mix coming from the computer while I'm recording?
Click to expand...

Well, you have to do a little trick, I think, to get that to work properly. Perhaps someone with that particular mixer (lots of folks around here have them) will chime in. Basically, to get the 4 outputs, you use the insert points on each channel (the mono input channels all have inserts), but you only plug the cable in part of the way and send that to the input on the delta. I think that mixer should be able to take the L & R outputs from your delta monitor mix and route them to headphones and/or monitors.
 
Laredo said:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=live/search/detail/base_pid/631238/


would this work as a headphone amp?
Click to expand...

Yes, that has a headphone output. However, the mic preamps in behringer mixers (in my experience) are terrible. I wouldn't voluntarily use that piece anywhere in my signal chain (even just for monitoring with headphones). Are you planning on buying a mixer or getting outboard preamps + a headphone amp? I'm still not sure.
 
I think I'm gonna get a preamp and a headphone amp. Is the quality on that mixer that bad? You wouldn't even use it for a monitoring device?
 
Laredo said:
I think I'm gonna get a preamp and a headphone amp. Is the quality on that mixer that bad? You wouldn't even use it for a monitoring device?
Click to expand...

I have a cheap behringer mixer (MX802A, I think). I've used it for recording and monitoring purposes. While it works, the sound quality is poor. The mic preamps are dull and noisy (the Nady and SMProAudio pres are probably in a similar league). The monitoring is not much better (adds a lot of hiss as you turn up the volume). Now, it sits in the closet and gets no use. Heck, I'd sell it to you if you really want it (I would not recommend that, though). The old adage is, "you can't mix what you can't hear." Thus, if your monitoring chain is not giving you an accurate representation of the sound, you won't be able to make good mixing decisions. The behringer mixer is going to adversely affect your sound, both for recording and listening/mixing purposes. That's why I wouldn't use it.

What I'm saying is, there are much better pieces of budget gear out there. Perhaps it would be useful for you to share a little bit about what you want to record and what other equipment (mics, monitors, etc.) you have.

If you're trying to keep it cheap, that Yamaha MG mixer will allow you to record decent quality for not much money.

If you want to go with separate preamps, I would recommend the Studio Projects VTB-1 (single channel, $100), M-Audio DMP3 (Dual Channel, $160), or Rane MS-1B (single channel, $150). Those are about the only budget preamps that are, imo, significantly better than what you can get in budget mixers.

As for headphone amps, I'm pretty happy with the presonus ($100). Some folks use the behringer headphone amps and others. You'll have to decide how much you can spend. The search feature on this BBS will also turn up many opinions. Good luck.
 
The soundcraft compact mixers are well suited for a front end for a DAW.

Compact 10

2 output busses, two headphone connections, good sound

Should have all the features you are looking 4
 
Thanks for all the info and help guys.



Hey altitude909,
do you know for sure if that mixing board has outputs for each input?
 
No it does not have a direct out per say. It has a main output then a record bus (there is a switch to send to the record bus on each channel) so I would have to say its a quasi direct out (but you can mix any number of channels to it) which strays a little from what you are looking for. But the other features (2 headphone channels, Hi Z inputs, RIAA phono inputs, playback input) still make it a nice front end for a delta 66
 
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