Best mixdown card?

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themaddog

Rockin' & Rollin'
Hey everyone,
I track using a Tascam TSR-8 or MSR-16, depending on the situation, and have been mixing down to a Delta 44 soundcard and a Tascam 22-2 simultaneously. Of course, the 22-2 sounds way better than the 44, but I really don't see (hear) any benefit mixing down to the 22-2 and then putting it into the computer.

My question is, what do people use to mixdown here? Which soundcards/converters do you analog guys use to get your mixes to computer? Numbers and specs aren't really important to me, if there's a 16 bit/44.1k card that'll sound better than my Delta 44, and handle everything a bit more musically, I'll go after it, just wanted to know if anyone out there had any advice.

After examining how digital system record, and their weaknesses compared with analog, I've considered putting a couple compressors before the computer's soundcard in order to try and even out the sound. Then maybe the sounds the computer has major trouble recording, like the cymbal crashes because of the big dynamic changes, will be a little easier for it to record. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I haven't had the chance to give it a try yet.

Thanks for your insight,
-MD
 
themaddog said:
Hey everyone,
I track using a Tascam TSR-8 or MSR-16, depending on the situation, and have been mixing down to a Delta 44 soundcard and a Tascam 22-2 simultaneously. Of course, the 22-2 sounds way better than the 44, but I really don't see (hear) any benefit mixing down to the 22-2 and then putting it into the computer.

My question is, what do people use to mixdown here? Which soundcards/converters do you analog guys use to get your mixes to computer?
Click to expand...
I mixed my first album on a beaten-up Tascam 32, and I'm preparing to mix the second one on a B77 mk2. I digitize the tapes using an M-Audio Transit, which is about the cheapest decent 24/96 USB soundcard in existence.

It is not without problems. The Windows drivers tend to make it stutter, so digitizing the entire tape in one pass is a hit-and-miss affair. (This is one of the reasons I mix down to tape.. I then only have to worry about the levels and the mix itself, not whether the PC is going to fail to capture the recording OK.)

When doing draft mixes, I just use a Creative SB Live. Before the Quantegy situation I would also have done those to tape as well.. now I only do that for 'gift recordings' and final album mixdowns.
 
I use a stand alone CD recorder deck from Pioneer which has excellent quality A/D converters to get my stereo masters into a digital format. This is a different tact then using a PC to do the job but it actually comes out better because none of the computer's short comings can walk into the picture and foul things up.

Cheers! :)
 
I also have a tascam 22-2 and a delta 44 like you do. But I always just use the 44 cause there isnt much sense in using both since you have already recorded in analog.
Doesnt that 22 sound great though?
 
I'm not a big fan of PC sound cards. Like Ghost I use a stand alone CD recorder. I had a PDR-555RW, but now use a Fostex CR300, which is built by Pioneer and based on the 555 main board. The Fostex is identical to the HHB CDR-850 (also built by Pioneer).

I've never used a sound card with converters as good as the above Pioneer burners. I recommend stand-alone burners, and Pioneer in particular.

Anyway, this is how my analog recordings enter the digital realm. Once a CD is made it can then be popped in the computer for further digital manipulation, if desired, and for burning copies.

I do usually master to a Tascam 22-2 reel-to-reel first though. I use a lot of sequenced synth and drum machine parts that I want to touch tape before they go to CD. They are synced to my TSR-8 and go directly to the 22-2, first generation.

:)
 

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Thanks for the input guys. Guess someday I'll have to try a stand-alone CD recorder and hear for myself, he he.

-MD
 
Beck said:
I'm not a big fan of PC sound cards. Like Ghost I use a stand alone CD recorder. :)
Click to expand...

I also use outboard deck mastering to CD. I use a TASCAM CDRW-700.
 
themaddog said:
Thanks for the input guys. Guess someday I'll have to try a stand-alone CD recorder and hear for myself, he he.

-MD
Click to expand...
if you really feel/think/or know for sure that you are not happy with quality of your computer interface for digital recording, then I'd say you can try it. But I'say go for it without much expectation from sonic point, go for it for sake of having a real nice dedicated REC.-button :D , it's nice thing to have around when you need one. I'd say that's maybe the main REAL reson I use CD-recorder deck instead of recording the mix to computer.
Btw, I have m-audio delta card... I could speculate that my cd-recorder sounds "better" than m-audio card, but I really never performed real blind a/b test... nor am going to, simply because I don't see a good reason for playing around with this stuff, not to mention that even when I sort of hear that cd-recorder sounds better - I can't really explain it to myself... so this all may be just a psycho-freaky-phenomenon-B.S. ... :rolleyes: .
well, I don't know really. Again I ended up with standalone cd-recorder as main digital two-track due to convenience and also my computer is often involved as part of tracking "system" (as midi-sequencer, or some audio tracks/takes) (I think similar to what Beck was talking about)...so as I mix what ever I mix on analog board - I really need a two track to be ready in push-button-and-go style, and it has to be always there. I used to use tascam da-30mkII for pretty long time until I've discovered what a f*ng disaster DAT is... (i still have the machine thouh...just seats there as silent reminder :eek: )

/respects
 
Ah ah Dont mention Dat recorders. Gives me nightmares and makes my butt pucker evertime I think about them. I did one Album with mine and that was enough till I put it on ebay. Along with my adats :p
 
Herm said:
Ah ah Dont mention Dat recorders. Gives me nightmares and makes my butt pucker evertime I think about them. I did one Album with mine and that was enough till I put it on ebay. Along with my adats :p
Click to expand...
heh heh .. one album. imagine , I have like 40-50 DATs with all sorts of "master-pieces" LOL all of them - and I MEAN ALL! - have data drop-outs, and NO! - I did not store them in f*ng garage, atic, hunting cabin in Catskills nor in any other freaking secret location. Good thing is that I happend to completely lose interest and any sort of passion for all the crap I used to 'record'. I'd say: "DAT - is where all that crap belongs to be" :D
But I only can imagine how one can be :mad: PISSED :mad: if recorded his/her best performances of best days of his/her life on DATs and DATs only .... auch!
 
Has anyone tried recording to a standalone DVD recorder? If so, does anyone have any good suggestions as to which has the best analog to digital converters?

Thanks,
-MD
 
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