Check out this new ART preamp

  • Thread starter Thread starter tubedude
  • Start date Start date
I'll go change my diaper in a minute, as soon as you tell me where I can go get one of these suckers....Who has them, and where do I sign?
 
I am on the phone with ART right now trying to find out when its coming out. I called about 6 music stores in my area and nobody has heard of this at all but I am about to get one as soon as I can find one. Looks like a really sharp pre for the price. If the retail is like 219.00 the sale price is going to be like 149.00 to 169.00 which rocks.
 
...hmm

I'm interested...
Do you think this would outmatch the famous Art or/Art tube MP.
keep the info you have on this card coming in...good or bad etc.
Why the tube preamp system...instead of the DIO preamp system, there both the exact same except the DIO has digital outs. What is the benefit of digital outs, is it worth it.
 
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I've been waiting on a reply email from them, we'll see what they say... digital outs can be good or bad, depending on how good the converters are. The dynamic range is better than the tube MP. We'll see...
Paul
 
I bet the DIO pre would make a great front end to a digital-in sound card like the M-Audio DiO 2448 (which can be had for under $100). The pre itself is $259 at musiciansfriend.com. Depending on the quality of the converters and the pres, you could have a solid DAW setup for $350 that would easily compete with the Aardvark Direct Pro, Seasound Solo, and Delta Omni Studio.

Edit: I am told that the ART DI/O (not the preamp) was given a good review in the March issue of EQ. Since this is a somewhat similar piece of gear (A/D D/A converter with no preamp) from the same company, this may be an indicator of the quality of the converters in the DI/O preamp.
 
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Dolemite said:
I bet the DIO pre would make a great front end to a digital-in sound card like the M-Audio DiO 2448

Sorry if I'm getting off topic here but I'm wondering if you are using one of these cards Dolemite. I'm considering getting one and would like to hear the experience of someone who has one. I'm just wanting it mainly for the optical in so I can mix down from my digital multitrack to my PC and do further editing there.

As for the ART DIO. I think I just changed my mind about what piece of gear I want next!
 
Nope, I use a Midiman 2044 which is a 4 in/4 out analog card with 20-bit converters that for some reason can only record at 16-bit. I'm pretty happy with it but eventually I'll probably ugrade to a 24-bit system. So I can't comment on the DiO cards, but I can vouch for the quality of Midiman/M-Audio products. I also have an M-Audio DMP2 mic pre that I'd say is great for the $$$. They take customer support seriously and update drivers pretty often (and even have win2k and linux drivers), though it looks like they haven't updated the drivers for this particular card for a while. If you're concerned about that you could go with the Delta DiO 2496 which is basically the same card that is 96k capable, but it uses the same drivers as the rest of the delta series which are updated frequently. Personally I'd still go with the DiO 2448 since its cheaper (half as much), the drivers are likely to be just fine, and 96k (as I understand it) is not as dramatic a difference as the jump to 24-bit, not to mention that it also doubles the disk space needed per track and increases the processing power needed to do real-time effects.

So I have no reservations in recommending the DiO 2448 for your purposes of transferring tracks from your digital multitrack to your computer. These M-Audio cards are among very few that are "bit perfect" when transferring digital audio both in and out, which means that the digital data is not altered in any way as it passes through the card.
 
I think it maybe best for us to avoid the purple boxes. I thought about the digital one, so I could utilize the SPDIF in on my Delta 1010. But I already have a load of pre's in this class (ART MP, Mackie, DMP-2) Time for me to step up. If I did buy it, I would buy it for the live acoustic rack (use it in the studio too) hmm... maybe.... I'd like to hear the limiter before I made any judgements.

-jhe
 
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Still no one with some solid info on this thing?
They still haven't emailed me back. It only takes about a day or 2 for a company to develop bad vibes with me. They have til tomorrow or they've lost me.
Everyone mail them and get em in line!
Paul
 
Heres the email..

Heres what ART sent me today...
"Hello Paul:
Final specs will be available closer to the release date of the new preamps
(Fall). The performance of the preamp itself will be on par with the Dual
MP but with added features.

Please contact our Marketing Director, Rob Reid, with information on your
group to find out about a test unit.

Sincerely,
Thom Davis"

Well, it seems strange that its already advertised by musicians friend and stuff... but, theres the skinny...

Paul
 
Doel,

a bit off topic, but I have heard of people with 20 bit cards recording at 24bit....
 
Yeah, if the card supports 20-bit you can pretty much set your software to record in 24-bit and it just pads the 20-bit data with zeros, but the Midiman 2044 has a DSP that can only handle 16-bit signal paths so it will only record at 16-bits. Luckily it does dither down to 16-bit so it isn't a total loss, but Midiman pretty much wanted everybody to think it was a true 20-bit card so they didn't highly publicize this to say the least. I got mine used for $75 and I find the sound quality to be quite good considering. Good enough that I'm not planning to upgrade in the near future.
 
Nashstudio said:
I am on the phone with ART right now trying to find out when its coming out. I called about 6 music stores in my area and nobody has heard of this at all but I am about to get one as soon as I can find one. Looks like a really sharp pre for the price. If the retail is like 219.00 the sale price is going to be like 149.00 to 169.00 which rocks.

If this thing is going to be unavailable until late this year, I can almost assure you this price is fantasy.

It's standard marketing to knowingly give an unrealistically low list price in the pre-release hype that isn't matched by reality when the device is actually shipped.

We'll see. It would be nice if I'm wrong, but that's the way things usually work.
 
Thanks, TubeDude.

Don't know how I make it without you guys! :D
 
don't me to get techinical on your ass but...

That price at Musician's Friend is for the ART DIO Preamp System, which is the same as the Tube Preamp System but with 24-bit/96k D/A converters onboard.

bongolation said:
I may not know much about recording (yet), but I have a virtual doctorate in the predation and mendacity of the marketplace.

Time to get recertified?
 
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