Digidesign 888 vs. prosumer stuff

  • Thread starter Thread starter JuliánFernández
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JuliánFernández

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Hi guys... Recently I´d been on a great studio and i saw some Digi 888 still in use...

When it first came out, a lot of hits were made with 888s...

How it compares to actual prosumer interfaces (firepod, 8pre, etc)?

Please, don´t start with the pro tools sucks, or pro tools rules thing, or whatever... I´m asking about the quality of the hardware (pres, converters, etc).

What do you think? :D


Thanks!
 
The 888s are nothing special by todays standard.
I would think the Delta 1010s, Creamwares,Frontier Designs, Emus and the MOTUs are on par (if not better)with it.
I think the RME, Lucid and Apogee better(in many cases MUCH better) then the super stuff on top of that.
 
tmix said:
The 888s are nothing special by todays standard.
I would think the Delta 1010s, Creamwares,Frontier Designs, Emus and the MOTUs are on par (if not better)with it.
I think the RME, Lucid and Apogee better(in many cases MUCH better) then the super stuff on top of that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, 888's are nothing special.

Put a good word clock on most of todays converters and they sound great.
 
That´s what i thought, but...
Many albums (platinum albums) were made with it!

These days you can grab an 888+Mix Core Card for 600 buck on Ebay!

I never worked with PTs... But i think that 8 pres and decent convertion for that kind of money is a good deal... Don´t you think?
 
JuliánFernández;2768423 said:
That´s what i thought, but...
Many albums (platinum albums) were made with it!

These days you can grab an 888+Mix Core Card for 600 buck on Ebay!

I never worked with PTs... But i think that 8 pres and decent convertion for that kind of money is a good deal... Don´t you think?
Click to expand...

you can make platinum albums on just about any gear today. Even the 888s.
The 888's are just what were used back in the day. If you wanted to use Pro Tools, it was one of the interfaces you had to use....just like today you need to use the HD interfaces if you want to use Pro Tools TDM. Lots of hit albums are made with HD units, but it's not saying they're the end all be all of interfaces.

It's not the gear that decides how many records are going to be sold. How many consumers out there do you know that would be able to tell the difference between something recorded on an 888 or something recorded through an Apogee? The engineer and musician matters more.
 
I see your point, bennychico...

Do you think is a good setup to buy? Pros/Cons?

Thanks!
 
Question

I have an ESI WT2496 audio sound card I bought in 2000. They have long gone out of production. Are the A/D convertors of today simply much better sounding or would I strain to hear the difference? I use software to make mine sound pretty good but are the new A/D's so much better that I would not have do as much software processing as I am doing now?

Is there a night and day difference between, lets say, the old, prosumer stuff of yesterday and the stuff thats being sold today? Do you have to strain to hear the difference or is it stand out obvious?

Bob Mod
 
JuliánFernández said:
I see your point, bennychico...

Do you think is a good setup to buy? Pros/Cons?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

no, purely because of support issues. You didn't say which TDM setup it was...in other words how many TDM cards. Remember, you'll need the core/process cards to run it. That and software for the legacy cards only supported up to 6.4.1. The latest version out now is 7.3...you'll have to get HD cards if you want to use it with those.

Also, core cards suck by themselves. You'll want to get extra cards for more processing power because the core cards can only handle a few processor intensive plugs (like one D-reverb). Also, 6.4.1 didn't support RTAS plugs on Aux tracks...it sucks.
 
One of the studios at Dallas Sound Lab still uses 888's in conjunction with a Neve.
 
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