do i need a mixer? preamp? -for a good recording? heres my equip-

  • Thread starter Thread starter daltyboy
  • Start date Start date
D

daltyboy

New member
I have a roland VS1680 to record on, and SM57/

do i need a mixer or mic(or any kind of) preamps or anything for a good recording-exspecially for distortion?

if so whats some good equipment to pair up w/ these?

thanx
 
As I recall, your 1680 has pretty decent preamps built-in. You shouldn't need anything else to get a pretty good sounding recording. You could always get a better pre (or mic) for vocals, but you should be able to do pretty well with what you have.
 
the build in pre-amp of your 1680 are efficient enough to make quality records. Off course you can get much better, but I would spend your money on better mics instead of pre-amps, in this stage they are more important, regarding you have the 1680.

If you need a mixer or not depends on what you want to record and if you regard the inputs of the 1680 as enough. If you want to record drums or so, you can get a mixer maybe, but normally the 1680 will do.
 
thanx for the help guys,i didnt even know the 1680 had preamps in it.

how do I set those up.are there any certain ones(if theres more than 1) I should pic?
 
The preamps in the 1680 are built right into the machine itself. I myself wouldnt call them preamps...that implies that they are good. I would call them something more like glorified trim knobs. What Im saying is..if you are associating the word preamp with quality on the VS-1680...Dont!!
I believe you might be able to get a decent sound out of the onboard preamps on the roland...but You have a better chance of being struck by lightning...
 
what do you guys think about rolands preamps?
how do i use them?
 
MartyMcFly said:
The preamps in the 1680 are built right into the machine itself. I myself wouldnt call them preamps...that implies that they are good. I would call them something more like glorified trim knobs. What Im saying is..if you are associating the word preamp with quality on the VS-1680...Dont!!
I believe you might be able to get a decent sound out of the onboard preamps on the roland...but You have a better chance of being struck by lightning...
Click to expand...

I disagree. For homerecording, the Roland Pre-amps have a decent sound. So unless you are a studio pro with thousands of dollars for your material, it is a bit arrogant to say you can't get a decent sound out of a Roland preamp.
 
I'd have to agree with BrettB. A friend of mine uses the on-board pre's on his 1680 and the drums tracks he's recorded are some of the best sounding ones I've ever heard done with a project studio. The only thing he uses an external mic preamp for is vocals.
 
Preamps

I don't mean to pile on here ... but:

The preamps in the Roland box are certainly "preamps" and should be called that. They amplify the signal produced by a microphone to line level. That's what a mic preamp does. I don't know a whole lot about those Roland machines, but I've heard things recorded on them and, so far as I can tell, there's nothing particularly terrible about the mic preamps, and you can produce pretty nice sounding results with them.

Sure, if (if) you know what you're doing, you can probably produce better results at Capitol Studio A, but that's neither here nor there.
 
I don't know if Roland has significantly improved their preamps or what . . . but I've recorded a lot with a VS880 and a Boss BR8, and I'd have to say the preamps are one of it's weakest links. Not bad for a few tracks, but as you start piling on the layers, the overall mix takes on sort of a thin sound; something I associate very much with a homemade demo.

The other somewhat weak links would have to be the a/d conversion, and the compression. As far as the effects go, I think they're pretty damn good. The reverbs, choruses, flanges and other fun stuff are all about as good as you're going to be able to get for the money -- and damn near as good as the really expensive stuff.

When using an outboard pre, I've heard noticeable improvement. Couple that with an outboard A/D converter and the results are even more noticeably better. So I would have to say a decent outboard preamp and a/d converter could work wonders.

Some suggestions:

* M-audio dmp3 + ART DIO

* dbx 386 preamp/converter

* Joemeek twinQ

or my choice, the Mindprint D.I. Port

After that, I'd look at a good compressor. The Roland just doesn't do compression as good as outboard or DAW.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top