E-mu 1820 ---> alternatives????

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AlfredB

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Hi there,

I am in the market for an audio-interface and am leaning somewhat towards the e-mu 1820.

However, before taking the plunge, I would like see what other options i can find out there?

here is my laundry list (things I would like to get w/ the audio interface - some are "negotiable"):

- 2 mic amps
- 4 analogue ins
- 4 outs
- breakout box
- pci based
- price: 300ish

what are other makes or models that share +/- the same profile

is the 1820M worth the extra 100 bucks?

thx
alfred
 
The 1820 is pretty damn great. You just have to make sure that the drivers do everything you need it to. For example, since it doesn't do WDM multichannel, this thing is a no go if you want to use an application like Adobe Audtion (which only does WDM.)

300 is kind of on the low side for what you want. If you don't mind having unbalanced ins and outs and no breakout box, the M-Audio Delta 1010LT will give you a lot of IO and 2 mic pres.

You could get an EWS Terratex 88D (an ADAT card) for around the 120-150 mark and a Behringer ADA8000 (at 200) which will give you 8 ins and 8 outs. And on those 8 ins, you can have line in or a very usuable mic pre. Not a bad solution and not a bad price either if you want pure ins and outs, as well as growth for the future (with more 88D cards)
 
The ADAT card + external pre-amps is a good suggestion. The Marion Marc A is another cheap ADAT card.
Are your 2 mic pre's in addition to 4 analog ins?
Another suggestion is an M-audio Delta44 or 66. Those have proper balanced TRS 1/4" jack i/o in a breakout box, but no midi (which you don't mention in the list). The 66 I would prefer as it also has s/pdif i/o. With either, you'd need some mic pre's or a mixer. M-audio did have a pre-amp + PCI card bundle called Delta Omnistudio, but it may now be discontinued.
http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/cat--M-Audio-Audio-Interfaces--3217
 
hmm... thx for your ideas and suggestions .... btw ... midi would be very nice, as one never knows whats behind the next corner ...

add on Q: what is an ADAT card?

thx again
alfred
 
have you checked out any echo stuff yet? www.echoaudio.com i was learning toward the 1820M like you but after looking at the GINA3G, my preference is changing. To be honest, the 1820 is overkill for me but if you need something with that much stuff, the LAYLA 3G is a step up from the GINA. They both hav ADAT too i think.

ADAT is a digital format of transferring info (i think). basically when you get something like the behringer mentioned above, the 8 preamps send a digital signal to the ADAT insted of an analog signal like conventional preamps. The advantage of this is that 1 ADAT cord can carry 8 channels of audio at 48 khz and 24 bit, whereas you would need 8 cords for the same thing analog. There are also many other advantages and disadvantages that people will point out, i was just giving a bit of info to start you off.
 
oh ya, one thing about ADAT that kind of peeves me off is that you loose some value from your audio card in a way. What i mean is that say you buy the GINA 3G, well it comes with A/D converters (and pretty good ones at that) but if you use ADAT, you are forced to use the a/d conveters in the preamp (in the case of the behringer, that is a step down) and your purchase a/d conerters in your sound are not used at all.

am i right in this line of thinking?
 
ADAT is an optical (Lightpipe) interface similar to s/pdif but multichannel. Up to 8 channels (44.1 or 48Khz) or 4 channel 96Khz. The card should therefore be cheap, as there are no analog converters on it, although some add a normal stereo output for mixing/monitoring purposes. The E-mu 1212M for instance, has stereo i/o, but you can bring in another 8 channels with an ADAT interface.
I think the Frontier Dakota card has 2x ADATs - so 16track is possible with that.
Recent price cuts in some pci ranges and Behringers new ADAT pre-amps means this is not the expensive option it used to be.

Apologisies for duplicating the forgoing posts, They wern't there when I started typing!

The Gina spec says this...
"Supports full duplex 10 channel in, 14 channel out operation"
So with 8 ins in the ADAT, it looks like only the 2 onboard mic/guitar pre's are included .
 
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Don't forget the trusty Delta 1010LT.
2 preamps, 8 analog ins, 8 outs, s/pdif, midi.
The only thing it don't have is the breakout box - unbalanced cables only.
But for $220 it's a great deal
 
The 1820m is worth more than the extra 100 bucks. The ADA converters are better than the 1820, but I don't really have a use for the daughter card.

I just thought i'd stop wasting time and get a 1820m instead of the 1212m or 1820...

I woulda forked out a couple extra 100 to get the Motu 828mkII but from what I hear, the 1820m is superior as to mic pres/sound. Although the drivers aren't the best, they are good enough for ASIO recording. I don't touch WDM.
 
Jim Y said:
ADAT is an optical (Lightpipe) interface similar to s/pdif but multichannel. Up to 8 channels (44.1 or 48Khz) or 4 channel 96Khz.


Ok, and thx for the info ...

how should I understand those 8 channels? are those 8 different "digital signal carriers"????

So I would go with mic and guitar into the mixer, where A is converted to D and then push the D(igital) signals into the s-card?

When running Cubase, I can assign any track to a different of those 8 D-inputs and say record a mic'd drum (4 mics) in real time - already sorta "premixed" w/ the behringer?

did I understand it right? ... so all the A-D conversion is done out-board (on the mixer) and the s-card only deals with D-signals

thx for pointing out this new option to me...

what model card and mixer would you suggest for below 500 bucks?

thx
alfred
 
Ok, with ADAT I don't think anyone is necessarily talking about using a mixer. That's expensive - something like the Yamaha digital desks have ADAT connections. 8 channel pre-amps with ADAT is what I mean. Your mixing still has to be done in Cubase or whatever. All you get is mic 1 feeding ADAT 1, mic 2 to ADAT 2 etc. Its effectively an 8 channel soundcard with breakout box but you buy them seperately!

In the recording software, the ADAT channels look like normal soundcard paired stereo ins and outs, something like "ADAT in 1/2" thru to "ADAT in 7/8".
 
Jim Y said:
Ok, with ADAT I don't think anyone is necessarily talking about using a mixer. That's expensive - something like the Yamaha digital desks have ADAT connections. 8 channel pre-amps with ADAT is what I mean. Your mixing still has to be done in Cubase or whatever. All you get is mic 1 feeding ADAT 1, mic 2 to ADAT 2 etc. Its effectively an 8 channel soundcard with breakout box but you buy them seperately!

In the recording software, the ADAT channels look like normal soundcard paired stereo ins and outs, something like "ADAT in 1/2" thru to "ADAT in 7/8".

thx again, Jim for your informed opinion...

just to make sure ... if you say "8 channel pre-amps" we are talking about stuff like the Tascam TM-D 1000 digital mixer with ADAT inserts, etc... which can be had for around 400 dollars, right? this mixer would do the D-A conversion and the actual ADAT PCI card would do all the signal processing (e.g. vst-plugs in cubase)

bye
alfred
 
Hey Alf,
i think you might be a bit mixed up still, or maybe i am :) . What jym means by an 8 channel preamp is a a pre (maybe rack-mountable) that has 8 imputs on it. It's kindof like a mixer but without the faders and other junk. a good looking 8 channel preamp that has ADAT out is the m-audio octane. check out www.midiman.com.

Also, i don't think the soundcard does the processing of effects like VST in cubase. i beleive that is all software driven. you can get hardware cards (DSP's) that will process your sound. a great choice would be the UAD-1.
 
minofifa said:
Hey Alf,
i think you might be a bit mixed up still, or maybe i am :) . What jym means by an 8 channel preamp is a a pre (maybe rack-mountable) that has 8 imputs on it. It's kindof like a mixer but without the faders and other junk. a good looking 8 channel preamp that has ADAT out is the m-audio octane. check out www.midiman.com.

Also, i don't think the soundcard does the processing of effects like VST in cubase. i beleive that is all software driven. you can get hardware cards (DSP's) that will process your sound. a great choice would be the UAD-1.

me, mixed up ??? never !!!! ... maybe confused :D

ok, I got the idea that I need a breakout "device" that converts analogue to digital ... be it a mixer or a pre-amp - any grey box will do i guess :eek: :D


the octan is a little bit on the high side for me :( ... but the "Echo Gina3" and "Echo Layla3" seem to do pretty much the same for a whole lot less of cash - esp. the layla3 has a lot of inputs :-) ...

any thoughts on the echo's?

thx alfred
 
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