Folio Spirit Notepad - any good?

[Scotsman]

Hope I'm in the right forum. I'm setting up a recording studio for recording guitar to PC and have a couple of Qs about the mixers I saw today - do I post here, the guitar place or the PC recording place?

I want to record acoustic guitar and vocals to PC with no effects. I have a Soundblaster Live! 5.1 souncard and Cool Edit Pro 2.0.

I was considering a Behringer MX802a mixer and liked the price, but the salesman in the shop advised me to steer clear of Behringer products. In his opinion the components are not of sufficient quality for such a product and he recommended going for something that wouldn't have to be changed further down the line. He had a few Mackie mixers in stock, including a VLZ Pro 1202 which he reckoned would suit my needs and would last many, many years. The price was EURO 599 which was quite a bit over what I was hoping to pay. He did mention the Mackie DFX6 which they have on order; the price should be around EURO 379, still more than I was hoping to pay. I guess with mixers, as with anything else, you get what you pay for.

Another mixer he recommended for starting out was a Sprit Notepad made by Soundcraft. Are these any good? I can't find any reviews on the 'net. Price of this one was EURO 199 which is much closer to what I'm happy to spend.

He also showed me a 24-bit DA>AD converter called a Di-Port and said it may just be what I'm looking for. This has two mic inputs with some half-decent preamps and has digital ins and outs. My soundcard is only 16-bit and I think that this sort of product isn't really what I'm after. Any thoughts? This beast was EURO 499.

And so that's it. All advice welcome.

Cheers,
Jock

 

[Middleman]

Folio Spirit Notepad - any good?

These are better than any other lo end board in the under $200 US (ebay) range IMHO. Excellent mic pres which are very nuetral (not warm but not brittle either). However, very limited routing for effects and monitoring. The british just think different when it comes to mixing consoles and the notepad reflects this.

The sound is very good and quiet.

 

[christiaan]

He also showed me a 24-bit DA>AD converter called a Di-Port and said it may just be what I'm looking for. This has two mic inputs with some half-decent preamps and has digital ins and outs. My soundcard is only 16-bit and I think that this sort of product isn't really what I'm after. Any thoughts? This beast was EURO 499.

The DI-Port has some very happy owners on this board. It's on my wishlist as well. Use the search to find more posts about it. If you don't need the routing options that a mixer have, it may be a great choice, especially further down the road when you may decide to upgrade the soundcard for something that (also) has spdif i/o.
Thomann in Germany has it for €255,-!
www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/thoiw7_artikel-142099.html

 

[Scotsman]

Re: Re: Folio Spirit Notepad - any good?

The DI-Port has some very happy owners on this board. It's on my wishlist as well. Use the search to find more posts about it. If you don't need the routing options that a mixer have, it may be a great choice, especially further down the road when you may decide to upgrade the soundcard for something that (also) has spdif i/o.
Thomann in Germany has it for €255,-!
www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/thoiw7_artikel-142099.html

I've done some reading on the Di-Port as you suggested christiaan and there are indeed some happy users on board. It seems to have some very good preamps inside and is a good digital <> analogue converter too. Its only downside for me is that it only has two channels and I'd like to record three (two for guitar, one for vocals).

I have a Soundblaster Live! soundcard with the Live Drive breakout box attached; this includes RCA S/PDIF I/O and optical I/O but is only a 16-bit card. Given that the Di-Port is 24-bit, would the two be compatible?

And that price you found for the Di-Port is great! I was quoted EURO 499 at my local audio harware store and that put me off any further research. What a difference!

Another possible option could be the Aardvark Pro 24/96 - has anyone any experience with this product? How do its preamps compare with say the Di-Port or DMP-3?

At the moment I'm really quite overwhelmed, not just by the variety of products available, but by the different methods to choose between for recording to PC. My main requirements are just that, to record to PC but in order to future-proof my purchases, would I not perhaps be better going for a mixer, and then perhaps somewhere down the line upgrade my soundcard to a 24-bit with quality digital <> analogue converters? Or is there room in my arsenal for a Di-Port AND a mixer later on? Reason for thinking "mixer" is in case I ever get good enough to want to perform. (you never know )

Off to see what I can find on the Aardvark now, although it IS a bit pricier than the Di-Port...

Jock

 

[christiaan]

Re: Re: Re: Folio Spirit Notepad - any good?

I have a Soundblaster Live! soundcard with the Live Drive breakout box attached; this includes RCA S/PDIF I/O and optical I/O but is only a 16-bit card. Given that the Di-Port is 24-bit, would the two be compatible?

According to the Mindprint site the DI-port supports 16 bits. I've never used it, but that's what they say themselves.

 

[geekgurl]

Middleman, would you say the Folio Notepad sounds better than Mackie VLZ and/or VLZ Pro for EQ and pre? I'm thinking a used 1202 VLZ or VLZ Pro here.

cheers,

gg

Folio Spirit Notepad - any good?

These are better than any other lo end board in the under $200 US (ebay) range IMHO. Excellent mic pres which are very nuetral (not warm but not brittle either). However, very limited routing for effects and monitoring. The british just think different when it comes to mixing consoles and the notepad reflects this.

The sound is very good and quiet.

 

[flapo1]

I have a Spirit Folio (not notepad, 12 inputs) and if the pres are the same as the notepad, they are quite good, IMHO better than Mackies, and EQ has better, warmer sound.

 

[matty_boy]

I have that exact board (the spirit folio notepad) and I have been very happy with it. Like somebody mentioned, the routing is not really flexible, but if you are just using a stereo input, it is good. The pres sound good, and this is essentially what I use it for.

 

[mikeh]

I use a Folio Notepad for a sub-mixer with my live percussion set up. I've done limited recording with it (when I first got it - just to hear what the percussion sounded like before I took it out to gigs).

As already stated the routing is very limited. My Folio produces very little noise. The mic pres are very decent - I don't know if I can say they are better of worse that the Mackies (I do use a Mackie in my studio) - they certainly are as good.

I did not really use the EQ much in my limited recording (nor do I use it in a critical listening environment for live gigs) - but there are many sources that suggest the Spirit EQ range seems more "musical" (others may suggest it's "warmer") than Mackie EQ.

It is not a bad little mixer - but make sure you know what you are looking to achieve. With limited channels and routing it is something you could grow out of quickly.

 

[Middleman]

geekgurl,

Yeah the pres sound better to my ear. More quality sounding and less stark or hard sounding than either of the Mackies you mention. The EQ, I could not say. I did a shootout a long time ago on Mackie and Soundcraft and never got to an EQ test as I liked the Soundcraft sound and decided to go that route. I have since sold the Notepad as I wanted more routing capabilities.

 

[geekgurl]

Cool, thanks to all for the replies re: Mackie vs. Spirit. Notepad may indeed be limited ... I was in a music store yesterday and noticed a Soundcraft board with Lexicon effects onboard ... That may be a worthy situation to look into (I should interject at this point that, although this is homrecording.com, I'm looking at gear mainly for LIVE use, but I want decent gear than can do double-duty for recording. I already have my main recording stuff for what I do, though).