I just want 2 inputs !!!

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PapillonIrl

PapillonIrl

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I want to spend my money on sound quality, and not loads of inputs and outputs, not preamps, and not midi capability. I want between $200 and $350. I know there is probably a million threads looking for soundcards but I wanted to be a bit more specific, ( and lazy )if this has been asked to the point of pain before I apologise. I am using my new Event 20/20bas monitors *strokes shiny monitors*, and a decent mixer with pre's. So I need the card to be able to drive those and my new *strokes sexy headphones* Sennheiser HD2200 headphones.


Thanks.

pAp.
 
maybe...

I just seen a really good price on a second hand audiophile 2496...any views on this would be greatly appreciated also.

Thanks,

pAp.
 
great card...very clean for its price.....same converters as the Delta 44 and 66.....only drawback is that the analog inputs/outputs are not balanced...shorter cables can help with this...if you need balanced, Echo Mia is pretty much the sam feature-wise, but has the balanced connections.....

I have the Audiophile myself...it runs about $159 new......

then again you could get the Delta 44 for a good bit under $300 and get the balanced inputs, 4 in 4 out....i know you only need 2, but more never hurt anyone and its a great card....
 
Okay, a couple of questions.


1 : I use this mixer : http://www.behringer.com/eng/products/eurorack/mx2004a.htm
I have gotten used to eq'ing on this to get the drum sounds I want, and I understand there is mic preamps built in. Am I right in saying these are probably superior to the Omnistudio Preamps ?

2: What exactly is the difference between balanced\unbalanced ?


Thanks for the advice.

pAp.
 
pAp,

The Omni Studio preamps are supposed to be based on the DMP-2. That being said, and considering my experience with Behringer, I would take the Omni Studio preamps over the Behringer's anytime. BUT, with your behringer you have more preamps than you do with the Omni Studio. The Omni only has two preamps. I own two DMP-2s and have been VERY happy with them :)

As for balanced and unbalanced. The basic difference, and someone please correct me if I am wrong, is a third wire (or conductor) that can help cancel noise over long cable runs. Most of the time a balanced signal will be stronger.

The explanation between the two is actually much more involved than that but I didn't quite want to write a book ;) If you search this site for balanced AND unbalanced you'll find a ton of information that is probably worded much better than I could write.


-Lunatic
 
Thanks

One thing I'm still not clear on. If a signal that is already amped hits the Omni, i.e. 4 behringer mixer channels of stereo drums, what happens ? Are the preamps in the Omni disabled automatically\manually when an already amped signal hits it ?

pArdon my ignorance,
pAp.
 
The 2 preamps on the Omni would be for using dynamic or condenser microphones. They could also be used as direct ins for bass or guitar. These take an XLR connection and appear to operate on channels 1 and 2.

The XLR connections for these are on the front of the breakout box. They are a special design that take an XLR or 1/4" connection. However, you also have four 1/4" inputs on the back. I imagine that plugging into inputs 1 or 2 on the back of the box bypasses the preamps. From your Behringer mixer you would go into one of the four inputs on the back of the box.

From what I can tell the Omni may be overkill for what you want to do. At the time of suggesting the Omni I didn't know you already had a mixer (I didn't ask either ;) )

That being said, you could go with the Delta 66, 44 or even the Audiophile 24/96. There are also USB options from many manufacturers as well. Then again, there are many people using a Sound Blaster Live! and loving it :)

-Lunatic
 
I see you are recording drums so Im assuming you are using multiple mics....If you just get an Audiophile, you will only be able to record the drums to a single stereo track....if you want complete control during the mixing process, Id recommend at least 4 tracks, but that also depends on which mics you have (which do you have , btw).....I like stereo overheads and kick and snare.....

Also the preamps in the Omni are far, far superior to the Behringers so it would not be overkill....you could use the Omni's pre's for critical tracks such as vocals, overheads on the frums while recording them, etc......

If you can swing the $$$ for the Omni ($379), it will be the perfect for what you are doing......
 
Thanks folks, I've only seen those last replies now.

lunatic : Thanks for clearing that up, that makes sense now. :)

Gidge : I use a Sennheiser e602 for the kick, e604 for the snare/hihat (hihat always seems too loud for me, but thats beside the point), and AKG D88 and a Sennheiser e45 for the overheads. The e845 is our backing vocalist mic, but it sounds fairly close to the D880 to me so I use the two of these for the overheads.

OK, one last question :

Say I have a soundcard with 4 or more inputs and four preamps. Can I record each input onto a separate track in Cool Edit ? Maybe I should ask this in the Cool Edit forum but, I guess what I am really asking is, can I end up with four separate tracks on my editor, one for each drum mic ? That would enable me to put effectseqpanning on each mics recording separately after I was finished. That would be the business.

pAp.

Too much to ask ?
 
Yes, you can record to 4 separate tracks in Cool Edit (assuming you mean Cool Edit Pro).......
 
Excellant. It seems like I've come full circle than. The title of this thread should be changed to "I just want four inputs and four preamps and four outputs and..."

If the preamps in my mixer are not as good as those in the likes of the omni studio, than I am gona buy once and hopefully not have to buy again for a while.

Thanks again.

pAp.
 
Keep in mind that the Omni only has 2 preamps so youll still be using them to record drums....2 overhead mics going into the omni preamps and the other mics going into the Behringer into the omni line ins....
 
How 'bout the SOLO EX

SeaSound recently went out of business. GC is offering their Solo EX for $300.

This has two balanced inputs with phantom power, and high quality preamps, 24/96 converters, two headphone amps (separate volume controls), two line input, zero latency monitoring, SPDIF I/O. It's a two space rack mount with trim and pan pots on the rack face, peak limit meter... to a PCI card. This thing sounds perfect for you (I read in other posts that GC is honoring SeaSound’s one year warrantee).

I just bought one of these and am very happy with it. I really wanted it for the 24/96 converters, but the pres are sweet too. I I bypass my digital mixer for most of my solo tracks because of the quality of the sound I get out of this.

But they are out of business, so if you're looking for tech support, they're obviously not there.

Steve
 
balanced/unbalanced

Ohh...

A balanced line is lower impedance. Impedance does exactly what it sounds like... it impedes signal (It's like resistance, but you can't read it with an ohm meter, because it only exists while signal is present).

On an unbalanced line you have one signal lead and one ground lead. A balanced line sends signal on two leads (hence the term balanced) and ground on the third.

And you're right… this is a very basic explanation. Whole books were written on this subject, impedance characteristics, and resistive capacitive circuits have everything to do with how we shape and process analog sound.
Steve
 
MOFO,

Just wanted to say that was a great post on unbalanced/balanced. I couldn't quite find the way to describe it. Then again, I always seem to have trouble find the right way to say something :)

Also, I had been wondering about the Seasound stuff. Do you know for sure that GC is honoring the warranty because $300 isn't too shabby.


-Lunatic
 
Thanks MOFO, that sounds interesting.

I'm not familiar with 'GC', is it an online store ? Could I get the URL if it is ?

pArdon my ignorance :)
pAp
 
GC is Guitar Center. Their online store is Musician's Friend.

And I'm not sure about GC's commitment to honoring the warrantee, but I read it on the Internet so it has to be true, right?

I did research SeaSound extensively, and found very few negative comments. Most owners are very happy about the quality. I only read about one person who had a problem, and quite honestly, I think that case was operator error.

Another point to consider is the lack of updated drivers. There's no current W2K driver and of course, no work being done towards that end.

I noticed that the local GC here still has a stack of them, so if you wait a couple of weeks they may discount them further... but it's a crap shoot... you may miss out. (They do have the 30 day lowest price guarantee... so you have in your favor)

They're also selling the little brother "Soloist" for $200 but I wasn't impressed when I got that unit home. (Biggest complaint was that the bandwidth was static at 96 Khz. The SOLO EX freq is agile, allowing setting from 8khz thru 96khz. And the soloist doesn't have SPDIF I/O). I figure the additional Preamp and headphone amp are worth the another $100

I love mine.

Steve
 
im using the solo ex by seasound, it has two xlr inputs w/ mic
preamps,two 1/4 inch for bass or guitar w/ preamp, line in, on
the back, also has phantom power for condenser mic.
its a breakout box w/ a sound card,& really is plug & play!
also comes w/ cubas
i recently read that seasound has gone out of business though
which means you might find one real cheap,
i got mine for $500 & i cant brag on it enough!
look into some discount music stores, or ebay
ive had no problems , the seasound is very dependable.
bunky
 
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