Line Input question

[cello john]

I was talking to a salesman at the local store the other day, asking about the roland DAW's (2480, 1824) and asking his opinion on outboard mic -pres. Opinion here seems to be that bypassing the onboard pres is preferable to just keeping the onboards at 0. This makes sense, as it will avoid passing through the extras circuitry and be cleaner, and truer to the better pre...
The salesman (who seems a decent guy and all, no fancy talk- but I don't know about whether he uses these units alot), thought that by going in to the line inputs (1/4 inch) on the 2480 instead of the xlr ins, you would bypass the the onboard pres just as effectively as if you had an actual insert available to the channel.
Anyone care to set me (or him) straight on this? I like the convenience and ease of use of an all-in-one unit but want to make sure that I'm not kicking myself later due to it's limitations, and that would be a big one I think...I have an RNP and have been eyeing the Grace 101...

Also, how difficult would it be to use outboard comps (RNC's) with a 2480? Besides having it in the actual signal path when recording, can one use it easily for mixing/mastering as well?
I would plan on using some of the onboard effects (why bother with the all-in-one otherwise?), but would like to know that I could patch in other units...

Sorry this is so long...thanks in advance for any advice...

 

[mixsit]

The unit's block diagram should show this.
Wayne

 

[SonicAlbert]

It's pretty typical for a mixer's line inputs to be attenuated and then sent to the mic preamps for re-amplfying back to line level. I would suspect that the Roland works this way although I don't know for sure. As mixsit says, you'd need to spend some time examining the block diagram of the DAW.

So there's really limited rason to spend a lot of money on outboard pre's unless you indeed have a way to hardware bypass the pres on the mixer or DAW. This is usually done by going into the mixer or DAW through the insert inputs. If the Roland has those, then that would be the best way to bypass the onboard pres when using external pres. But again, be sure to check the block diagram first!

As far as using outboard gear with the DAW, you need to check the Roland hardware to see if it has external fx sends and buss sends. If it doesn't, you can't.

It is actually quite easy to use external rack gear with a DAW, you just need the DAw hardware to have the appropriate in/outs and the ability to route to them.

 

[Armistice]

Cell

I don't have a Roland, but I do have a Yamaha AW4416 - it has 2 channel inserts on channels 1 & 2, and I use these to bypass the onboard pres, by clicking a normal TRS plug into the first click of the insert socket - you have to ensure they don't jiggle out, but it works. Sounds like you're already across this method

If the 2480 doesn't have inserts, I don't think going into the line inputs is going to be the solution, I doubt it bypasses the pres when set to 0.

This was one reason I went for the Yamaha over the Roland - there are many others - also check that the Roland doesn't use one of the two effects sends (working from memory here) for dynamics - I seem to recall that it does. So if you want to use a compressor on just one track, you're down one effect. Control of dynamics shouldn't be an "effect", if you're following me.

Hope that helps