looking for a good mic pre amp for 500

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All Good

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hey im upgrading from mp9 to the 10 and im looking for a good mic pre amp for rap and singing vocals and something to run my keyboard into via xlr and my monitors my budget is 500 to a rough 600 can u guys give me some advise
 
mp9 pro tools 9 m audio fast tract pro you play to much call of duty
 
All Good said:
and my monitors
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I was about to suggest some preamps but then this bit threw me slightly. With no offence intended, do you mean preamp or audio interface with built in preamps? Also, 500 what? i'd assume $'s but the difference between $500 and £500 is quite significant and don't want to suggest things that may be £500 here but are nearer $750 the other side of the pond
 
500 us dollars and i mean a audio interface with built in mic pre amp
 
Cool, a couple more questions; Do you need USB or Firewire? Mac or PC?

Secondly, do a quick search through the forums as there are plenty of people who have asked similar questions and you may just find one that matches your circumstances exactly.

thirdly, and i may be wrong, but i thought MP9 needed an Maudio interface for it to work? are you planning to just upgrade to the full PT10 or are you waiting for the new MP10 and planning to upgrade for that?

Otherwise, as a simple overview, the AI's i normally suggest in these situations are the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, the Focusrite Saffire 6 usb, and the Presonus Audiobox 22VSL. if you've got a mac i'd say have a look at the Apogee Duet which gets great reviews. Also, as a new product, the Motu Microbook II looks pretty cool and may work really well. However, as i said earlier, if you are planning to stay with the MP versions of PT's then you'll need to stick with an Maudio interface
 
i need usb and im upgrading from pro tools mp9 to the full version of pro tools 10 no mp version i need to be able to switch mboxes on the fly let me specific with the specs of mt set up

i have a pc 8gig of ram 1tb on the hard drive its a hp pavillion .

i need a auto interface something with good latency so the the sound from my piano and maschine will play with out the delay

i need to this mbox to be able connect to my piano my mic and my monitors the mic that im using currently is a blue bird ill soon be upgrading to the blue bird baby bottle the black one i have yamaha hs50m monitors can you help me out with some good advise now that you know full details i also make beats the piano i own is a casio-pw i need a good mic pre amp interface with atleast two channels i my budget is $ 500 i dont want anything crappy
 
Cool, then i'd say definitely check out the focusrite AI's as the preamps are clean and the routing software is easy to use. i'm not 100% sure on the latency with the piano if you're using it to trigger samples in protools (in which case i'm guessing you'd need MIDI inputs on the AI. i couldn't find the specific keyboard you had but as you said you're plugging it in via XLR i'll carry on), but if you're plugging it in directly via xlr/line input and just using the internal sounds in the keyboard then you can achieve zero latency monitoring directly via the AI's routing software (or, in some cases, straight from the front of the AI if they have a monitor control knob where you can adjust how much of the live signal and how much of the playback you hear in your headphones/monitors). Plus, you should be able to setup maschine to work via USB with an AI plugged in anyway so there shouldn't be an issue with latency (although don't quote me on that, i'm basing this on reading through NI's page on it :D)

Out of curiosity, what mbox are you using atm? is there anything in particular you don't like about it?

EDIT; sorry for all the questions man, it's purely to help us all get a clearer picture of what you need. We are trying to help and don't want to suggest stuff that is either inappropriate or just a waste of money, so the more info the easier it is :)
 
ok i have the m audio fast tract pro that comes standard with mp9 and as far as my key ill be using it via .xlr and midi becuase my keyboard has internal sounds as well and i also use fl studios aswell thats why i need to know about the latency also i had another question if i put a fire wire port om my desktop do u think i can run a audio interface thats a firewire because i see alot of good fire wire interfaces is there abig difference in usb and fire wire
 
Cool, then looking down the usb route the Focusrite Saffire 6 USB and Presonus Audiobox 22VSL would both do what you need them to. however, in real terms, the quality may be little or no better than the fast track pro in some aspects. If we say you're current needs/issues with the fasttrack pro is the preamps and software monitoring latency then the mic preamps on both the focusrite and presonus sound great and, to my ears, better than the maudio AI's i've used (fasttrack ultra and the fasttrack MKii) and, looking at the specs, the latency should be lower (i don't do much, if any, virtual instrument stuff so i'm basing this just off the spec sheets with a pinch of salt) At this price point though all the products are relatively comparable. Would firewire make a difference?; well, maybe, or at least it opens up more avenues, and there was certainly a time when firewire swept the floor with USB stuff, but not so much anymore. However, the firewire based Focusrite Saffire range are excellent boxes. Otherwire, and imo something that seems ideal in this situation, i'd say you're best bet may be something like the new Motu Track16, although i have no idea of the US$ price (it's about £450 over here, soooo $600 maybe? IDK). The preamps on the motu stuff sound great, the converters sound great, and it's also both USB and firewire with the only difference being that when it's plugged in with USB you need to plug it in to an external power plug, whereas in firewire mode it can be buss powered.

The other things worth thinking about are; does maschine have midi in? if so, have you tried it to see if the latency is better than going through the fasttrack pro? Also, if it's an issue with the preamps for the mic then it may be worth looking at interfaces with line level inputs and look at a separate higher quality preamp such as the GAP Pre-73
 
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