m-audio octane pre

[buryher17]

whats your opinion? I want to get this to use as a pre fr my drum mics. is it worth it? And the other thing is, does this pre have individual outputs for every input? or is it a digital output? cause i'd like it to be either XLR to 1/4" or XLR to XLR

 

[thajeremy]

I have one and I think its great...I use it for drums....it does have digital outputs, but it also has 1/4" outs for every input. Also, channels 1 and 2 have instrument inputs which is where I usually DI bass guitar. It is bassically 8 channels of DMP3 in one unit so if you have a DMP3, you can just sell it off if you get an octane.

 

[buryher17]

I have one and I think its great...I use it for drums....it does have digital outputs, but it also has 1/4" outs for every input. Also, channels 1 and 2 have instrument inputs which is where I usually DI bass guitar. It is bassically 8 channels of DMP3 in one unit so if you have a DMP3, you can just sell it off if you get an octane.

thats amazing thank you. How do the pre's sound? I want to give my drums that "umphh" haha. I'm trying to find a decent pre to make my drums sound as professional as possible and to maybe use it also for vocals?

Right now my set up is...

Snare- SM57 (top of snare)
Toms- Samson Q-toms (4) (bottom of tom)
Floor tom- sennheiser e609 (bottom of tom)
OH- AT2020 (set up on left/right in right angle)
hihat- AT2021 (on top centered in the middle)
kick- Audix D6 (usually 1/2 inside)
kick 2- samson Qkick ocassionaly used on other side to addd "click"

All running through an alesis multimix 16 USB 2.0. I have a studio projects VTB-1 pre and other rack units including an art pre, conpressor etc but typically i just use the pre on the hihat.


for vox i use the AT2020 until i buy a At3035 this week :]

 

[WhiteStrat]

I've got one and I also use it with drums. (I have an 8 channel compressor that I use as inserts with the Octane for a bit of control sometimes.)

I recorded drums for the first time just last Friday night. Here's a sample:

Since it was my first attempt, I've spent a couple days learning and tweaking. Last night I recorded again--changed out some mics, adjust positioning, tweaked some rack settings. From the raw files I can say last night's session was much better than the above sample. (The kick is much improved) I'll post again as soon as they're mixed down.

BTW-last nights session was 12 channels:

OH Left - Rode NT-5
OH right - Rode NT-5
HH - MXL 993
Snare top - Audix i5
Snare bottom - Sennheiser e609
Left Tom - GLS 57
Right Tom - GLS 57
Floor Tom - GLS 57
Kick Inside - D112
Kick Beater - Shure SM 57
Room Left - CAD M177
Room Right - CAD M177

So not all channels were in the Octane. But on the sample posted above, everything but the kick is in the Octane. I'm glad I have it!

 

[warble2]

thats amazing thank you. How do the pre's sound? I want to give my drums that "umphh" haha. I'm trying to find a decent pre to make my drums sound as professional as possible and to maybe use it also for vocals?

Right now my set up is...

Snare- SM57 (top of snare)
Toms- Samson Q-toms (4) (bottom of tom)
Floor tom- sennheiser e609 (bottom of tom)
OH- AT2020 (set up on left/right in right angle)
hihat- AT2021 (on top centered in the middle)
kick- Audix D6 (usually 1/2 inside)
kick 2- samson Qkick ocassionaly used on other side to addd "click"

All running through an alesis multimix 16 USB 2.0. I have a studio projects VTB-1 pre and other rack units including an art pre, conpressor etc but typically i just use the pre on the hihat.


for vox i use the AT2020 until i buy a At3035 this week :]

Although not a drummer, I recorded drums for a demo project before and can tell you this: your first thought should be drum heads, and making sure the drums are "tuned" appropriately. As I'm sure you've heard before (or maybe not) GIGO (garbage in-garbabe out). Once the drums are in shape so to speak, then proceed to mics, pres, etc. I recorded in a carpeted, oak panelled room and had to play around a bit with mic positioning. I ended up using Drumagog to add some "umphh" to the kick and snare, but generally I think that "umphh" will come from the proper use of compression.

Just experiment a bit - that's the fun of it for me. Don't have expectations to throw everything up, and run it through a magical pre-amp that will make it all sound good. Not saying that is how your approaching it, just saying not to approach it that way.

Good luck!