Masterlink to Roland via S/PDIF

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PHILANDDON

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I have a Roland VS 2000 and I've heard that the a/d converter is not that good. I was thinking of running two mics into my two grace 101 preamps and then out into my Alesis Masterlink and then using the Masterlink's A/D S/PDIF output to feed the Roland's S/PDIF input.

This is obviously a pretty cumbersome setup since the Masterlink is a lot bigger than your average little a/d converter. The advantages I see would be twofold:

(1) Better A/D conversion on the Masterlink (Does everyone agree)
(2) Completely bypass the Roland preamp circuitry.

Do you think all the fuss worth it? Or should I just wing it and just input the Grace signals into the Roland's XLR inputs.

Thanks for the feedback.

I'll also post this on the Roland forum....
 
Yeah - the stock converters on the Masterlink are not bad at all (although the Lucids do outperform them by a good margin!) I suspect they WOULD be a lot better than the on-board Roland stuff....
 
keep in mind that there are only a few companies making the converter chips. the roland vs 2000 is a newer piece and is probably in the same ball park as that alsesis crap. so i would compare first. lucid is nice but i like the mytek.
 
Yo Philanddon! Yes! Do it. The Masterlink's A-D conversion may not be a big deal, but bypassing the Roland's preamps *is*. I recorded an entire CD on a VS1824CD, and much of the work was done using a TC Electronics M300 for A-D conversion, bypassing the Roland's pres, and the improvement is dramatic. I'm pretty sure the M300's convertors aren't any better than the Roland's, but my outboard pres are, and going in by S/PDIF will prevent the Roland from messing with your Grace 101.-Richie
 
Thanks Richie. That's been my experience so far. Everything sounds really good coming through the Grace and then into the Masterlink and then into the Rolad via S/PDIF. A nice thing about this setup is I can record to my Masterlink and Roland at the same time, so if something goes wrong and I got a great take, I'll probably still be in business. I'd track straight to the masterlink and forget the Roland until mixing/mastering, if the Masterlink had punch-in capabilites, but it doesn't. Wish the setup wasn't so cumbersome though. I just disagree with anyone who says the Masterlink's A/D is so-so. I mean the machine was state of the art just a few years ago and was specifically designed as a mixdown deck (for analog as well as digital tracks), and I think it sounds great. Big, punchy sound. Perfect for the old-time country thing I'm going for. I think spending my money on higher end A/D converter would be a waste.

Incidentally, I think the difference in various A/D converters is overrated. I saw this thread over at gearslutz where this guy recorded the same tracks to a pricy Lavry converter, a pricy Apogee, and the much cheaper Mackie Onyx. In a blind test most people picked the Mackie as the best sounding one.
 
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