Need advice. Building full recording studio. (converters, etc)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Myriad_Rocker
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Myriad_Rocker

Myriad_Rocker

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Alright guys, here's the deal. I'm selling my house to build or buy another house and I'm going to build a "pro" studio on the property. I've done my construction research and I think I have most of the details on the acoustic treatment ironed out as far as planning goes.

Now it's on to the planning of the actual gear and the equipment that records it. Right now, I'm battling with the converter issue which has led me to the beating of the dead horse (Mac Pro vs PC). Frankly, I'm a little overwhelmed with information right now and I'm at a crossroads and don't know which way to turn.

My current setup:
PC w/Windows XP Pro
RME Fireface 800
Sonar Producer

I'd like to be able to record up to 24 channels at once and possibly expand that to 32. I'm even willing to start with just 16 at once, I suppose. This brought me to Apogee with their AD/DA-16Xs line. Can those be used with PC's? And what about the proverbial Apogee vs RME debate? I know Apogee makes great converters...a step up from what the RME has. BUT, RME is no slouch, either!

When putting a Mac Pro system together that can do 24 channels with an Apogee setup, it gets expensive pretty quick. We're talking nearly 12 grand in just computer and converters. Now, I love quality. And if I have to, I'll bite the bullet for it. But, the question for me is...do I really have to?

To put in perspective the quality I'm trying to shoot for, which might be mid-level, I'm not sure...here's a list of some of the equipment I have on my list or already own.

2 x API 3124+
A Designs Pacifica
Great River MP-2NV
Avalon AD2022
Shadow Hills Quad Gamma
Empirical Labs EL8X

2 x Barefoot MicroMain 27 (mixing)
2 x Event ASP8 (tracking & reference)
2 x Yamaha NS-10S w/Hafler amp (reference & looks haha)
Presonus Central Station

Royer R-121
Josephson C42 Pair
Neumann U87ai
Soundelux 151
4 x Shure SM57
Shure Beta 52
Shure SM7b
AKG D112
3 x Sennheiser MD421
Sennheiser e609s
AKG C 414 B-XL II Pair
2 x Audix i5
2 x Audix D2
Audix D6
Rode NT5 Pair
AT 4033
Cascade Fathead II

8 x MoreMe Headphones
PreSonus HP60 Headphone Amp

Mackie Control Universal w/2 Extenders
46" or so Main Monitor (meaning, no window between CR and LR)
22" Secondary Monitor

Most of my EQ & Dynamics will be UAD and other plugs that I already have.

I also know that I'll need money for cabling, etc. I figure maybe a budget of about 1k for that, possibly more.
 
I'm thinking there may not be alot of AD/DA-16Xs users.
Dont know about them never had the chance.
But I have used their lower priced cousins in the
Duet.

I'm thinking Apogee is excluse MAC only apple core audio.
Why not an Aurora 8 or 16 that will run on anything?
When I AB my MAC duet with a PC with Lynx Two A
I think Lynx soundsa little more detailed. Thats what
I come up with so far but I have not had a chance to
try very many variations of pre amps and mics to really
come up with a fair compairison.

Just switched to mac a couple weeks ago and really like
it but have much learning to do in logic. But I'm pretty close
to the same place you are, only considering ensemble to
aurora's. Not addicted enough to be looking at AD/DA-16Xs
I have to say I love the integration between apogee and macs.
 
RandyW said:
I'm thinking there may not be alot of AD/DA-16Xs users.
Dont know about them never had the chance.
But I have used their lower priced cousins in the
Duet.

I'm thinking Apogee is excluse MAC only apple core audio.
Why not an Aurora 8 or 16 that will run on anything?
When I AB my MAC duet with a PC with Lynx Two A
I think Lynx soundsa little more detailed. Thats what
I come up with so far but I have not had a chance to
try very many variations of pre amps and mics to really
come up with a fair compairison.

Just switched to mac a couple weeks ago and really like
it but have much learning to do in logic. But I'm pretty close
to the same place you are, only considering ensemble to
aurora's. Not addicted enough to be looking at AD/DA-16Xs
I have to say I love the integration between apogee and macs.
Click to expand...
Actually, you CAN use the AD/DA-16X with Windows. They're only compatible via FW and with Windows XP SP2. I spoke with Apogee yesterday and they are no longer updating the Windows software. It will work, it just won't be supported anymore.

I know there's probably not a lot of high end users here considering this is a home recording forum, but I know there are some. John Scrip comes to mind even though he does just mastering. Harvey is another. Then Tom from Mastering House. There are others as well. They just need to poke their head in here!!! ;)

And to your other point...if I can't go Apogee AD/DA and Rosetta, I'll stick to RME. Their stuff is top notch.
 
Well, after all the help I got here (oh wait...), I think I may have made somewhat of a choice. I guess if I find something that's better bang for the buck, I'll go with it but this is the best think I've found so far...

Lynx Aurora 16 x2
Apogee Big Ben
 
i'm expecting to make a big change in the next couple of months myself so i can dig the dilemma... on thing i've considered is a used radar recorder (they are known for their convertors) running into a rme madi interface... that would give me 24 i/o... the low cost alternative is motu 24i/o which runs @$1.5k somewhat dubious quality wize but not all the problems of their lower stuff as it hasn't got pre's in it...
 
Yeah, for my purposes I'm pretty sure I'm going with the Lynx Aurora 16 clocked to the Apogee Big Ben. I read a shootout with the Lynx Aurora 16 vs the Apogee AD/DA-16Xs and when the Lynx was clocked to the Big Ben, the differences between them were VERY VERY subtle. Almost identical. And for the price difference, I'm going with that. That gives me 24 i/o and I can expand later if I need to, although I can't really see why I would at the moment. Never know, though.
 
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