Need advice on interfaces...

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sausy1981

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Hi guys, At the moment I use a Boss BR800 as an interface into my DAW which is Sonar x1 producer, I also have an alesis IO2 which I use for midi as the BR800 has no midi capabilities, Now the BR800 is great for recording my guitars and bass and I'm really pleased with how it sounds and the flexibility of it, it's an amazing machine, but I'm not too fond of the vocals that I'm getting from it. I use a decent Condenser mic, its a studio projects B1 and I'm happy with my room and how I record my vocals. I've been looking at the ROLAND QUAD-CAPTURE USB AUDIO INTERFACE to use for my vocals as I heard its a decent pre amp for vocals. This is in my price range and I only really need the 2 inputs cos I'll only be tracking vocals and not multi tracking. Has anyone got any advice for me or any opinion or even any experience with the ROLAND QUAD-CAPTURE USB AUDIO INTERFACE
Cheers guys.
 
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If you're happy with the interface you have, why not buy a tube pre-amp, like the Presonus TubePre (or maybe even spend a few more calms and get something really decent). You can put this into the line input on the BR800 (I'm also a big fan of the BR line and I started my chops on an 1180 back in the day) on the back and it will make your mic sound much warmer. This way you don't have to waste money replacing something you already have and can spend more (or save more) by just fixing the part that's "broken".

I would say the upgrade to a tube pre-amp would be better than an upgrade of interface, as the conversion on the Roland Quad is probably not much better than the BR800.
 
omg - this floored me in the product description for that TubePre: "Unlike most tube preamps, the TubePre V2 lets you add as much or as little tube warmth as you like. "
Translation: "Unlike real tube preamps, this is a solid-state one with a little starved plate toob circuit you can use like a distortion plugin".
:laughings:

Also - https://homerecording.com/bbs/equip...k-tube-mic-pre-comparison-341337/#post3855585

@OP: All interfaces in that price range are pretty much the same (you're not going to get any noticeable improvement...or even a noticeable difference, for that matter). What exactly don't you like about your vocals, and why do you think this is going to help? And what's with the caps?
 
as mentioned earlier, any other interface in this price range won't have a huge difference in the preamps, although the quad capture does get good reviews. however, if you only need one channel for a preamp, why not look at the Golden Age Project Pre-73 (about £250). i had the ART tube pre and have played with the presonus tube pre and although they're ok for certain things, i found myself not using them very much as the preamps in my sound card (presonus fire studio mobile) were about the same caliber.

Saying that, as someone said, it does really depend what the actual problem you're having with your vocals is. although a different preamp would make a difference, a different mic would make a much bigger difference. i know you're happy with the studio projects B1 but have you tried anything else? have you tried the B1 through some different pre's to see how it sounds? when you say you're happy with your room are you saying it's treated and dead or that you know how it sounds and can compensate for it?
 
I have a Quad Capture and I'm very happy with it. As others say, at this price range, there may well not be much difference in sound quality between models.

I did find the Auto-Sens feature really useful (you play or sing into it and it sets the gain on the preamp automatically), but, now I understand more about headroom and not tracking too hot, I find I set it manually to track lower.

Don't be fooled by the Quad in the name - it has too analogue ins with a preamp on each of those channels. The other two inputs are digital.

I'm now finding I'd quite like three inputs, so it can be quickly outgrown (although you may well be certain of your requirements - I was totally new to all this when I bought mine).
 
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