Question For Echo Mona Users

[CRISB]

Can you tell me your thoughts on the Echo Mona? I am looking to buy a great soundcard & need some honest feedback. I am going to have a DAW built for me based around the souncard & want to go with the best I can for what I need. I will only be needing 4 ins at the most, at one time & I like the "all in one" feature of the Mona & have read great reviews about this soundcard. I also have considered getting a good soundcard without phantom power & purchasing the Studio Projects VTB-1 Mic Pre. So I need some advice. Are the Mona pre-amps good compared to a seperate Mic pre-amp? Doesn't the all in one feature reduce signal chain noise?

I want to make the right choice the first time & any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Chris

 

[foo]

Hey Cris,

I have Mona - I just started using it and I don't have much recording experience to compare other cards.

But - I used to play guitar for a living and have done some session work in professional studios in London and the US, done some mixdowns, etc, and have been in music for many years.

I've done some test recordings using the Cool Edit Pro that Mona came bundled with (it comes with Cubase now, I have an older version).

I'm pretty much a recording newbie. I have good results I am happy with on a stereo acoustic guitar track, both fingerpicked and hard strummed using an AT 4033 and an SM 57.

I also have very good results out of a Yamaha Motif sequenced stereo drum/bass pattern for the same song.

That's the good news - potential bad news is that I may have a latency problem (latency is how long it takes for the signal to get through all your stuff - sorry if you already know that) but I don't think it's going to be a problem, I just need to optimize XP and my entire setup.

Sound quality - I'm happy.
Ease of use - no problem - not too sure about the headphone/main outs tho - seems like the headphone input should automatically cut the signal to the monitor outs.
The digital console is new to me, so I have nothing to compare it to, but is relatively easy to figure out.

As I get more into it I may have more insight for you but for now, that's it.

Hope this helps,

foo

 

[erichenryus]

have a mona as well. i actually pm'd you but wanted to add that i have no problems with latency. the card allows direct monitoring of the input signal which is zero latency and the XP drivers are excellent and stable imo.

i am running this card with an ASUS A7M266 + AMD xp1900+ setup and it is very stable and easy to use.