soundcard and preamps

  • Thread starter Thread starter quagmire77
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quagmire77

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Recently I had decided on the Audiophile 2496 as an interface, but realized that I probably don't have preamps on my mixer. It is a Peavy Mark 1 Series 900 Volt 9 Channel Mixer (this thing is vintage, and by vintage I mean really old). I would like to have a flexable setup where I can record demos by myself with guitar, dynamic mic, and drum machine without any mixer, and a set up that I can use for my 4 piece rock band. Do I need something with preamps (like the E-MU 1820)?
 
Regardless of its age, any mixer that accepts mic inputs has preamps.

If you want to connect to your PC with mics and don't want to go through a mixer or stand-alone preamp first, then yes, you need an interface that has at least one mic preamp.
 
What you'll need...

Hey, Quag.

You can run line level signals to your 2496, but if you use a mic, you'll need a preamp. If you use a condenser mic, you'll need phantom power. Your old mixer may not have that. Since you already have the 2496, you'll be limited to recording two channels at a time. Your software may limit you, too. A cheap mixer will give you preamps is this Behringer

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...1738991/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/631238/

which has 2 mic channels w/phantom power for condenser mics. On this one, you'd pan one mic to the left and the other to the right and route those to your sound card.

This one

http://www.carvin.com/products/mixer.php?ItemNumber=sm162

would be useful for other things, too.

The Mackie VLZ Pro series has critically acclaimed preamps, but it costs more. See

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...1738991/g=live/search/detail/base_pid/634219/

You'd plug the mics into the mixer, and then run it from the mixer channel insert to your soundcard.

Hope this helps,

apl
 
Thanks. The only thing I have bought so far is the software (Sonar 3). Right now I would just be using the dynamic mic. The E-MU 1820 looks interesting since it has a "virtual mixer". It's more than I want to spend though. (Also the Peavey mixer is not a power mixer, I have a seperate amp running it.)
 
Sounds really clean. I had counted this one out because I have read a lot of bad stuff about USB connections at this site, I might have to reconsider.
 
USB

Hey, Quag.

Yeah, I've seen some discussions down on USB, too. But, it worked for me first time. It's probably a matter of getting everything set up right.

apl
 
firewire410's are cheap

i got one end of month at Guitar Center for $283 including tax. i've been told that GC sales ppl have quotas and that you can get them to move more on stuff if you shop at the end of a the month.

so anyway, the m-audio firewire410 - this is a nice firewire soundcard with two xlr inputs with pre's as well as digital i/o and a bunch of extra 1/4" outputs.

i don't think there's anything wrong with the tascam, but it's true that in principle USB was never really meant to do audio.

it all depends on yer budget really, but the nice thing about this interface is that you wouldn't need a mixer and it'd work with both notebooks and desktops (either one would need a firewire card if it wasn't already equipped- but they're really cheap).
 
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