Still Torn

K

kindofblue

New member
Hey guys,

Im still torn between getting a firewire interface that has built in pres (firepod,motu 869HD) than to one that has no Pre's. Does it really matter in the end? Ive heard alot of good things about the firepod..and some bad things about MOTU drivers. If I had enough money i'd get the RME fireface...but im in canada and that baby is like 1800 bucks here..

If I get the firepod...i'll have more money to get better mics. But will that matter if the pre's don't live up to what they should? Does anyone want to give me a loan :D
 
If you get built in pres, you're locked in with them. They might be fine now but it blocks you from upgrading. Just a thought.
 
That's what I was afraid of. The thought of having 8 pre's and an interface for around 600 bucks is really tempting. But it might be backing myselfinto a corner. How bout if I got a Motu828 with a RNP? Thatd only be a total of 4 Pre's...but would I 'hear' a recognizable difference in Preamp and converter quality of the Firepod?
 
I thought that getting a soundcard with built in pre's just added to your capabilities rather than "locking you in". Can't you choose to just use a line in instead of the onboard pre? If thats the case, than getting one with built in pre's is a good idea. Unless possibly it changes the price enough that you can't get outboard pre's. The RNP is a great starter preamp. When you are ready for something nicer, Sytek makes a 4 channel pre for about $800, and D&R makes a killer 2 channel pre for $400.
 
xstatic said:
I thought that getting a soundcard with built in pre's just added to your capabilities rather than "locking you in". Can't you choose to just use a line in instead of the onboard pre? If thats the case, than getting one with built in pre's is a good idea. Unless possibly it changes the price enough that you can't get outboard pre's. The RNP is a great starter preamp. When you are ready for something nicer, Sytek makes a 4 channel pre for about $800, and D&R makes a killer 2 channel pre for $400.
Click to expand...


Agreed - I have the Aardvark Q10 and when I decide I need nicer pre-amps I'll buy an outboard unit and run it into my Aardvark line ins. Actually, I'm doing that now with an MP20, though I'm not convinced the pres are any better than the Aard.

In any event, the Q10 pre-amps will always be useful for drums, etc.
 
That's fine if you can actually bypass your preamps. The vast majority of line-ins are basically a pad that reduce the signal before passing it through the mic amp.
 
Interesting, I didn't know that.

So you are saying it goes through the same gain stages? I'd like to find out if that's true for the Aard Q10.
 
Almost all mixers do. On the very expensive Soundcraft Studio 24 console at uni, I checked the schematics and the 'Line' button basically just adds a 20db pad and sends to the mic input.

I have no idea about the Aardvark though ... I'm sure someone with five minutes will be able to check it out though ..?
 
Aardvark isn't answering e-mails and their website is down. The rumor is they are going out of business.

I've posted a question on another web site to see if this is a common practice with PC DAWs.
 
I'm gonna grab the firepod. I'm sick of being a gear critique! I just need 8ins, pre,s and converters. I'll blame my ears for any shortcomings and work on that!
 
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