studio-in-a-box VS firewire mixerless rig

  • Thread starter Thread starter jake the snake
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jake the snake

jake the snake

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tale of the tape:
metal band.. two guitars, bass, heavy vocals, 8 piece drum kit and/or roland td10 kit
currently using beta58s and sm57's, Behringer sm40 speakers, Audio Technica ath-122 headphones and a Boss br1600cd.

i have been reading a lot on this forum and on tweaks site.. lot of information.. a bit overwhelming.
i want to improve my sound from the Boss because of the poor preamps, ad converters. And i want to get better editing capability with a daw.

thinking of getting into an entry level firwire mixerless rig: http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm
PreSonus FireStudio Mobile FireWire Audio Interface
Studio Projects B1 Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphone
Mackie MR5 speakers
Vic Firth isolation stereo headphones
Emu Xboard 25 25-Key MIDI Controller
Cubase
and i have a Toshiba laptop with windows xp i would like to try and use to keep the rig portable if needed.

so all things being equal, will this setup make a significant difference in overall sound quality? i feel like the upgrade to a daw and getting my feet wet with MIDI would be worth it but im curious about the sound quality vs the Boss.
thanks
 
im not too sure about the boss units but i know people around here stand behind their presonus gear fairly firmly. and you could always upgrade to better pres later on.
i personally think that using a DAW is FAR easier than using a standalone unit like your boss, but thats just my .02$

another thing you could add to your list is a control surface (i think control surfaces are the coolest things on the planet) which would make mixing a tad bit easier. you don't need one, i just think their neat haha.





summary: I say ditch the boss and get the firestudio.
 
do you guys think the presonus pre amps and a/d converters are higher quality then whats in the Boss?

i dont want to spend a bunch of money and not improve my sound
 
is my question so stupid nobodys gonna chime in? im a newb for gods sake
 
From my understanding, not having used either unit, you're not going to get a dramatic improvement in your sound quality by moving from the Boss preamps to the presonus ones. Unless you have problems getting enough gain out of the ones on the Boss (you have to turn them up so high that the noise floor becomes audible so you end up consistently getting hiss out of them, or something like that).
Similarly, if the Boss AD converters are 16 bit, you'll find it's easier to stay above the noise floor without having to worry about peaking if you upgrade to a 24-bit system.
Something to try is to get the whole DAW, midi keyboard, control surface (they are really neat) system set up, but just import your individual tracks into your DAW from your Boss unit. I had a Fostex MR-16 for a while that I did all my recording on. It was portable as hell, and when we were done recording with it, I'd bring it home, connect it via usb to my shitty Vista laptop, and import the individual WAV files. Then I'd open up my DAW (Reaper in my case, and I'd recommend trying it out if you're just getting started with DAWs. It's free to try and siginficantly cheaper than Cubase to keep) and import all those WAV files into a new project. This way you get the ease of editing with a DAW without having to pay too much for a portable computer DAW rig.
That all being said, you're presented with the problems that
1) I don't know what the Boss's capabilities are as regards exporting individual tracks
and
2) It gets TEDIOUS doing it that way. I have upgraded to a new desktop computer and a Focusrite Saffire pro 40, and I haven't touched the Fostex since because it's just such a hassle.

Anyway, assuming number 1 isn't a problem, try out what I suggested. It's absolutely free (save maybe the cost of a usb cable or some blank cds [which would be another way of getting tracks onto your computer] and assuming you don't bother with the keyboard or control surface yet) and you'll be really surprised at how easy and intuitive editing on a computer can be.
Good luck and have fun.:D
 
go with the Firestudio Mobile. I've liked all my presonus gear so far. If you decide later to get a firestudio 26x26 or something you can daisy chain the Firestudio mobile to it!
 
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