vs 1680 in built preamps

[sugarbeet tom]

if you're recording through an external preamp onto a vs1680, then is there a way of disabling the 1680's inbuilt preamp? I read somewhere on this messageboard that even if the roland preamp is turned right down to 0, it will still affect the signal being recorded. any help would be much appreciated

 

[PHILANDDON]

Yeah, you're higher end pre would still be colored by the Roland preamp even if the Roland preamp is turned down to zero. On my VS-2000 I go in through S/PDIF digital input. This completely bypasses the Roland preamps. Can you do that on your model? If not, you're gonna have to live with the very slight degradation in sound of going through the Roland preamp....

 

[Richard Monroe]

Alternative- You can use any reasonable AD convertor to bypass the Roland's pres by using S/PDIF, but *only for 2 tracks at a time*. The AD convertor doesn't have to be that good to be at least as good as the Roland. I recorded an entire album on a Roland VS1824CD using a TC Electronics M300 as an AD convertor. There's a very useful $200 box. I plugged the left and right outputs of the pre into the left and right inputs of the M300 and pushed the "bypass" button, which bypasses the entire FX section of the M300. The convertors in the M300 are at least as good as the one in the Roland, and going in by S/PDIF bypasses the Roland's (cruddy) pres completely.-Richie