What is the best INEXPENSIVE a/d convertor for home rec?

  • Thread starter Thread starter GONZO-X
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GONZO-X

GONZO-X

Well-known member
i know what all the good ones are....

i like the millenia media origin stt-1......

but i can't afford that! ;)

i'm talking basic home recording, a decent convertor that's better than my roland vs preamp convertors......


just a convertor, not a pre............
 
A possibility is a Symetrix 620.

Not 24-bit, but that might not matter to you.
 
A fostex VC8 is basic if you need 8 tracks. Good if you replace the supplied wall-wart with something better as the wart introduces some 50Hz.

I consider my RME ADI8 AE cheap, if you look at what you get for the price. Certainly more expensive as the fostex. But also 8 channels.
 
swissonic is dirt cheap and pretty good comparatively.

RME ADI's are great, have ADAT AND TDIF for a little more $. Only trouble is the metering on the ADI, and that they put the DSUB's too close together
 
I think some of these guys are forgetting that you said:

basic home recording and better than roland vs . :D

Granted, Lucid and some of the others mentioned have very good bang/buck ratio, but they're still intended more for professional use as opposed to basic home recording. :D

My recommendations for basic home recording:

* Mindprint DI port. If you can find one. Same converters as those found in the Lynx I sound cards (which are pretty highly regarded, even in the professional circuits). Plus they come with a couple of preamps that are pretty useful.

* DBX 386 -- I know you said no preamps, but seriously, I think this one would be worth the price of admission for the a/d conversion alone. In fact, I might advise not to use the pres, as they tend to suck half the time. :D Just my opinion. The a/d conversion has sort of a built-in (soft) peak limiter that works really well, giving you extra headroom and allowing you to utilize more bits for your audio without fear of clipping.

* Then there's always this one:

http://www.midiman.com/products/m-audio/images/cow640.gif
 
GONZO-X said:
i know what all the good ones are....

i like the millenia media origin stt-1......

but i can't afford that! ;)
Click to expand...

When did the millennia STT-1 become a AD converter?
It`s a micpre/compressor/eq,and has nothing to do with AD conversion!

Amund
 
NEVE!

(don't you just hate a know it all......)

YOU ARE CORRECT.
TOUCHE'
YOU WIN THAT JOUST.

(I JUST MEANT THIS IS THE KIND OF STUFF I'D LOVE TO BE ABLE TO AFFORD........) ;)

CHESSROCK-
HOW RIGHT YOU ARE ABOUT FORGETFULNESS.... I THOUGHT THIS WAS HOME RECORDING BBS, NOT "PROSOUND WEB BBS"! :p

i've heard good things about that mindprint, and this was the kind of info i was looking for...
the dbx, i considered at one time, but thought if i could find just a decent convertor, i could gradually work my way up the preamp ladder, without being tied to one unit.... but you're right, the convertors would probably do the job...

the flying cow, that would marry well with my little audiobuddy preamp...
and that was my first choice.... the calf, that actually would do the job for me for now, but i can't find any......

pipeline-
can you get this swissonic new, or is it strictly used as far as the availability goes? i read a review on the web..... but don't know much about these.....

havoc-
i only really need a stereo in/out at this time....

big bear-
lucid, out of my league...... one day, one day...... a clump of gold asteroid will fall out of the sky.......... ;)

sjjohnston-
20 bit would work fine, i'm only at 20 bit now...... but i do hope to move up to a pc setup in a year or so......

knownuttin-
hobnobbin' with the big boys.


:D
 
heres a US dealer for new ones http://store.yahoo.com/sekd-store/swisprod.html

now, hopefully I dont get a flame fest going, but the truth is, if you are planning on spending LESS than these for converters, you are probably just better off using the ones you have. Below this, " quality " is questionable, and not much " better or worse" but mostly just " different "
 
You can pick up a Symetrix 620 for under $130 on eBay, if you're lucky (or over $200, if you're more in a hurry). That seems like the "home studio" price range to me.

Things that might make you hesitate (or not):

It is two channels, if I wasn't clear about that before. If you want 8 channels, I suppose you could buy four of them, though that starts to get a lot less cheap (and requires a lot more to be on sale!).

20-bit, as mentioned. Nice dithering and noise-shaping to 16-bit, if that's where you're going.

AD only (no DA).

Requires a real differential-balanced input.
 
Are these A/D converters better then the one in my Audiophile 24/96 ?


Sean
 
Gonzo: you need only stereo for now, but how long will that be????

I also needed only a good stereo AD/DA, but after comparing lots of datasheets and forums, I came to the conclusion that if you are only looking for AD/DA and not a box with pre-amp, limiter, enhancer,eq etc in, then an 8-way is cheaper! Well, actually only a bit more expensive. So that RME is handling stereo for the moment. It is even used to have a bit of sound when I play games :)

I forgot about the mindprint. They also came up high on my list.

Who the hell said swissonic is dirt cheap????? Where are you living? I would have bought that, but the RME was dirt cheap compared to that lot.

PS: take a look at motu
 
weird

I usually see the swissonics for around 800 bucks and the RME 48k for 1400 and 96k for 2000
 
hmm, im confused on this whole external "clock" thing.
so a lucid clock, is external Ad/da converters...

But how does it work?

So you'd have to have a card, such as a delta 1010, and to "upgradE" the converters, you'd buy say, a lucid clock and plug it into the delta??

So it would bypass your deltas converters and use the lucids?
 
nonono

its the same converters if you reclock...unless you are talking about using lucid converters as well.

Its just upgrading to a better clock pulse, and if you have a LOT of digital devices in sync, SOMETHING has to be house clock master. It makes it easier if you have a dedicated clock device, which may have multiple outputs for distribution

theres a lot of talk around about how a better clock can improve ANY converters, but certain converters resync the EXTERNAL clock anyway, so youd actually still be using the internal clock, just referenced to the external one

this is tricky business
 
Pipeline: Just looked again: the swissonic AD8 is about 990 euro. That is for a 8 channel AD that goes to 24/48. So you also need the DA24 for about 790 euro. Add taxes (25% over here) and transport.

I paid my RME ADI-8 AE a bit less than 1100 euro, inclusive taxes and transport to my doorstep. This is 8 channel AD and DA up to 24/96 and can convert adat to/from tdif. Specs are a bit less than the swissonic, but (more than) good enough for me.

Ambi: A clock is something quite different from a AD or DA convertor. All convertors/recorders that work digital need a clock. And the clocks between any 2 audio devices that need to exchange data needs to be synchronised. Now all devices have a clock inside them. So if you have to move data, 1 of the devices needs to be the master, and the other needs to slave to the master. This mostly represents no problem if you keep your head at it. Once you start to have a lot of devices, it becomes more complicated. If you change the order, it may become necessary to change the master/slave order and faults can arise. Also some devices do not have a very good clock. This is specially a problem with a convertor. It needs to take the samples at the precise moment.

The ultimate solution to that is the master clock. You declare it THE clock source for all your equipment and tell them to use that 1 clock. Now everything is OK. No need to ever change master/slave settings, no wandering clocks. In this case you set your equipment to "external" clock and connect the master clock to this connector.

So the external clock does nothing to your convertors, but it let your convertors run to the speed of the externally connected master clock (that you hope is better as the internal clock).
 
nonono

its the same converters if you reclock...unless you are talking about using lucid converters as well.

Its just upgrading to a better clock pulse, and if you have a LOT of digital devices in sync, SOMETHING has to be house clock master. It makes it easier if you have a dedicated clock device, which may have multiple outputs for distribution

theres a lot of talk around about how a better clock can improve ANY converters, but certain converters resync the EXTERNAL clock anyway, so youd actually still be using the internal clock, just referenced to the external one

this is tricky business
 
A/D - Swissonic or RME or MOTU
Hello, for a long time, i am asking, looking for a better a/d converter. and
dont know what to buy.

should i buy the MOTU 2408mk3
or the RME multiface
or the SWISSONIC ad 24 mk2 with rme DIGI9636

you use any of this brands ?
 
pipelineaudio said:
theres a lot of talk around about how a better clock can improve ANY converters, but certain converters resync the EXTERNAL clock anyway, so youd actually still be using the internal clock, just referenced to the external one
Click to expand...

Very interesting. Please, do tell more? How does one know/find out if their converters are likely to be exibiting this phenomenon? This is the first time I've heard about this. Good stuff, PL.
 
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