Wouldn't you be farther ahead buying a Mackie Onyx 1620 with the fire wire option? It would do what you want it to do and would give you some additional options and controls.

How are the pre amps going to compare? I am not familiar with the difference from 96khz to 196khz and this one is only 96. And with the whole mixer, how are all of the knobs going to help me while mixing? Do they sync up with logic and if so they probably arent motorized. I like the talk back feature. Does anyone on here use this guy and does anyone know any other 8 channel (plus) great sounding pre amps around $1000.
Also thanks for you help thomas

My question would be: do you REALLY need the 192khz? I mean, are you going to have a pure 192khz chain throughout(tracking/efx/plugins/mixing, etc...)? That's a whole lot of processing power and HD space as well. Sounds like too much for a lapt-top home studio.

If I were you I'd concentrate on getting the MOST needed items first. I don't know what music you plan to record or if you will have a live room with drums, etc... There are so many things to consider the list would be quite long (monitors, microphones, acoustic treatment, etc...).

Even the number of mic pres, for example: do you REALLY need 8?

For instance, if this were a bedroom studio I'd start with one or two (or a stereo) good quality mic pre and A/D/A converter. I would then, add a line mixer for other sources and monitoring. A good compressor and one or two good microphones. Just to illustrate a point.

If you give us more info as to what and how you plan to record we can give you some more ideas and better suggestions.

I have a live room where I am going to want to track a whole kit. I could do it on 8 mics if needed. I was just wondering if it is going to sound crap compared to the 196. Maybe I say this just cause I have been tracking stuff on PT with my mbox and I want to get better tonal quality as well as switch to logic. I planning on doing a lot of different music, from rock to hip hop to acoustic etc. I for sure want to have at least 8 and something that will sound nice and give me some good features.

Wouldn't you be farther ahead buying a Mackie Onyx 1620 with the fire wire option? It would do what you want it to do and would give you some additional options and controls.

This would be a really cool option for you. Otherwise, if you get the 800R you will still need to get a soundcard with ADAT lightpipe inputs and that will run you around $400.

On the other hand, 192K is like twice as good as 96K. And 196K is a little bit better still...........OK that was all BS. :lol: 96 is more than good enough.

but all of the knobs. are those just for adjusting levels at recording and thats that? and is mackie my best company to choose from?

Whoa back up.

Do you know what you are dong or just have too much money to waste?

If you don't know what all those knobs do you should do some serious reading and learn something about recording before you get too much farther. Recording is not just about having a bunch of equipment sitting around it is about knowing what to do with that equipment. You can do amazing recordings with so so equipment. Recording at 196 is nice if you have it but NOT NEEDED for much of what it is that you are going to be recording. 44.1 or 48 - 24 bit is fine, 88.2 or 96 is Great and the rest is all nice if you have unlimited budgets and have all the equipment and room to go with the 196 kHz sampling rate.

Mackie is a good company. Their Onyx consoles come with their own software which is very good. There are other companies like Yamaha who make very good consoles for a decent price (see the review of the new Yamaha console in this month's Sound on Sound)

Please do some serious reading BEFORE spending any money and make some decisions based on reality and not what you read in EQ or Mix magazine (you see all the ads in both mags they are what are important to the mags that is why you never see a bad review of an advertiser and everything they write about is always the best)

Best of luck! you will need it.

haha. yes i do know what the little knobbies do. Let me rephrase the quesion. When you are tracking, all of the equalization done with the mixr is going to be stuck on the recording, right? When you are mixing, you cant just boost the treble of a track thats already been recorded or am i wrong? The EQ on this guy is if you were to just record something live to cd and have the mix be the final mix, or to just KNOW FOR A FACT that what you were tracking sounds good with your settings.

seems perfectly reasonable to me.

you want to move from a modest pro-tools setup to a better quality mac/logic setup.

it seems a bit much to use a mixer when you only need 8 pres w/firewire.
but the 800r has more resolution than you'll hear and no firewire. plus the mixer has flexibility than you'll find ways to use (inserts, busing, grouping etc.) *edit - looks like the firewire is pre eq and fader so the board features would not affect the recording - maybe you can't even make stereo groups to expand flexibility of sessions?

but the mackie board is not a controller and will not control anything in the imac/logic.

i have the intel based macbook and will be getting logic soon. these new macs run great.

logamos2001 wrote: I have a live room where I am going to want to track a whole kit. I could do it on 8 mics if needed. I was just wondering if it is going to sound crap compared to the 196. Maybe I say this just cause I have been tracking stuff on PT with my mbox and I want to get better tonal quality as well as switch to logic. I planning on doing a lot of different music, from rock to hip hop to acoustic etc. I for sure want to have at least 8 and something that will sound nice and give me some good features.

Ok - I'd say figure out what your TOTAL budget is and then, we can help you more.

With a live room and drums you will need some hardware compressors & gates as well. Their sonic quality is VERY important otherwise the 192 conversion will be pointless.

In other words, your souond will be only as good as the LOWEST quality piece of equipment in the tracking/mixing chain. So, it's best to have a clear notion of your TOTAL budget and then, plan accordingly.

We all have to start somwhere so, don't think that you have spend a fortune but, with a budget as a guide one can start making sensible decisions based that amount and what you need to do.

So, the Onyx will work but won't be as good a converter as...say a Mytek 8ch. Of course, it costs less so, that's the way it is. But, are you going to just plug the microphones straight into it and track the drums? Or will you be using outboard compressors and gates? If so, thier sound quality will not also be included in the chain....and so on and so forth.

Sorry, I meant to say "will now also be included in the chain" :)

its looking like that mackie 8 channel mixer will work for me. I like the talk back feature. the only hold back would be the unnecessary knobs that i probably wouldnt use. if there was a great sounding 8 channel setup with firewire talk back and around a 1000, that would be perfect.

I would seriously look into another option if you really don't want the mixer. How bout a FirePod. I believe it only has 4 preamps but it wouldn't be a bad idea to invest in some nice outboard pres. MOTU might also hold some options for you.

On another note: The thing about Mackie and Tracktion 2 with the Intel Macs is that Tracktion not being Universal Binary, doesn't work well on the new Macs in fact on merely 16 audio tracks the CPU meter goes beyond 75% usage. I tried the demo and it's not pretty. A Universal Binary will hopefully out next month.

Hello............

Check out the RME Fireface , 8 channel, good pres. Firewire also.
I've seen them for around that price, maybe just alittle more.

It also has 2 lightpipe connection for another 16 tracks.

I have the Mackie Onyx 1640 . Great board and nice pres. With the fire wire connection you can't use the EQ's. It is pre every thing.
But you can have that fix with alittle mod.

I just use the balance direct outs via DB-25 connector into my daw.
I don't even have the firewire card for my mixer.

Peace..........Scoobie

yeah muy friend says the fireface rocks. whats looking good to me right now is that saffire pro by focusrite apparently its not out yet.

Personally, I REALLY like the 800R. It's a great sounding preamp with great conversion.

That plus and RME card would be unbeatable.

The focusrite and presonus products just don't compare.

J.

Hey Jeremy,

That's interesting. What do you think of 800R versus ISA428 ?

I have a trully portable set-up now, PowerBook G4 + Digi002R.
I'd like to add more channels via ADAT, and I'm thinking about
one of the pieces above.

Costy wrote: Hey Jeremy,

That's interesting. What do you think of 800R versus ISA428 ?

I have a trully portable set-up now, PowerBook G4 + Digi002R.
I'd like to add more channels via ADAT, and I'm thinking about
one of the pieces above.

Hmmm...that would be an interesting comparison. I'm not up on the focusrite conversion, so I can't speak to that. However, I find the Mackie pres to be more transparent and open where as the Focusrite I find to be more weighted (bigger/fuller) with a slightly more forward top end.

Both are great - for orchestral/acoustic stuff, I would go with the Mackie. For Rock/HipHop, I would go Focusrite.

You're welcome to borrow my 800R for a week or so if you're interested in trying it.

J.

Jeremy,

Thanks a bunch. Frankly, I like transparency. I'm inclined
toward the Onyx 800R myself:
- I'll be recording some classical and acoustic music;
- with 880R I get 12 pres, good number for tracking drums,
with ISA428 I'd have only 8;
- I like that impedance feature on the first two channels.

Thanks for the offer. But, I think, I'll order the piece online,
if I don't like it I'll just return it. It is simpler this way.
Cheers,

Costy.