Are you looking for preamps built-in to the unit, or what?

If you don't have any pre's already, this may not turn out as inexpensive as you planned.

doesnt have to have preamps built in

If you count the S/PDIF i/o, you do have the ability to record 10 tracks at once. Do any of your preamps have S/PDIF outs? Maybe you could find a A-D converter to make it happen. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any interfaces that have 10 analog inputs. Usually audio gear, interfaces included, does things in groups of 8.

Another option is to get a Delta44 along with the Delta1010-LT. That would give you 12 channels of analog i/o.

You will find quite a few 10 x 10 converters on the market that have 8 analog ins/outs with 2 channels on spdif. You will have to have a way to interface the spdif channels to get to 10 tracks at once.

Chris

I am curious-
Are you recording a huge single drum kit with all 10 mics?
or
Are there a bunch of drummers/percussionists playing all at once?

If it's one kit, 10 mics is way overkill.
If it's a bunch of drummers, remember there will be bleedthrough,
so you may not be able to edit out a poorly played part easily.

My experience with Echo Layla is :D
It has 8 inputs + S/PDIF, and the analog outputs are 10 so you can manage well your tracks in the playback. But it is not that cheap!
Fmik

VMX wrote: I am curious-
Are you recording a huge single drum kit with all 10 mics?
or
Are there a bunch of drummers/percussionists playing all at once?

If it's one kit, 10 mics is way overkill.
If it's a bunch of drummers, remember there will be bleedthrough,
so you may not be able to edit out a poorly played part easily.

I have to disagree ... I regularly use 9 mics on my kit, sometimes more. One on the kick, one on snare, one on each tom (4), 2 ohs and the hat ... This is a bare minimum. There are times when I need to mic the ride as well bringing it up to 10 ... and if the snare is not the best, I will add a mic under for a total of 11. Add in room mics and other elements that need to be tracked at the same time (like bass & guitar) and it's easy to get up to 16 tracks or more just to do live basics. I can recall sessions where I was up to 17 tracks of an analog 24 track, just to cut the basics.

My solution for an affordable interface was the Frontier Dakota card and a pair of Alesis AI3's ... which gives me 16 analog ins and outs and a spdif pair which I use to import CD wave files and to send to my CDr burner.

yes i disagree also. kurt is correct. his setup is almost exactly like mine. same mic placement. i anticipate 10 in case i get another tom. right now im using 8/9, as far as i know this is standard micing. thanks for the info kurt

Kurt, do find that you actually use all 11 tracks in the final mix?

Chris

I also use 9 minimum, (2) OH's, Kick, Snare & (5) Toms. I'll sometimes add a second snare or ride mic. I get my main sound from the first four and then add the toms and others for some extra punch. Add (2) guitars and a bass and I'm at 12 mics just for the basic rhythm tracks. If I add vocal cues or extra drum mics I reach my 16 input limit. I don't think 10 inputs is unreasonable at all. I have (2) Layla 24's but lately I've been using the AI3 Kurt spoke of with one of my Laylas through the Laylas ADAT connection. I freed up my other Layla for live work.

I hope you find what works for you! :D

LittleDogAudio wrote: Kurt, do find that you actually use all 11 tracks in the final mix?

Chris

Yes, often I do ... sometimes I turn off the hat channel ...

I have also used only 4 tracks to record drums with very good results ... it depends on the music style, sound of the drum kit and quality of the drummer.

Kurt Foster wrote: [quote=LittleDogAudio]Kurt, do find that you actually use all 11 tracks in the final mix?

Chris

Yes, often I do ... sometimes I turn off the hat channel ...

I have also used only 4 tracks to record drums with very good results ... it depends on the music style, sound of the drum kit and quality of the drummer.

Yes, many like me, believe, less is more; and try to follow the
K.I.S.S. (keep it simply simple) principle.

Yes, many like me, believe, less is more; and try to follow the K.I.S.S. (keep it simply simple) principle.

That's great if you have a drummer that really hits the drums and plays the brass lightly ... but with a 4 mic set up, if the drummer beats the crap out of the cymbals .. you will never be able to get the correct balance of cymbals vs kick / snare with out loseing the toms. The good thing about putting up all those mics is you don't have to use them if you don't need them .... but if you do need them, you have them. It's good to have options ...

my biggest drum setup:

two mics + speaker cones on each bassdrum = 6
two sm57's and two condencers on snare = 4
one mic on each tom = 4
two overheads = 2
one on each ride = 2
one on hihat = 1
two room mics = 2
one analog and one midi channel for ddrum module = 1 + 1

= 22 analog and one midi channel

Kurt Foster wrote:

Yes, many like me, believe, less is more; and try to follow the K.I.S.S. (keep it simply simple) principle.

That's great if you have a drummer that really hits the drums and plays the brass lightly ... but with a 4 mic set up, if the drummer beats the crap out of the cymbals .. you will never be able to get the correct balance of cymbals vs kick / snare with out loseing the toms. The good thing about putting up all those mics is you don't have to use them if you don't need them .... but if you do need them, you have them. It's good to have options ...

Good point, I guess I'm lucky I don't have to work with such
amateurs.

The good thing about putting up all those mics is you don't have to use them if you don't need them .... but if you do need them, you have them. It's good to have options ...

Absolutley, I am usually playing and can easily get by with 4 on most of my material (blues and jazz) . The extra mics don't always make into the mix, sometimes they're not needed and sometimes are only used to emphasize tom parts or punch up the ride etc. I find I use the extras more on rock than anything else. But to use only 4 and later find out you needed more when mixing just doesn't make sense IMO. As Kurt said "It's good to have options"