Unbalanced connections are fine as long as the cable runs are kept to under ten feet (11 meters) between each piece of gear. So using the unbalanced connections should be fine.
As far as the pre amp I would recommend you look at the RNP by FMR.. It is a much better pre that the Focusrite. There are a few reviews on high end mic pres here;
http://www.recording.org/e-mag/
Kurt

Ohhh...Thanx a lot kurt,
exactly what i needed to know.
You think that using a very basic mixer like Soundcraft Spirit would do the job as a connector b/w my pre-amp,Virus B,a pair of turntables and my Audiophile 2496?
Thanx.

Kurt,just enother question for you and everybody else...Following your advice,i had a look on the RNP-well,it sounds very promising but does not fit my small pocket... :( (i.e-low budget..)

However,i read a review conducted by Harvey Gerst,about the modest VTB-1...Would you recommend it as a good starting point? The price is very atractive and it sounds like it really does the job....what would you suggest?

Kobi,
I haven't been able to get my hands on a VTB -1 or any Studio Projects mics yet. I keep asking for them but I continue to be passed over. So I can't comment.

A word about affordability.. If purchased wisely, a mic pre can be a lifetime purchase. In the short term, what may appear to be a bargain will actually cost you more in the long run because you use it for a while and become dissatisfied with the performance. You then end up going out and buying something else and often are unable to sell the piece you first purchased for even half of what you paid for it. We call this, "spending your money twice". So while it appears to be more economical to purchase something with a lower price it is better to bite the bullet and save up for a piece of gear that is of better quality. I have yet to hear anyone make a negative comment regarding the RNP or the RNCs from FMR! We get a lot of opinions here and everything I have ever heard regarding the stuff from FMR has been positive. Just something to consider. Good things come to those who wait. Kurt

Excellent advice Kurt about spending your money twice. I'm in music retail and I see this happen all the time. Not only do you spend more money to eventually end up in the same place but you also deprived yourself of enjoying and learning how to use the better quality gear right off the bat. In the case of vintage equipment you can also lose the investment advantage you gain by buying it earlier on in your career. A triple whammy!

John, You have an excellent point there. The good stuff don't get no cheaper. Although I wouldn't say a RNP is a vintage piece, they won't get less expensive as time goes by. Might as well get one now before the price goes up (which it will sometime).. Snooze, you lose.

Originally posted by Kurt Foster:
Unbalanced connections are fine as long as the cable runs are kept to under ten feet (11 meters) between each piece of gear. So using the unbalanced connections should be fine.
As far as the pre amp I would recommend you look at the RNP by FMR.. It is a much better pre that the Focusrite. There are a few reviews on high end mic pres here;
http://www.recording.org/e-mag/
Kurt

.....?

Originally posted by Kurt Foster:
...kept to under ten feet (11 meters) between each...

?!?!?!

Which is which?

Duhhhh!, drool, slobber. I feel like a drummer now! I grew up in the "States" and I am a "metric moron". The correct answer is 10 feet (whatever that translates to, 4 meters?? ). I thought for a second a meter was 10 inches.., I was wrong. I now remember its 30 inches! Doh!! Errrr,ummmm, drool, Sorry for the confusion.. boy am I embarrassed hee-hee-heee!

1 Meter equals 39.3701 Inches

Doh! again Fats. :roll:

Here's one of many calculators on the Net.

http://www.sciencemadesimple.net/EASYlength.html

Regards
Tom

Doh!Doh! Thanks Tom :D The only "meter" I know about is in reference to keeping time, which by the way I'm not so great at either. I just don't see why the rest of the world just doesn't get on board with the USA and switch to feet, miles, quarts, gallons and pounds :D (please detect sarcasm).. Kurt

Lucky I asked! I was going to assume 10 yards/11 meters, which is a whole lot longer :D

Thanks a bunch.

Yeah, go ahead! Rub it in! Kick me while I'm down.. Go on!!! :D

Haha hey, you know what? I know a guy who once posted on a forum and made a huge boo boo involving metric measurements... His name was... Wait.. Where am I? What year is this?

Yes I agree with Kurt, we should all just switch over to the good old, straight-forward, U.S. standard. I've used it all my life and I have to say, it's akin to doing math with Roman numerals.

OK I'm convinced! Every one in the US switch your speedometer readings to kph from mph! Do it now! Time to get on board with the rest of the world. Falkon2 will pay for our tickets!
Originally posted by Laska:

1 Meter equals 39.3701 Inches
Doh! again Fats.

Now I feel like a stupid drummer! Kurt :D

One of my friends is an aerospace engineer at NASA Glenn here. We had fun at his expense for many moons over this one (if you have never read this/heard about it, get ready for a great laugh...at your expense(tax dollars at use!))
http://www.cs.yorku.ca/~roumani/1020/F02/mars.htm

Read atleast until you get to the 'inches vs metric' paragraph.

Nice. Nerds make errors too, I guess! :D

JZ

$125 million here, a $125 million there.. pretty soon, we’re talking about some real money!!

The review board said that in making a key change to the spacecraft's trajectory one team used the English, or avoirdupois, system of measuring, which utilizes miles, yards, feet and inches as well as pounds and ounces, while the other was using metric kilometers, meters, kilograms and grams.

avoirdupois, That is an excellent word! I’ll have to file that one away. How the hell is that pronounced??

Main Entry: 1av·oir·du·pois
Pronunciation: "a-v&r-d&-'poiz, 'a-v&r-d&-"
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English avoir de pois goods sold by weight, from Old French, literally, goods of weight
Date: 15th century
1 : AVOIRDUPOIS WEIGHT
2 : WEIGHT, HEAVINESS;

Main Entry: avoirdupois weight
Function: noun
Date: 1619
: the series of units of weight based on the pound of 16 ounces and the ounce of 16 drams

So! It is the fault of the French!!! I knew it! :D

DOHP! There are 1.6 kilometers to a mile and 1.1 yards in a meter … DOHP! There are 1.6 kilometers to a mile and 1.1 yards in a meter … DOHP! There are 1.6 kilometers to a mile and 1.1 yards in a meter … How many knots in a kilometer?? (for you nautical types)

Well, since we're talking about screwing up measurements here, could I pay in local money? Take USD, divide the cost by 4, and there you go. :D

Originally posted by Abale:
Following your advice,i had a look on the RNP-well,it sounds very promising but does not fit my small pocket... :) In my opinion it's the perfect balance between long-term investment and short-term cost-effectiveness for home studios.

The VTB-1 is supposedly a great pre as well, but it's only one channel, and the whole tube thing is a bit of a stretch. It's not actually tube circuitry per se; rather, the tube can be "blended" into the solid-state amp circuit using the dial, so really it's a sort of EFFECT. Thus it's NOT a tube pre...it's just a pre that has a tube effect. There's a huge difference.

Originally posted by falkon2:
Well, since we're talking about screwing up measurements here, could I pay in local money? Take USD, divide the cost by 4, and there you go. :D

I tried to fix this problem with currency last year. I sent letters to the Bilderberger, CFR, Skull and Bones, and all the other 'World Controlling Secret Organizations' proposing a one-world monetary unit- the "ZIKA". How much is a new car? Z^10,000 (thats 10K ZIKAs). New home? Z^200,200. One ZIKA is equal to the amount of change I have in my pocket at any given time plus the weight (in OUNCES, of course) of all the belly button lint I could come up with. The current value of a ZIKA would be monitored on a website that anyone could access. After paying the one time set up fee of $1,000,000 and a monthly fee of Z^500.

They didn't go for it. :D )

(All this humor, AND my small to modest knowlege of music, provided for you FREE here at RO.org! :c: )

Kurt Foster
Member # 7869 posted June 01, 2003 02:36 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Duhhhh!, drool, slobber. I feel like a drummer now! I grew up in the "States" and I am a "metric moron". The correct answer is 10 feet (whatever that translates to, 4 meters?? ). I thought for a second a meter was 10 inches.., I was wrong. I now remember its 30 inches! Doh!! Errrr,ummmm, drool, Sorry for the confusion.. boy am I embarrassed hee-hee-heee!

uuummmmmm.......... Kurt? - if ya can't do simple math conversions buddy - you can't be a drummer....... This drummer is an enginner - and also knows the difference between an augmented chord and a diminished...... quite often shows the keyboard or guitarist what they're doing wrong........ and when they finally throw their hands up in the air becuase they can't figure a piece out - they call me........

or maybe this is all a fantasy and my dementia has finally settled in............. lol

Is ok buddy - keep em coming - i'm writing em down to tell my grandchildren......

Rod

And I was wrong there also!!! 1 Meter equals 39.3701 Inches ...

So, I was wondering how long it would take for some drummer to come along and say something :D I have been making pokes at drummers for about a month now .. hee hee hee hee .....,

Seriously, welcome to RO Rod. Nice to have you here. There is nothing I like more that a good drummer. I love great drum tracks and I hate drum machines. I feel that tracking drums is one of my strong points. I can't play drums for sh*t but I do love them. But still I believe that drummers are a different kind of person than other musicians. It is just a different mindset. I have always thought that there was something different about someone who wants to hit things for a living ... But that being said, some of my best friends have been drummers. :D

Kurt: I never knew you tracked drums! Got any samples to share? Right now most of the stuff I do, I rely heavily on tracked drums because I just don't have the means to record live ones. :D

Not to turn this into a "Who Am I?" thread, but what else exactly do you play? I know you play guitar from that mic pre comparison thread, but I'm sure you play a whole lot of other neat stuff!

Mostly guitar and bass. I can noodle out a string part on a keyboard and a few piano chords. Sing (sorta)

Bit of drums and keys.Likes to get out the 'ol Rhodes and do Stevie or Ray.
Just a nice hollow-body 'Tele' copy.....no big deal.Used it on me last tour.Sold my Aleen Heath a while back.Just got my NS-10 fixed .... but the woofers now don't match up.I'm always frying gear.
Love me drums though... :D

Kurt,

Sort of figured you liked drummers - the kid in school who picks on a girl does it cause he likes her...... lmao

I am maybe a "B" drummer at best - so would not necessarily call myself "good" - but i do know what good is. And i love anything that can make my drums sound exactly like they are in the "real" world. Sort of is why i bought the kit in the 1st place....... and built it up the way i did - a particular sound for particular songs.

Well thanks for the welcome - i am more than happy to be here - maybe i'll post one of my bands cut's somewhere - i think i would like to have you critique our stuff... and hell - you'd get to hear one hell of a good drum sound in the process (and no - of course not - me biased? - whatever gave you that idea?)

Happy hunting

Rod

What do you call a drummer who has just lost his girlfriend...........

... Homeless?

Abale

I didn't read all the rest of the responses, so, if I repeat something someone else has said, I apologize.

I purchased a Rode NT1 as my first LD condensor as well. To be honest? I would skip over this one. I still own it, but I've only used it about 2 times. I wish I had given studio projects more of a chance back then, but alas, I didn't. For your first LD condensor, I HIGHLY recommend the Studio Projects B1 or if you can swing it, the C1.

As far a good preamp goes, I'm going to recommend either the Studio Projects VTB-1 or the MAudio DMP3. Over on HR.com, someone recently cracked open the DMP3 to find that it uses the same opamp and a very similar circuit to a Grace River design that costs almost five times as much.

Best of luck to you! If you're still dead set on purchasing a Rode NT1, I've got mine that I'd be happy to sell to you for a good price, PM if you're interested.

What do you call a drummer who has just lost his girlfriend...........

...Reliable?

A few musician related jokes:

Q: How many sopranos does it take to change a light bulb?
A: One. She holds it and the world revolves around her.

Q: How many Deadheads does it take to change a light bulb?
A: 12,001. 1 to screw it in, 2000 to record the event and take pictures of it, and 10,000 to follow it around until it burns out.

Q: How many bass players does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They let the keyboard player do it with his left hand.

Q: What do you call someone who hangs around with musicians?
A: A drummer.

Q: How can you tell that there's a drummer at your front door?
A: The knocking keeps speeding up.

Q: How can you tell that there's a vocalist at your front door?
A: She can't find the key and she doesn't know when to come in.

Q: What is the definition of a gentleman?
A: Someone who knows how to play the bagpipes, but doesn't.

Q: How do you get two flute players to play the same note?
A: You shoot one of them.

Q: What is the definition of a minor second?
A: Two oboes playing in unison.

Q: What is the difference between a saxophone and a lawnmower?
A: Vibrato.

Q: What do you call 1,000 soprano saxophonists at the bottom of the bay?
A: A good start.

Q: How do you make a trombone really sound like a French horn?
A: Stick your hand in the bell and miss at least half the notes.

Q: How do you make a French horn sound like a trombone?
A: Take your hand out of the bell and play out of tune.

Q: What is the difference between a dead skunk in the road and a dead conductor in the road?
A: There are usually skid marks in front of the skunk.

Q: You are driving down the road and come across a conductor and a violist. You cannot avoid hitting one of them. Which should it be?
A: Hit the violist first, then the conductor. After all, business before pleasure.

Q: What is the difference between an orchestra and a bull?
A: The bull has the horns in the front and the a**hole in the back.

Q: What can you tell when you see a violist drooling out of both corners of his mouth?
A: The stage is level.

Q: What is the definition of a classical string quartet?
A: One good violin, one bad violin, one former violin and one who hates violins.

Q: What's the difference between a viola and a trampoline?
A: You take off your shoes to jump on a trampoline.

Q: Why do violists leave their cases on the dashboard of their cars?
A: So they can park in the handicapped spaces.

Q: What is the definition of perfect pitch?
A: Tossing a viola into the toilet without hitting the rim.

And the Victor Borge Memorial Joke:
Q: What is the difference between a violin and a viola?
A: The violin burns faster.

Drummer jokes. HA HA.

Once when I was loading up drums at the University for a gig out of town some dork sidles up and says "Don't ya wish ya played piccolo ?"

I said "nope, that would suck ass".

Lord knows, I couldn't possibly smoke enough dope to be a guitar player. And somebody needs to donk his girlfriend while he works out his substance abuse problems.

Likewise somebody needs to tell him when he is both flat and rushing the piece.

At least keyboard players can read music. Every heard of keyboard tablature ? How big of loser are you if you can't even read chord charts ?

Bass players carry 40,000 dollars in gear at all times to play root notes in a I IV V.

Being a drummer really makes me appreciate horn players. They have good time, they can tune their horns, they can transcribe parts, and they don't try to write tunes on your time. Many times they can actually sing. Plus they can actually count measures and know where the form is. They know more than minor pentatonic scales, and when they solo it's not cheesy.

All hail horn players!!