Zilla wrote: Well, its been a year but I have finally completed the modifications to my Fireface 800 alluded to in this thread. My initial expectations were just to make a convenient interface sound good for those "less-than-critical" recording sessions. Though I say it myself, the performance improvement is surprisingly significant. In comparison, my mod has been preferred over the apog33 and pr1zm converters we compared with. The lavry gold was still better than the mod (of course, being about the best converter on the market!), but it had similar characteristics: resolute midrange without bloating, open top-end without being hard or excessively tipped up. Anyway, I am excited to now have an 8-channel ad/laptop interface in 1U that is respectable enough for almost any session.

Interested in doing these mods for others? I don't mind my FF800 but have had my eyes on a Mytek. Depending on cost, this might be a nice stop gap (and a product which is actually shipping unlike the Mytek).

but it had similar characteristics: resolute midrange without bloating, open top-end without being hard or excessively tipped up.

wow! See, now I would pay money to hear an example of this.

I know it's tough to compare preamps accurately and fairly, but is it possible you could someday put a second set of mic(s) up, in the same positions during a session, to a/b something like this? Track one pair through the 800, (or the Lavry, etc.) and the other pair through the bloaty-sounding one (or whatever you consider the bad ones), and track 'em all at 24/44, 88 or 96 and make some wave files for comparision.

I'm sure folks would love to hear the differences you're talking about. I'd line up to buy it, personally.

I had a moment of clarity like this when I first got my current set of speakers. I heard stuff (Esp in the midrange, coincidently) that I'd NEVER heard before. It's great when this happens.

JoeH wrote: but it had similar characteristics: resolute midrange without bloating, open top-end without being hard or excessively tipped up.

wow! See, now I would pay money to hear an example of this.

I know it's tough to compare preamps accurately and fairly, but is it possible you could someday put a second set of mic(s) up, in the same positions during a session, to a/b something like this? Track one pair through the 800, (or the Lavry, etc.) and the other pair through the bloaty-sounding one (or whatever you consider the bad ones), and track 'em all at 24/44, 88 or 96 and make some wave files for comparision.

I'm sure folks would love to hear the differences you're talking about. I'd line up to buy it, personally.

I had a moment of clarity like this when I first got my current set of speakers. I heard stuff (Esp in the midrange, coincidently) that I'd NEVER heard before. It's great when this happens.

It wouldn't be hard to compare this at all. He'd be comparing the AD's not the pres, but simply take a pre which has two simultaneous outputs or run them normalled through a patchbay and feed the identical signal to two different ADs. Record the output to seperate tracks or seperate devices if necessary and there you go.

I'm dying for examples too. Who knows, you might get a bit of extra $$ from folks here on the boards.

J.

Actually, I did comparative recordings for evaluation. Since my normal practice is to use external mic pre's, he main focus of my fireface mod was to improve the 8 line inputs. I chose some quality reference recordings and recorded this (line level) through the fireface each time I tried a new mod idea. In this way I could make valid comparisons and know whether I was making any progress. I have these 24-96 comparison files somewhere along with the same program recorded through the Lavry as a control.

Awesome!!!

Spill em when you're ready.

If you need a space to host them, let me know - I'll hook you up!

(BTW - don't I still owe some folks out there free space - Phil and others??)

J.

Each pass was 12 minutes of music, level-matched, captured as 24/96 stereo interleaved WAV files. That might be more data than is practicle for downloading, maybe?

Some caveats for those who are interested: If I offer the mods to others, I will not be able to perform mods until the summer when my schedule is slower. In addition, my full mod severely limits the flexibility of the unit. I disable the instrument input as well as two of the mic preamps. The modified line level inputs can only be driven from mic-pre's which have a true balanced output capable of driving 600. Also, I'm sure the manufacturer's warranty will voided (mod at your own risk). I have not given much consideration to price, but an off the cuff figure might be something like $120 per stereo pair. So if you had all 8 inputs plus the head phone amp modified, it might run around $600.

Zilla wrote: Some caveats for those who are interested: If I offer the mods to others, I will not be able to perform mods until the summer when my schedule is slower. In addition, my full mod severely limits the flexibility of the unit. I disable the instrument input as well as two of the mic preamps. The modified line level inputs can only be driven from mic-pre's which have a true balanced output capable of driving 600. Also, I'm sure the manufacturer's warranty will voided (mod at your own risk). I have not given much consideration to price, but an off the cuff figure might be something like $120 per stereo pair. So if you had all 8 inputs plus the head phone amp modified, it might run around $600.

These don't sound like caveats to me rather big advantages. Post the comparisons, I'm very interested. I can be patient until summer.

Chris

Mytek stereo 192 for me.

I do everything mixed on the fly to 2 channels, and it is a lovely sounding machine... 8-)

hughesmr wrote: Hey all,

Wondering what outboard A/Ds you use when out on location. My current ones (inside an Alesis Masterlink) leave, , something to be desired...

Cheers,
Mike

I always bring my Lavry Blue A/D/A.

For many years we have used dCS 904. Super sound and flexibility.
Recently, we added the Neve DPD which is the two 1073 mic amps with the
a/d converter. It also sounds very good indeed.
For those who enjoy experimenting, the Neve also is a DSD converter.

I heard gossip that the Neve a/d is made by Prism. I have not confirmed that.

I think that converter differences used to be much greater 8-10 years ago than they are in the current marketplace. dCS makes their own converters and does not use a stock chip. However, many makers do use a stock chip quite effectively and surround it with excellent analog design.

I'm sure that the new-ish Benchmark a/d is good and at a reasonable price.

when I said ADAT I just mean it as an option if you want to connect more channels. The RME converters are probably better than the ones from audient.

I've been told by my reseller they have exactly the same chip.....

As mic pre and A/D, two Metric Halo ULN-2, one with DSP and the other without. Synced together by WC at 256x.

Pretty satisfied with sound and features.

- Kewl

Ehh... Forgot about this thread...

I've taken a pretty substantial step up since I posted first. I've purchased a set of Mytek converters (Got a great deal on them used) so those are my first 8 channels for all gigs- whether I'm recording to my Digi002R or my Sequoia/Lynx rig. Mic pres going into both of these rigs are A-Designs Pacifica, DAV BG2, Boulder Twin Servo and Grace 801.

I'm very happy with this setup. Having 8 channels of top quality conversion has helped my sound quite a bit. For the gigs where I go over 8 channels, my 002R is sufficient for a couple spot mics that are at a very low level in the mix and the Sequoia rig comes out for the "higher-end" (ie more important) sessions.

--Ben