I don't think the 003 preamps are so bad that another mediocre preamp is going to be an improvement. If you have to guess whether or not they will be good enough, you probably won't notice the difference anyway. You still need to consider mics, cables and for sure, you want to make absolute sure your computer is compatible with ProTools. Especially if you plan on using PT8.

Save your money by not buying the Octane. the digi pres are quiet, clear, transparent, and nothing special as a pre. get 2 ART Mpa tube based pres. they are feature packed, quiet and do they're job. are they UA 610's? NO. but they will give you more versitility than the octane (ms enconding, tube saturation, varialble iimpedence) and will allow you to record all 8 channels for your drums. 4 digi 4 art.... good luck

kmetal wrote: ART Mpa tube based pres............ versitility than the octane (ms enconding, tube saturation, varialble iimpedence)

Just to clarify, I believe kmetal is speaking specifically about the MPA Gold and Digital MPA which are NOT to be confused with the ART Tube MP.

You'll be hard pressed to find a good 4 channel preamp for under$2000. There's the Focusrite ISA 428 and that's about it. There is the SSL Alpha VHD but I know nothing about it.

Changing the tubes in the MPA Gold makes a large difference in quality....provided the new tubes are quality tubes.