I use a 32-8 and am very happy with the pres. I own a few outboard pres also, as the Mackie pres are very transparent. I do primary tracking on a Mackie SDR via direct outs on the channel strips, and recently got an RME Multiface so I can do overdubs into Sonar via the 8 Bus architecture on the board. Nothing to repatch. FWIW, some say the pres in the vlz series are better than the 8 Bus pres. If you're looking at a used 8 Bus, find out when it was made. From 2000-2002 they had inferior ribbon cables (main wiring) and needed replacement. Mine were done under warranty.

Thanks for the reply. If Im going to use both board and outboard preamps, is it better to route the signal of the outboard pres directly to the interface, or bypass it through the mixer. By the way, how do you bypass the signal of the outboard through the board? Will it colour the sound anyway?

Im looking forward into a 16*8bus, Ill have to ask when it was made.

thanks

I repatch the direct channel send from the board to the outboard pre output (connect the outboard pre to the "tape in" cable), so I'm not routing the signal from the outboard pre through the board at all. I prefer to track with no EQ or compression, but if you want to track with EQ, you could insert the outboard pre's output into the board, since the insert point is post preamp and pre EQ. If you wind up using the 8 bus feature, you can use the inserts there as opposed to the individual channels, might make more sense with your setup, depending on how many tracks you need to record at once.

Just to give another point of refrence, I've had the 24/8 for quite a while and have gone through a few transitions; from it doing the whole shabang', the ribbon repairs, to out board pres (nothig stellar mind you; RNP's, Precission-8') split to the board for monitoring and direct to the A/D's.
The last phase that was needed tackled two remaining sore spots; One was a level imbalance within the board (stereo centered on the two-track return channels via control room out is not the same as on headphone (this sucks) and a small matter with hum/noise on the unbalanced c/r out. Now a Central Station has solved that, the board is out of the picture except for tracking monitoring, outboard effects send/returns to the DAW and whatever general duties. Sound-wise, yes, less is more.
Sorry for the ramble. :wink: The up shot; Got to love the routing options on these boards, but you may be able to better the pre's and get the routing you need other ways too.
Wayne