Are you speaking of the Studio Projects SP-828? If so, why not get another SP-828 and a cheap 8 channel firewire converter?

I think the SP-828 is one of the best affordable cheap mic pres, considering the price. It has the Burr Brown chips which a lot of people seem to like a lot and the price is right in line with what it should be imo... near half of the competing products.

right now Im just using a MOTU 828 ...

mmmm-kay ... I understand now ..

I understand the convinence of the all in one package with the firewire connection ... it's damn handy for sure but I personally dislike the idea of the pres tied to any converter ..
...
I would still say look to another solution besides the PreSonus ... my opinion.

It's still in the air if the ONYX is worth it or not. I requested one to review a couple days ago. If I get it, I will post some comparison clips of it pitted against the pres in a Mackie SR24 vlz mixer as well as some higher end stuff ... we shall see.

the motu 828 has two built in pre, 8 analog ins (that need pres) and a light pipe connector that will take 8 more channels of pres via adat. (plus 2 more inputs via spdif) I hate to recommend anything behringer, but I have an 828mkii and my friend brought over a behringer 8 ch pre (I think its called maybe ada8000?)
and it was surprinsingly clean and it was only like a bit over $200 for 8 ch- It was certainly as good as any of the cheap pres out there and the price was right. Actually, we tested it against some art pres and it was about the same type sound. If you need something for extra pres to tie you over til you can get the good stuff, this certainly won't break the bank.

Also, like Kurt mentioned, the sp828 I believe has light pipe connections and that one is about $600 for 8 ch- When Alan Hyatt had a forum here, there was talk about the 828 sounding like a sytek but 8 ch instead of 4 and $600 instead of $800. I don't know if this turned out to be true or not as I haven't heard the sp828- maybe someone will comment on that-

Studio Projects SP-828

I like a comparaison between Studio Projects SP-828 and Onix 800R, Sound On Sound make a good Onix test , the Onix have a didgital interface, I dont see a didgital interface on the SP 828 and I hope it's sound better than the VTB-1