Why wouldn't your partner want to spring for the Lucid's?

Because they are expensive ( comparatively)
What are you charging and what did you spring for ?

I haven't used the Lucid but I hear nothing but good things.
I have used Swissonic briefly and use RME all the time.
Swissonic is very good quality. So is RME. If you're really strapped the Multiface is very affordable, and I hear the converters are quite good. I'm using the ADI-8 DS, and I'm enjoying the results. The DS version does 96khz, which I'm addicted to, and as it's barely more expensive than the version without 96khz, I would recommend the DS version.
I'm sure there are better converters out there, and I'm curious about what is possible, but converters are definitely not the weak link anymore, and the sound is very natural, balanced, and very subtle detail.
BTW the ADI-8 DS is also a standalone ADAT/TDIF format converter. It works very nicely and predictably with my DA-78hr.
It really depends how many channels you need. For 8 channels, if you want 96khz, the RME is most affordable of the bunch. If you only need two channels, or expandibility to 96khz is not important, you may want to look at what Lucid has to offer. Swissonic is somewhere in the middle as far as price, very comparable to RME as far as sound.
Ted

I was looking at the DS boxes, but I need 24 channels and none of RME's distributors had any ideas whatsoever about how to get 96k in. How do you do it?
What would I need for 24 channels?

Hi Aaron, I don't charge by the hour. I'm a producer and mostly do records for an advance sum plus points but I am very picky about who I work with. (I basically don't work with someone I'm not excited about.) As I am quite a perfectionist, I often end up working ALOT on some of those records and as a result, I don't think I'm making a hell of a lot of money on studio time. The payoff is that when the projects are completed to MY satisfaction, they usually end up playing and selling well and I get to be even more picky with who I'll work with next.

So the way I see it , investing as much as you can in the quality of your work (be it quality equipment, hiring the best possible players and working your ass off on projects you care about) usually will bring more and more quality/prosperous business in the door!

By the way, I have a couple of Lucid boxes (which I really don't put in the expensive category compared to most good sounding alternatives) and love them. I'm planning on getting a Cranesong Hedd soon too.

Good luck! :w:

I'm using ADI-8 DS with RME Digiface, which also includes a very nice if super simple 40 bit fixed point mixer, TotalMix. Digiface has 3 ADAT optical connections, for 24 tracks at 24:48 or 12 tracks at 24:96. A spdif connection makes 2 more at either rate.
You can use two (or more) of these at once if you have two cardbus slots or two PCI slots.
I'm not as familiar with all the PCI cards RME makes, but I've heard people have some big track counts going through some of those.
Ted

Using TDM Pro Tools I found that by adding an external wordclock (Aard-sync) that the quality of the sound improved by huge steps. It isn't up to 96k quality but the 3d quality of the individual tracks and overall sound got closer to the analog world that I grew up with. Try it out and see if you like it.

Bob

Aaron, regarding the RME 8 channel boxes, one of my golden eared friend is evaluating the RME 8 channel DDS box and have really good comments so far. So they might well be a viable and cheaper alternative to the Lucid.

Good luck! :tu: