if there is no such beast to give me 8 pre's in one rack space for 500-700 bucks then just let me know of some good pre units that I could get that would add up to 8 channels yet not add up to over 1,000 dollars. I might be able to get by with 6 good pre's right now and add on as i get more money together. thanks.

Your not going to find anything very good at that price. You might consider finding a used Mackie 1604vlz. It has 8 direct outs. You should be able to find one in vgc within your budget.

Thanks Kurt. I do plan to purchase better pre's i just wanted advice on best for what I can afford right now. The 1604 would be perfect then for me since I could use it as a mixer in my band's practice space as well. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll see if i can find one on ebay.

One more question - are you talking about the inserts using a TRS cable? Cause I see no dedicated direct outs on the VLZ series mixers. Thanks for the help.

The 1604vlz has 8 direct outs ...as well as the inserts and aux / bus sends, a control room mix and 2 track send return. It's pretty flexible as long as you don't push them too hard. You could actually build your whole studio around this one piece.

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.mackie.c…"]click here to see 1604 patch panel[/]="http://www.mackie.c…"]click here to see 1604 patch panel[/]

ahh i see them now...i was dumb and was looking for them on each channel, but i see now that there are only 8. Thanks Kurt. This looks like the right animal for the time being. I appreciate it.

Didn't makie just come out with an 8 ch onyx dedicated preamp box? Anyone heard it yet?
It might sound better than a used 1604 for about the same or less cash-

I doubt that the Onyx will be that inexpensive.

ONYX 800R 8-Ch. Microphone Preamp w/192K Digital Output

... it's going to have digital outs as well and it looks like the analog is on multi pins of some type. I don't think they are shipping yet.

Hey Kurt my friend is selling his Mackie 24-8 board for 1400.00 with meter bridge. He said he would wait for me to save the money if I wanted to buy it from him so I think I am just going to save and buy it from him. Is this a good option? What do you think about the 8 bus consoles from mackie? Thanks.

RAIN0707 wrote: Hey Kurt my friend is selling his Mackie 24-8 board for 1400.00 with meter bridge. He said he would wait for me to save the money if I wanted to buy it from him so I think I am just going to save and buy it from him. Is this a good option? What do you think about the 8 bus consoles from mackie? Thanks.

I don't think that would be money well spent. The 8 bus has a lot of features and ability to create different mix's for talent, the CR and the 2-bus and has a lot of routing options but overall the quality is at best marginal. They are good for monitoring but not much else.

According to your first post, what you need is mic pres. All the other stuff is frosting on the cake.

I think you could find a 1604 which would do the job fine, for around $400 and save the rest of the cash for good mics or preamps.

I agree with the preamps comment. I really rather do my mixing on a board than in the "box" as well if possible. Just trying to kill two birds with one stone for the time being. I also found a used Tascam M2600/32 for sale but I don't know much about these consoles...any thoughts from anyone?

The 800R will sell for about $1000...remains to be seen how good it will sound...

M-Audio has a new eight-channel preamp called the Octane...haven't heard that one either, but it's based on their DMP3 from what I understand, so it'll likely sound decent.

The next one up I'm familiar with is PreSonus's DigimaxLT, which doesn't have dedicated analog outs so probably wouldn't be the best choice for the HD192.

Focusrite's OctoPre is next, which runs just under a grand new, so you may be able to find one used in your price range...I think they're an improvement over the DMP3's...

-Duardo

RAIN0707 wrote: I agree with the preamps comment. I really rather do my mixing on a board than in the "box" as well if possible. Just trying to kill two birds with one stone for the time being. I also found a used Tascam M2600/32 for sale but I don't know much about these consoles...any thoughts from anyone?

This is precisely the problem... the mix bus's in the 8 bus are woefully short on headroom ..and get quite ragged. I absolutely guarantee you your mix's will sound better in the box than doing a conversion, mixing in analog on the 8 bus, and then re converting to the mix cdr / dat ..

The plus with mixing in the box aside from better sound (in most cases) is automation with complete instant recall of all settings.

For 8 preamps on that budget, I'd look into the new Soundcraft M series boards. I think the 8 channel version would be right up your alley. It is a noticeable improvement over the Mackie, IMO, especially in the eq.