Hi,

I'm new here... just wondering if anyone might want to share their views on 'real world' converters. I do full band recording, rock and metal...usually 8 tracks for drums, plus scratch vocal, guitars, and bass. So I need 16 in, minimum. Here's my setup right now:

Pair of Aark24s (16 in/out)
3ghz P4 PC, windows XP
Cubase VST and SX
Antares, Waves, Timeworks plugs
Mackie 1604 VLZ pro (i know, i know...)
Variety of decent mic's, AKG C414, etc.
Pretty nicely treated rooms

Yeah, the gear is modest... started this studio commercially on a shoestring budget... but don't let that give you the idea that this is amateur hour. I have squeezed pro sound out of this setup... a claI'm which many of you will undoubtedly be skeptical. But the fact is that good performance, good ears, good editing, good Micing technique, good room, good mixing... well, moderate gear just means you have to work harder to get a good result. Rock and metal is a 'noisey' environment anyway. Bottom line, though, I would benefit greatly with some nice pre's and better converters. But really, that's not even the primary reason for the upgrade.

The truth is I'm just SICK and tired of the lousy software support... bugs that never got fixed. I just spent another full day of fresh installs, only to find I still get intermittent garbled noise from the 2nd Aark24. Sometimes a reboot fixes it, sometimes not. The cards don't sync together reliably. If they worked reliably, I'd probably just get some nice mic preamp's and call it a day. The Aark cards really don't sound too bad. A little thin by way of too much 2k presence, but decent. But the frustration of things not working reliably is intolerable. When I called the Aark tech support line Monday I found it's been disconnected. I also see their website is down... so it looks like the bastards are finally out of business.

My dream for the last 2 years has been to get a nice, reliable set of converters with great software support... then take these aarks out, hang 'em high, blast em with a few 12 gauge slugs, douse them with lighter fluid and while they are burning, snap a few pictures... then I could post "I solved all my Aardvark converter problems!" I'm still on the fence as to whether I'll REALLY do that, as they are probably worth $150 each, even with them being out of biz (For anyone who wants a decent 8 in/out, they work okay. Just not reliable working together in pairs in my experience.) But the photos alone might be worth $300... we'll call it therapy.

So, I'm looking at the Yamaha O1X maybe with the extra inputs... might be nice to have a controller as well. Or go cheaper with EMU or something. But it has to have a proven track record of reliability. Or maybe I should just pick up a used Apogee AD16 or something. I'd much rather prefer a single 16 unit to a pair of 8s... as the monitor outputs of each 8 have to be summed in the Mackie into a stereo/CR out to monitor, which is doable, but another complicating hassle. It would be nice to be able to tap several different submixes (a different headphone mix for each player) off of 1 central software mixing panel... so I'm thinking any 16 in setup is gonna beat any pair of 8s.

All suggestions are welcome! Thanx...

Troy