I have an FW-1884 and from all of the horrible reviews about how bad it sounds. I'm now starting to wonder if it is even worth it to upgrade to nicer mic preamps.
Here is my question. .if I were to run the 4 API pres and 4 AMEK pres that I'm building through a decent converter and into the ADAT in. will the FW1884's converters affect the high quality incoming signal?
Right now I've got the output of my Brick going into an insert on the board to bypass the pre. is that signal being destroyed by the converters?
As you can tell I'm not keen on converters or now starting to think that I have a sub par control surface with lots of unuseable crap on it.
Let's say that I decided to just use the FW-1884 as a control surface. is there an interface that kicks ass in all departments (converters, preamps, etc..)
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therecordingart wrote: ....is there an interface that kicks ass
therecordingart wrote: ....is there an interface that kicks ass in all departments (converters, preamps, etc..)
Millennia HV-3
Focusrite ISA 428
CraneSong Spider
(Sorry, they're all pretty damned expensive)
Here's a cheaper one - RAMSA WZ-AD96M. It's quite nice. One of the bigger magazines did a shootout of it vs. a Millennia HV-2 and an Apogee Rosetta and let's just say - the Millennia/Apogee combo won, but not by much. You can get these used for around a grand or so.
I use one myself and really like it. (Though, I much prefer the AD conversion in my new Aurora better.)
I-Quality wrote:
where did you see bad reviews about it? I haven't found any...only bad comments from people that can't get it to work with their system
Do a search on this board for the FW-1884. In general, many people dislike it's sound AND it's repeated failures.
Personally, I don't mind the converters that much - they were fine by me. The pres didn't blow any wind up my skirt and the control surface simply pissed me off.
So...I sold mine, bought Sequoia and never went back to standard automation again (not the kind with a control surface at least.)
J.
Art, Converters are an important part of the chain but in most c
Art,
Converters are an important part of the chain but in most cases (unless they are particularly bad, like those found in some porta studios) they will not improve the sound as much as upgrading to better mic pres will.
My approach is to concentrate on the pres first and then once you have a collection that will cover all your needs then to look to the converters. The logic to my method is pres should last a lifetime but converters will be upgraded every few years. It only makes sense to purchase the things that are more of a long term "investment" first.
As far as your ADAT inputs, they are already in the digital realm so the Tascams converters will not affect the sound.
I haven't heard the converters on the Tascam but I assume they are no worse that those found in a Digidesign PT interface and probably as good as anything else on the market until you get into the Apogee's or other high end offerings.
As it is with mic pres I suspect there is no real substantiated improvement with the "middle ground" when it comes to converters. My take is to either go as inexpensive as possible or to go whole hog. Of course there will be a few exceptions (there always is) but I think that holds for the most part across the board.