Hi All, I have a question about converters.. I recently switched from a digital board to a soundracs Topaz 32. I need to find a way to get as many individual channels into the computer (G5). I want to use the pres and EQ on the board prior to going ITB during the tracking phase and then come OTB and mix with the Soundtracs during the mixing process. What converter/interface would you recommend. I dont need the pres of any interface. The G5 has FW and USB at the present. I know good converters are important, but I would like to do this as fiscally responsible as possible without compromising to much on the sound. Thanks so much for any advice you can give.. Peace
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my suggestion is to go with the SSL AlphaLink AX which gives you
my suggestion is to go with the SSL AlphaLink AX which gives you 24 I/O analog and 24I/O lightpipe. also get an RME 9652 card to connect the SSL via lightpipe to the computer and your good to go.
connect your direct outputs of the console to the analog in's and take the analog out's of the SSL to the line in's of the console and your up and running.
its simple, its quick and it sounds great. setup is just like a tape machine
What's the minimum number of channels that would be useful to yo
What's the minimum number of channels that would be useful to you? What range of sampling rates to you need to use?
A-D and D-A interfaces of the type you describe tend to come in blocks of 8, and, if you choose carefully, you can either expand or daisy-chain from the first unit to one or more further units.
A slightly different approach is to get an interface unit that has ADAT I/O with or without built-in A-D and D-A channels. As an example, the RME FireFace800 has 8 usable analog inputs and outputs (actually 10 each way, but 2 of the inputs go through pre-amps only and 2 of the outputs are for driving headphones), and has two ADAT ports for expanding to a further 16 inputs and outputs (at 44.1/48KHz) via external ADAT-equipped A-D and D-A units to get you to 24 channels. In addition, if your G5 has the faster FireWire 800 interface, you can connect two RME FF800s to get you a total of 48 concurrent I/O channels. If you need to use the higher sampling rates (88.1/96 KHz), the number of ADAT channels available is cut in half, as each higher rate channel uses the bandwidth of two standard-rate channels.
Let us know if this is the sort of thing you were after, and we can make further specific recommendations.