I was thinking about using the Yamaha O1V96 with a 24 channel Hammerfall card and Yamaha expansion board as per my last post but I am not sure if this is a good way to go. I have not had the opportunity to use this combination and the chances are I will not get the chance to really work with either before i buy them. I was going to use the Yamaha's Pre's until I can Afford to get something reallly nice. If I go this way I will be able to record 16 chanels now and later get an eight chanel pre with some real balls.
Do you think this could be a viable option or should I forget the desk and look for something with better pre's and mix through software instead? Perhaps a JLM 8 channel Pre or two and something like a 24 i/o. I don't think I will need to track more than 24 sources at any one time for a while. Is there a descent 8 channel Pre with digital out that would couple well with the hammerfall card?
All this is getting very confusing, there are so many products available but it is very hard to try them all out so I can tell whats good and whats crap.
Any ideas would really help me keep my hair right about now.
Thanks in advance. .
Comments
Kurt, I would like to hear some of your stuff, maybe even wit
Kurt,
I would like to hear some of your stuff, maybe even with a running comentary about your production process, a kind of mini rock-umentary for newbies so we can hear what you are doing as you do it. You know, just you on a mic on another track....
And then we can work on the marketing and promotions and make you a celebrity !!!!!! :D
Awesome !!!!!!!
Divo, I have no experience with either the Hammerfall cards or
Divo,
I have no experience with either the Hammerfall cards or the Yamaha mixers. So all I can offer is opinion and impressions from what I have heard about these products.
First, Hammerfall makes an excellent product. They have a stellar reputation in the field for superior analog to digital / digital to analog conversion. Their products are also a bit expensive. But if that is the direction one wants to go, they are absolutely worth the price.
The Yamaha mixers are disposable. Just look what a used 02R is selling for. 10 grand down the drain. Case closed.
If you had asked me this question a year ago when I first arrived here at RO I would have told you to absolutely not spend too much money on digital converters. I was of the opinion that 24/48 and PCM technology was on its way out and would soon be a doorstop. However I now see a continuing future even for 24/48-44.1 with much of the market arguing that the increased resolution of higher rates is not worth the added costs in terms of storage and processing power. Some even argue there is no discernable difference in the quality. While I don’t agree with the latter, I do agree with the former. So it seems that an investment in high quality conversion may be a good one. I would not have said this 12 months ago. We all learn things.
I still maintain however that great conversion is worthless if you are feeding it crap. Crap mics, crap pres = CRAP. My advice is to first invest in quality transducers (mics, speakers) and mic pres, compressors. Then go for the digital gear. In the meantime you can get by fine with converters and soundcards that are half the cost of the more expensive ones. It is simply a matter of putting the horse in front of the cart.
24 channels is major overkill. Most of us can get by with 16 in and out to accommodate live tracking. Typical rhythm section is drums (8 to 10 channels), bass, a couple of guitars, keys and a vocal.. 16 channels are enough to accommodate that. Unless you are going to use an analog mixer to mix, 24 channels of digital to analog conversion will be wasted.
While it by no means is the only solution, I can offer up for your consideration what I decided on. I think it is about as “budget” as one would want to go … pretty cheap. I got the Frontier Dakota card (16 in/out plus 2 spdif) on ADAT light pipes. I was able to get this from GC for a little over $300 USD. I chose the Alesis AI-3 24 bit converters (2) because they too, are cheap. They work ok but they are cheap. I paid $400 each for these so, if you do the math, I am in $1100 for 18 channels in and out! If I can get 2 years use out of this system (half way there already!) I will have considered it a good investment. The sound? Well, I think it sounds fine. I have posted a few things on RO that I have recorded and no one has ever said anything negative. Nothing but good comments. That’s my POV… Kurt