...Nope. -Not the same home studio then. -I'm thinking a little further west.
-Hmmm. -Been to a couple of Capricorn User group meetings while I was still teching the Capricorn installation, and never had that. (About a thousand other things, -but never that!!!)
-Also in the entire 5 years or so that we had the Capricorn, I never got a complaint from an engineer about that either. -Been to a few other Capricorn studios between New York and Miami and never seen it... -Not to say it can't happen, but I would definately say that if you experienced that on a Capricorn, it wasn't indicative of a platform-realted problem... perhaps a quirk of that particular installation?... -Mercifully I never worked on the very earliest Capricorns -which I know were a whole lot less stable than the later ones.
Now we also had a Libra and a Logic. They both did it. -Every time. -If you added a path then every output mutes for 5-6 seconds. -Another local Libra user (broadcast) was furious with it! -In fact our logic was so unstable that it just wouldn't boot up most mornings. -It was pulled out and sent back before it did us any real harm!
My big issue with AMS/Neve is the lamentable support in the US. -Not the 'foot-soldiers' themselves: the techs are all wonderful guys, who will all go above and beyond the call of duty to do whatever is within their power to get/keep you running. -Getting parts that aren't sufficiently stocked in the US to you is another matter... You'll be waiting a while... and if that part is a CON card, or a DSP board in a Capricorn, or an SPS card in a Libra or a Logic... you'll spend an awful lot of that time apologising to clients!
By chance, this afternoon I'm picking up a proof copy (for approval) of an album I did at the start of the year, which was recorded & mixed entirely on a 9098i. (yes yes yes.....I'm a frustrated musician!) And I adore the Amek. -I've done gawd-knows how many albums on SSL's and Neves. -We had a V3 and a VR, as well as a pair of SSL 4000's. Since then I've worked on SSL 9000's and Ameks. -The 9000 is way better than the Neve (we had one of each side by side for a while...) but the Amek smokes them both.
While Amek tech support is not quite as good as SSl's (let's face it, in the US, SSL is the benchmark of goot customer tech support!) it's still better than AMS/Neve. For that reason, I'd be a little sad if I had to pull an Amek and put an 88R in it's place...
One more thing... the 88R isn't a "real" Neve to me... Rupert didn't design it, that's for certain! -It has grown out of a V-series frame. -the Amek is the last true Rupert Neve design, and is simply fantastic!
I know most people will know that, but it carries more weight than most folks realise. Lowdbrent, You've used one... you will understand, I feel certain!
Keith