How about AD/DA

[Barth]

Andy, you work with RME interfaces. I’ve read in you’re that they much better than the 888/24. Overhere in Wisseloord Studio’s, Digi tested the HD interfaces vs. 888/24. The input was a Studer. There was a difference but not as much as everybody aspect that it would be. With 44.1 the 888 sounded slight more harsh then the HD. Tough in my opinion was the test technical OK. Everything lined up with reference tones etc. The music was shit, no heavy stuff!
So, I have a 888/24 and want some more in/outs. What would you recommend?

Thanks In advance!

 

[Andy Sneap]

well i couldn't believe the difference, especially in the lower mids.
The RMEs sound great, no doubt about it, I just got another adat bridge from ebay dirt cheap and another AD8 pro for the mobile rig. Using 192 for the main system here.

 

[Matt Crooks]

I justed added an Apogee Big Ben and Rosetta 800 to my rig - it sounds fantastic. I got the clock first and that cleaned up the converters in my digital board a lot, but the Rosetta sounds fantastic. When I upgrade to PT HD next year, I'll be adding at least one more 800 to the rig.

 

[Plec]

RME is of great quality and I haven't seen another great alternative at that price. The Digidesign converters have always sounded plain bad compared to most other converters that cost way less. I remember at Polar Studios, Sweden when they had the original ProTools stuff and replaced the converters with Alesis AI-3 boxes 'cause they sounded much better... but the AI-3s are about as bad lo-fi as you can get,, so there you are, a little ancient digital history for ya . Don't know about the HD192 but I suspect they have put more effort into their converters now.

My advice would be to check out the RME stuff and then buy a great two channel converter from Apogee, Cranesong, Prism or similar for doing most of your tracking with. You can get a great quality boost by tracking with a superb A/D and then using decent D/A converters like RME for mixing purposes.

 

[Barth]

I think I buy a RME and a one two channel high-end converter like Plec suggests. Most of my tracking is as live as possible so I need some channels to record the basic tracks. For the dubs I can use then the two channel! Great idea!

Thanks guys for you’re input!

 

[Barth]

So Andy, you have the RME’s because you where still on PT 5, OS9?
And when you upgraded to HD on OSX you also went to a 192? Is there a huge difference between them.
I mean, for all I know the RME’s work as well on 24Mix as on HD but the 192 doesn’t. So when I buy the RME8 I can use them later also on HD? Or is it wise to wait and get a 192?

 

[Andy Sneap]

you can use the RME with either the digital io or the light pipe connection on the 192 or 96 io. Works great with HD, just you cant go over 48k, but hey, Im still using 44.1 so...

There is a difference, but it's slight, and both sound good.

I've just ordered a crane song spider so I'll let you know how that sounds

 

[Barth]

I also work on 44.1. Still remember how the conversoin was a few years ago.
Why you work with OSX if you are still on 44.1? To use the 192? More DSP?
I try to get the sound right before I record, so I have to do less dig.eq.

 

[Andy Sneap]

I work on OSX now cause I got a great deal on an HD rig, + I wanted some of the functions available now + converters are great + more DSP and the stereo summing is better.