rme ff8 / isa one / radial j48

[lelahel]

hi,
im going to record some guitar and bass DI's and want to ask you which would be the best recording chain with this gear:
rme FF800 , Radial j48 and focusrite isa one

should i use the focusrite and the line in of the FF, or the j48 with the FF800, or the focusrite + j48 + ff800, or ....

the guitar is 8 strings S7 with duncan seymour active blackout pick ups
the bass is roscoe with emg active pickups
waiting for suggestions

 

[AboutBlank]

I liked ISA->FF more than direct but you could just use the instrument in on the FF



Test it

 

[lelahel]

I liked ISA->FF more than direct but you could just use the instrument in on the FF



Test it

why you liked it more?

 

[lelahel]

any other suggestions?

 

[Teddyboy]

I would check the Guitar->J48->Isa chain

 

[lelahel]

today i made the 4 DI files:
1- FF:https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29226335/1-FF.wav
2- J48+FF: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29226335/2-j48%2BFF.wav
3- ISAone+ FF :https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29226335/3-ISA%2BFF.wav
4- J48+ISAOone+FF :https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29226335/4-J48%2BISA%2BFF.wav

which is the best sounding DI?
would be great if someone can reamp them !

 

[deLuther]

Better to upload DIs as recorded i.e. in 24 bits mono and don`t use any kind of mixdown, 16 bit is not great idea if we are talking about quality comparison.
And it seems that level was altered due to panning and mixdown to stereo.
Therer is some kind of high-pass filter on sample 1-FF. All DIs are noisy.

 

[lelahel]

the DI's in 24bits mono without any mixdown:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29226335/1-FF_2.wav
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29226335/2-j48+FF_2.wav
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29226335/3-ISA+FF_2.wav
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29226335/4-J48+ISA+FF_2.wav

so are they still noisy?
how they sound in general?
which sounds the best?

 

[deLuther]

Less noise this time, maybe there was some kind of dithering during mixdown in 16 bits.
Still wondering about source of high-pass in 1-FF_2.

 

[lelahel]

completely forgot about the dithering! thanks

in FF_2 i used the instrument input OF THE FIREFACE so no HPF

so which one sounds the best?
are those good or bad quality DI's?

 

[deLuther]

Check Analog Settings of FF800 for Speaker Emulation (there is such option for Instrument input):
"Speaker Emulation removes low frequency noise and cuts off higher frequencies."
pages 21 and 39 of FF800 manual.
So there are HP and LP filters.
If this is not culprit, then FF800 instrument if worst due to HPF.
Also there is asymmetrical clipping in 4-J48+ISA+FF_2, this also not a great sign of quality, at least with such settings.
EMGs itself have symmetrical clipping, so it must be due to some device in the chain. Hard picking in the very end of DIs shows it, rest of clip have lighter picking.

 

[lelahel]

for the 1-FF_2 there is absolutely no speaker emulation in the instrument channel

in 4-J48+ISA+FF_2 the clipping is maybe because i used the mic input of the isa and high Z in