What interface/preamp to buy?

[madbutcher]

I currently have an mbox 3 that I use with PT8, and a Saffire Pro 40 that I use with Reaper, and am going to make the jump to PT 10 or 11. I want to add 8 more input channels so I can adat/spdif/optical them together and get at least a simultaneous 16 going into PT. SUggestions for this and to stay below $750? (new or used) Also is it possible to string all 3 together for 18 channels?

 

[Studdy]

You are going to get a ton of different suggestions for adat preamps. The behringer ada8000 or ada8200 are kind of a go to for a cheap extra bunch of inputs. 44.1/48khz only, plus you can never truly bypass the preamp stage. Around 500 range i'd probably buy a focusrite octopre mkii. up to 96khz, which wouldn't matter to me anyways, but i believe it has true preamp bypass and decent preamps and reliability. A used profire2626 could also be decent but the downsides are that in standalone mode you must connect to a computer to change settings. Not truly as standalone as octopre but very minor. hope this helps dude.

 

[madbutcher]

Thanks. I stay away from anything that says behringer on it, I'm looking at the octopre, 2626, focusrite liquid saffire and mackie blackbird as options. Possibly just another pro 40, but I like the idea of having a different flavor of pres.

 

[Studdy]

The ada8000 behringer gets a lot of love for a cheap piece. Havent used it though. Also looking for a rack of preamps with flavour in this price range would be like going into a vanilla ice cream store and deciding which vanilla you would like.