DAT-heads Digest #881
Contents:
re: looking for a good laptop recording interface, prefer 4-channels (acffh morst)
For sale : Denecke AD-20 and AT SP-CMC-8 mic's ("Tony")
Washington DC Blues BBQ on XM radio ("Dat Head")
Dweezil (jw@thewhitleys.com)
From: acffh morst <morst@tds.net>
Subject: re: looking for a good laptop recording interface, prefer 4-channels
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 01:57:21 -0500
Thanks for ALL THE GREAT RESPONSES!! DAT-Heads ROCK=A9!!!
So I bought a Focusrite Saffire, but have not been able to get it =20
fully working with the software I have. The Cubase LE installer that =20=
came with the Saffire gets me a version which does not work on my =20
mac. Garageband seems to work somewhat, although I cannot seem to get =20=
it to lock at 48KHz, I guess it's resampling to 44.1KHz on the fly? =20
That might be handy for some people, but to me it's rather annoying =20
because I want to back up all the bits on my 48Khz DAT masters. =20
Audacity 1.2.4 crashes badly and 1.3 won't run at all. But the price =20
is right!! :-\
Anyway, the reason I chose this over the Edirol FA-100 (or FA-66) is =20
that the Edirols are Optical Digital only, and this is coax S/Pdif. =20
If I ever figure out the Macbook's digital optical interface I might =20
be sorry, but for now, I have a lot of DAT"s to transcribe, and my =20
Oade cable outputs on Coax.
The reason I picked the Focusrite or Edirol over the other units I =20
looked at is that they have the capability to run 192KHz and none of =20
the other interfaces I was considering went up past 96KHz. The =20
Digidesign Mbox is limited to 16/48, that's the only interface I =20
considered that did not go to 96Khz. The Digidesign of course works =20
only with their Protools software. Although it's a bit of an =20
industry workhorse, I did not feel that it was worth sacrificing the =20
high-bit-rate feature just to run a limited version of a widespread =20
standard. The M-Audio product I considered (Fast-Track Pro) would =20
work with the M-Power versions of Protools, since Digidesign =20
evidently bought M-Audio, but the unit seemed a little =20
lightweight. . . I had a hard time deciding against the M-audio. I =20
also had a hard time deciding against the Presonus Firebox or =20
Inspire, but I felt that the Focusrite would have better mic preamps =20
than those, so I would say that's what swung me to the Saffire. And =20
of course the 192KHz bitrate means I will probably use this for years =20=
before I need to replace it with something of higher quality.
MOTU's Traveler was too big for me, and their Ultralite looked good, =20
but I did not like the way there is one XLR mic input on the front =20
and one on the back of the unit- that does not bode well for field =20
operation.
So far, Focusrite has been OK for phone support, and Steinberg seems =20
to have a large community of users on their chat forums. I hope I can =20=
figure out how to run 4 discrete channels in, I really want to be =20
able to mix a time-locked matrix after-the-fact. The main drawback of =20=
the Saffire that I can see so far, is that there are only 2 Analog =20
inputs, the other 2 inputs are the S/Pdif. This means that until I =20
get a high-bit-rate A>D, I can only record 4 channels at 16/48 (based =20=
on my Sony SBM-1's max sample rate). That's cool for now, at least =20
until I get the software options figured out, and down the road I can =20=
get a V3 or Minime or some cool high-bit-rate unit to sync with. I =20
will say that the Saffire Control software is very cool and flexible =20
and rather powerful- it takes advantage of the Saffire's built-in DSP =20=
in order to do full 4-band parametric EQ on the analog inputs (if you =20=
want) as well as compression OR it will do Amp Modeling! Not really =20
what I need for making matrix recordings, but it sure will make my =20
mac a flexible demo studio when I get it all figured out!
Other interfaces I considered were Len Moscowitz's 4mic, which was =20
supposed to come out in November 2005, and is still not =20
available. . . I need a real interface, not 6 weeks of hoping. Echo =20
Layla is larger than I would prefer for the functionality, I don't =20
want a 19" rack unit if I can help it, otherwise I would be =20
considering the Presonus Firepod and the MOTU Traveler more carefully.
The other suggestions I got were to skip the laptop and go with =20
something like the R-4 or some pocket-PC solution, but I already got =20
the Macbook and it feels right for me to record directly on it if it =20
will only perform to my liking.
Thanks again to all who responded, it made a BIG difference to me.
Have a good summer and KEEP THOSE LEVELS UP!!
-tom
"morst"
PS while I am posting here, I will take the opportunity to ask =20
everyone to PLEASE RECORD CRACKER (and Camper Van Beethoven too) if =20
they are in your area. They're taper-friendly and I'll be MORE THAN =20
GLAD to post your tape as a bit-torrent and/or put it on archive.org =20
if you can't!! THANKS!! Please see http://www.crackersoul.com for =20
tour dates etc!=
From: "Tony" <adestefanis@wi.rr.com>
Subject: For sale : Denecke AD-20 and AT SP-CMC-8 mic's
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 02:03:22 -0500
Hey all,
I'm not doing a lot of taping these days and selling off the rest of my
field gear...
The Denecke was used only once to record a Leftover show, it's essentially
brand new.
I have probably used the AT's about 10-15 times and they work fine.
Looking to get $165 for the mic's and $265 for the Denecke, I would take
$400 for the pair together... Pictures can be sent, let me know if you have
any questions.
Thanks,
Tony
adestefanis (at) wi (dot) rr (dot) com
From: "Dat Head" <dathead2@gmail.com>
Subject: Washington DC Blues BBQ on XM radio
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 10:54:10 -0500
anybody tape that last weekend off of XM!?
--
The difference between men and women is simple:
A man falls in love with a woman he is attracted to,
a woman becomes attracted to a man she fell in love with.
From: jw@thewhitleys.com
Subject: Dweezil
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2006 15:54:33 -0700
Anyone happen to catch and/or tape any of the Dweezil Zappa tour that
juat happened?
http://www.zappa.com/zpz/
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