***The Official Home Recording Studio Thread***

I'm thinking of getting a dual channel pre amp for vocal ,guitar and drum overheads...

The pre amps on the Octa Capture are excellent but very clinical...

Should I take a stab at the Art Digital MPA II ? And swap the tubes ?


Ideally I could use Spdif out and use the Spdif in on the Octa capture bypassing the Roland pre amps?

Or doesn't it matter so much if I use a line out of the pre amp into the line in if the Octa capture with no gain used?

Lowe over to you :D


http://thelittleredlight.com/gear-reviews/can-you-tell-a-100-preamp-from-a-4000-preamp/
 
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easyrider said:
I'm thinking of getting a dual channel pre amp for vocal ,guitar and drum overheads...

The pre amps on the Octa Capture are excellent but very clinical...

Should I take a stab at the Art Digital MPA II ? And swap the tubes ?


Ideally I could use Spdif out and use the Spdif in on the Octa capture bypassing the Roland pre amps?

Or doesn't it matter so much if I use a line out of the pre amp into the line in if the Octa capture with no gain used?

Lowe over to you :D


http://thelittleredlight.com/gear-reviews/can-you-tell-a-100-preamp-from-a-4000-preamp/
Click to expand...

Sorry mate - been on holiday so missed your posts. :)

Either of your suggestions will work - I'd be inclined to just use a balanced analogue connection to be honest since a character pre is purposefully distorting the signal anyway.
 
Bit of a mixture.

The AWS948 has its own pres - we use those in Studio 1. They're SSL's usual pre, just without the VHD circuit. In the other studio since Matrix2 doesn't have any, we have an external rack with 8x SSL VHD pres, and 8x Audient ASP880
 
The Audient stuff is ok - very clean - the gain pots are a bit odd, seems to do nothing for most of the turn then all at once at the end. They also don't offer as much gain as the SSL's but that's not an issue for rock/pop etc. The switchable impedance is nice but not a 'go to' thing for me.
 
easyrider said:
^^^^^ Nice ^^^^^ :D

I think I've just entered a new tier....Bought myself a DAV electronics dual channel mic pre...The DAV BG1

Sounds amazing !!!!
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We must be psychically connected! I have the Octa-Capture and just bought the 4 channel DAV BG2 :) Are you just going from the DAV into to the Octa-Captures pres (XLR)? Do you leave the Octa Captures pres on zero gain??

Another Q about the Octa-Capture: I've been using it on an old netbook with USB 2.0 and it works OK but I need to upgrade. But reading online it seems it doesn't like USB 3.0. Have you tried it on USB 3.0?
 
banja said:
We must be psychically connected! I have the Octa-Capture and just bought the 4 channel DAV BG2 :) Are you just going from the DAV into to the Octa-Captures pres (XLR)? Do you leave the Octa Captures pres on zero gain??
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Nice! How much did that cost you?

I'm going from the BG1 using an XLR to balanced 1/4in jack line input. Not Xlr to XLR

Its very important you use a 1/4 jack going into the DAV. I set the OCta capture gain to zero. So effectively line level and control the level gain on the DAV.

Another Q about the Octa-Capture: I've been using it on an old netbook with USB 2.0 and it works OK but I need to upgrade. But reading online it seems it doesn't like USB 3.0. Have you tried it on USB 3.0?
Click to expand...

Not tried it with USB 3 but I don't see why its not backwards compatible.
 
easyrider said:
Nice! How much did that cost you?

I'm going from the BG1 using an XLR to balanced 1/4in jack line input. Not Xlr to XLR

Its very important you use a 1/4 jack going into the DAV. I set the OCta capture gain to zero. So effectively line level and control the level gain on the DAV.
Click to expand...

Do you mean coming out of DAV? Surely you use XLR as the input into the DAV?

BG2 cost £750 directly from Mick at DAV.
 
easyrider said:
Dav in XLR :)

Dav Out -XLR :) to

Octa in 1/4 balanced jack Octa gain zero :)
Click to expand...

Gotcha. Not sure why 1/4 inch would make a difference over XLR into the Roland. They both go through the same Roland pre-amp front end. Both balanced. Just different connection.

BTW - in case you weren't aware - (due to DAV being a beast gain / output level wise) inputs 7/8 on the Roland have higher headroom than the other 6 inputs, specifically for hotter inputs.
 
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banja said:
BTW - in case you weren't aware - (due to DAV being a beast gain / output level wise) inputs 7/8 on the Roland have higher headroom than the other 6 inputs, specifically for hotter inputs.
Click to expand...

Only if you are using the Octa pre amps...

7 and 8 matter not at line level with the Octa gain set at zero

They just behave like line inputs...so it matters not what input on the Octa you use if it's a line level signal.

What effectively the Dav is doing is amping a mic signal to a line level signal.


You do not under any circumstances manage the input level on the Octa when using a mic pre....

You just use the DB gain on the mic pre you leave the Octa gain at zero.
 
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