8 Channel AD Converter

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wonder
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8 Channel AD Converter

Post by wonder »

I'm looking for a quick (translation="inexpensive") 8 channel AD (ADAT) conversion.

My Focusrite ISA 428 crapped out on me.

I know Behringer ADA8000 :roll: is an option ... but wouldn't that defeat the purpose of my existing preamps?

Any suggestions?
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HCMarkus
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Re: 8 Channel AD Converter

Post by HCMarkus »

Following up on your other recent thread, a 2408mk3 would give you eight channels of A to D.

Used are readily available for reasonable prices, plus would give you additional ADAT/SPDIF i/o as well.
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mhschmieder
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Re: 8 Channel AD Converter

Post by mhschmieder »

I owned the Behringer for less than a week, its converter quality was so bad!

The Focusrite OctoPre mk II did me for a few years, and its converters were pretty good (but its mic pre's were unusable, even as pass-through with no gain). They can be had cheap.

I recently upgraded to the Audient ASP880, which is remarkable quality -- almost on par with the RME stuff, yet cheaper. They have a new model called the ASP800 that has a confusing feature set compared to the ASP880. You'd have to do your own comparison to see which is closer to your needs.

I guess you could use the ADAT part of any computer I/O though, as suggested, and just skip its computer connection. I'm not sure if ALL units support ADAT pass-through in "standalone" mode. RME does, because they told me. Probably MOTU as well though.

Quality-wise, the Audient is pretty hard to beat, and comes in at under $1000 (closer to $800 as I recall -- especially during sales). Definitely a long-term purchase, and it's pre's are quite good -- about as good as the ones on the RME Fireface UFX, which are way better than typical budget mic pre's on converters.
Last edited by mhschmieder on Sun Oct 04, 2015 10:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: 8 Channel AD Converter

Post by mikehalloran »

I was using my 2408 v.1 as a standalone converter back in the 1990s. It's how I was able to get 8 channels analog in to my Fostex FD8. I used a Mackie 1604 for its 8 mic preamps. Then I connected the 2408 to the 324 card to get the 8 tracks of the Fotex into my G3 and would mix in DP 2.7. It sounds complicated but was less so than my analog setup at the time.

My 828mkII will work as a standalone converter, too.
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