Have 8pre, but need 2 extra tracks, any ideas?

pickongod · Post by **pickongod** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 3:44 pm

Call me fickle, but I changed my mind at the last minute and just bought another 8pre. LOL!

Thanks for all your input gang.

About the Bonham sound - I'd need to invest in a couple of Beyer M160 ribbon mics too if I wanted that, but nah, I'm going more for the Albini drum sound. My Avensons will be on the floor behind the drummer and delayed somewhere between 17-20 millisecs. With this approach you need all the close mics in the mix too to appreciate the explosive quality that the slight delay from the ambient mics introduces. Apart from that, it's for my band's second album, so we'll probably use different amounts of close mics versus ambients depending on the style/spaciousness required for each track.

Watch this space for some snippets. Tests should hopefully take place in about 10 days or so. I'll just whack up some mp3 samples or something with some photos.

Warmest wishes to you all.

nick danger · Post by **nick danger** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 3:50 pm

If I'd had an extra $300 when I got this behringer, I'd have likely done the same thing.

zara_drummer · Post by **zara_drummer** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 4:33 pm

I was considering a second 8pre, but what I think I'm gonna get is the Focusrite 26I/O. Use that as my main device and hang the 8pre off of the ADAT module.

I like the expandability withing the Focusrite box. Especially with the 8 outs and its got word clock. With that it gives me all the expansion I need (at the moment) and it will fit neatly in my small mobile rack setup.

taggart · Post by **taggart** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:24 am

nick danger wrote:I don't think it's as good as the pres and converters in the 828mkII, but I now have 10 instead of 2.

Forgive my ignorance

but would the Behringer's inputs show up as independent inputs in DP, if it's hooked up to the 828 via ADAT? Just curious...

nick danger · Post by **nick danger** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:29 am

Forgive my ignorance but would the Behringer's inputs show up as independent inputs in DP, if it's hooked up to the 828 via ADAT? Just curious...

It shows up as ADAT1-8 inputs. If you relabel them in cuemix, the inputs show up as they are labeled in cuemix.

taggart · Post by **taggart** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:46 am

One more little question...
How does the SYNC feature on the Behringer come into play? Would you use the Behringer as the Master for the 828? Or, since you're going ADAT out into the 828, would you even need to monkey with the SYNC function on the Behringer?

nick danger · Post by **nick danger** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 9:56 am

Slave the behringer to the motu, although I suppose you could do it either way. I'm under the assumption that the motu has a better clock.

There's a switch on the back of the behringer-- set it to wc (word clock) in, and run a bnc cable from motu word clock out, to behringer work clock in. I have adat cables to allow transfer back and forth from motu to behringer, but in my one attempt to use the behringer outs, they sounded pretty bad. I don't really need those outs since cuemix can't really use more than the ten outs of the motu, so you probably really only need one adat cable-- behringer out to motu in.

taggart · Post by **taggart** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:42 am

Cool. Thanks, Nick. I might just have to round me up one of those Behringers!

nick danger · Post by **nick danger** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:13 pm

I've been quite satisfied with the behringer-- it's well work the $260 (including taxes, ADAT and BNC cables) I paid for it.

But as I said above-- I look at it as a "temporary" solution. As far as affordable 8-input units go, I think the motu 8pre is probably much better, and worth the extra $300 if you have it to spare.

taggart · Post by **taggart** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:53 pm

Hey,
I just got my Behringer Pro-8. It works pretty slick. My live recording gig is April 28th. Fingers crossed.
Hopefully, between now and then, I'll find the time to really test it out and see how it sounds.
Thanks for the advice, Nick!

mhschmieder · Post by **mhschmieder** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 5:24 pm

I bought the Behringer ADA8000 as a stop-gap solution last year, but sold it two weeks later after my own tests showed it to be of sub-standard quality. I'm not faulting the people on this forum who recommended it, because we all have different ears and different criteria. And it was cheap enough that I didn't mind the $30 learning experience

.

It is too bad that the 8pre does not support S/PDIF as that would be your most convenient and flexible way of getting an additional two channels via a variety of means (even including a digital effects device in bypass mode!).

Are there S/PDIF to AES/EBU converters out there, and are they cheap? I looked into that a couple of years ago but don't remember what I found out. My recollection is that there are a few multi-format break-out boxes for conversion between different cable types and protocols -- maybe from Radial Engineering, for example. But at that point, you're spending about as much as for an octal unit that connects via ADAT.

If you are planning on getting a control surface of some sort (such as a Mackie HUI or equivalent), or have a keyboard or synth either with professional digital connections (such as AES/EBU) or firewire, you might be able to interconnect with the 8pre that way.

So the 8pre doesn't have the additional two front-panel channels that the 828 has, I gather. yes, I am looking at MOTU's product page for this device, but I don't see the AES/EBU connectivity listed there, and the images are tiny, so I'm not assuming that all the details are listed there.

Anyway, as the 8pre sort of has the idea of an expansion box in mind, using it as your main interface does limit your options somewhat in terms of adding an expansion to the expansion

. It does support firewire daisy-chaining though, so I would recommend buying a second 8pre before the Behringer ADA8000, as the quality difference and bang-for-buck as well as flexibility (and backup in case of failure) is worth the price difference (in my view).

oldguitars · Post by **oldguitars** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 5:56 pm

I would really lose the beater mic... it is nothing you can't recreate with gating and eq (which you need to do to that track anyways) i would also tell the drummer to lose the 2nd rack tom. It is really not needed... promise.... despite what he/she may tell you...

nick danger · Post by **nick danger** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 8:25 pm

The ADA8000 is adequate for my current use. I have a number of weak links in my entire chain of gear, so it's more than adequate for additional inputs for recording practices (ten inputs plus per song.) This is a relatively new band just trying to get enough material together to start gigging, and the recordings are good enough for feedback to ourselves, and to give to clubs an idea of what they'll be getting if they book us.

We've got more than enough original material to put out a couple of cd's. Much of that has already been painstakingly recorded through 828mkI's in Audiodesk at 16 bit, 44Khz-- hard drive space has been at premium up to now- plan to do everything at 24 bit from here on out, with the exception of the practice sessions done through the behringer-- 16 bit seems plenty good enough for that on my almost-bursting-at-the-seams hard drive. Once we start overdubbing on the stuff already in the can, I intend to get an Apogee Mini-Me for a better clock, pres and AD conversion. If I need a multi-input session, I'll use the Mini-Me inputs for the most critical material, and the 828mkII for the others.

taggart · Post by **taggart** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:26 am

Yeah, I figure it's gonna be a live recording in a noisy club (damn North Dakotans and their drinkin'!

) it should sound halfways decent.
Like Cy says: "One thing leads to another" and hopefully this benefit gig will lead to more recording gigs and THEN I'll be able to afford another Traveler or 8 Pre or something of the like.