can't decide which 8-channel pre to get!

[edwinh]

I love my Presonus DigiMax LT. It light pipes right into My 828mkII and works like a charm. Wish I'd got the 96k one though.

Why? Apparently they are the same preamp. The real difference is the limiter and I guess the 96khz, but I don't know if you can use all 8 channels in that case, since ADAT 96khz via one lightpipe is only 4 channels. I've used both and at 44.1 haven't really noticed a big difference.

Edwin

[sdfalk]

Is there anything wrong with an Octane?

Nothing at all wrong with it.
A great deal of gain, nice build quality, reasonable price,
and I quite like the sound.
The adat tops out at 24/48khz though.

[bug67]

Why? Apparently they are the same preamp. The real difference is the limiter and I guess the 96khz, but I don't know if you can use all 8 channels in that case, since ADAT 96khz via one lightpipe is only 4 channels. I've used both and at 44.1 haven't really noticed a big difference.

Edwin

I wasn't aware of the 4 channels only via light pipe but, yeah, the 96k was the reason. Now that you have made me aware of the light pipe channel limitation, I'm happy as a clam with what I have.

[HLStudios]

I recommend the Focusrite Octopre...very nice preamps with compressor. with the a/d card u connect to mk3 through lightpipe (2 if u want to use 96k) they sound very good and with the card its in your budget.

[MattC]

Honestly, I haven't been thrilled with my OctoPre, although I certainly respect the opinion of anyone who's had a good experience with it. It's not that well matched across the channels in terms of sound, gain, and noise floor, there are a couple of more noisy channels on mine, and overall I find the sound to be...hmmm, I guess "grainy" would be the word. Not so smooth sounding, especially on mics that have a really upfront, detailed image. Just my opinion though - let your ears be the judge.

All the best,

Matt

[Phil O]

You didn't mention budget, so I don't know if this is out of your range, but have you looked at the Grace products? I have a 201 (the 2 channel version). They also make an 8 channel. The sound is VERY transparent and it's built like a tank. It's my first choice pre.

I tend to like dedicated components and would suggest that you NOT go with a preamp with built-in converters. If you are happy with the converters in the Traveler, let it do its job, and spend your bucks on a dedicated pre. - MHO

Phil

[Phil O]

Sorry, I just noticed you DID mention a budget. Please ignore my insanity. Too many beers, too many beers....

[snicka]

I using 2 Digimax LTs connected with lightpipe to a 2408mkIII and love them!

[valleysound]

I have read somewhere that the preamps in the Digimax series are the same. The Digimax 96k will only do 44.1 and 48k through the ADAT. It will do 88.2 and 96k through the Spdif/AES output. I love mine and think it is worth the extra money for the compressors and balanced analog outputs over the LT version.

[gearboy]

According to Presonus, both the preamps and converters are not the same between the LT and 96K versions. Feel free to send them an email inquiry about it.

That being said, I really like the convenience of my Digimax LT. It always works flawlessly with my MOTU 828mkii. The preamps are clean and sound solid.

Jeff

[Jim]

I like my Digimax LT also.

I also think that's a class act company. My first unit arrived damaged (from SameDayMusic.com). SameDay told me to take it up with Presonus. I called them, and they shipped me a new unit that day... didn't need me to ship my bad one in first. They let me keep working with the 7-channel unit until the replacement arrived. And they covered all the shipping. I was impressed.

My replacement unit has been working like a charm, except I can't get it to slave sync, and so I use it as a master clock.

OTOH, I'd first bought the OctoPre. Their marketing materials don't make it clear that you need another $300 option to use ADAT light pipe. I emailed the company, and asked, "What's up with that?" They wrote me a snide letter in return. So, that product went directly back to GC, and I'll never buy a Focusrite product again, thanks to their lousy attitude.

[valleysound]

Here's the email I got from Presonus...

The LT and original 48k DM use 24bit Alesis converters. The Digimax
96k and Digimax FS use higher end AKM's. All 4 have different preamp
designs. ; ) We like to keep it interesting rather than copy/paste the same
preamp design over and over like some folks do. : )

[stephen1212b]

I have an original 48K digimax. I like the analog outs but I can't set the limiter higher than +9 or the litepipe outputs sometimes overload. It seems odd that the analog would have 12db more headroom than the digital converters can handle. That safety translates into noiser tracks than the traveler inputs for example. Is this true of the newer 96 K version?

it is great having the extra inputs work with cuemix, and the digimax doesn't have to be the master as it can be slaved to the traveler word clock.

[Noam]

I recently got the behringer unit . It feeds my m-audio projectmix to get me 16 tracks - letting me avoid submixing the drums before tracking. It's a lightweight unit but so far has worked flawlessly. The pre-amps are not quite as good as those in the projectmix for what that's worth,- not as much air and detail when a/b'd on solo vocal and sax , - but just fine on the drums in the multitrack environment. Dead quiet - (so far) and locks to the projectmix synch without issue.

It does a lot for what it costs - but it is a hobbiest's piece of hardware and limited to 48k. If it does crap out after a few years I'll still have gotten my $$'s worth. If I did this to pay the rent I would likely go with the digimax or onyx. I read one review of the m-audio octane that claimed there are issues with mic.s of certain impedance. I would def. research that issue before going with that unit.
-noam

[gearboy]

Here's the email I got from Presonus...

The LT and original 48k DM use 24bit Alesis converters. The Digimax
96k and Digimax FS use higher end AKM's. All 4 have different preamp
designs. ; ) We like to keep it interesting rather than copy/paste the same
preamp design over and over like some folks do. : )

Ok, this raises an interesting question about the new Digimax FS (whch is 96K)... Are the preamps nicer than the Digimax LT???

Still seems to me that the Digimax96K is the way to go for ADAT lightpipe. Maybe I'll look into this and upgrade from my Digimax LT. I do like the convenience of ADAT. Are those converters in the 96K and the FS the same as the 828mkii/Traveller (Asahi Kasei's converters)?

I still think that the best thing to do is upgrade the Traveller via Black Lion, which will give you two great mic preamps (I've heard clones of the Grace 101 as a comparison), then just add 8 other analog flavors. That'll give you 10 preamps. For the price of a Digimax LT (which is still decent), you can have 4 channels of used Sytek MPX-4A preamps, which are much nicer.

For less than the Digimax LT you can have a great clock and opamps in the Traveller, plus two ultra clean channels of MOTU preamps (upgraded), two clean Sytek channels, plus two sytek Burr-Brown channels. that's a great font end. However, you will not have pads on any of these channels. But, according to the conversation that I had with Shelly Yakus three weeks ago, this is a great thing in his mind (it would be even better if the Sytek had transformers!).

Jeff