Selling/Buying Advice

[Big Red]

I have an HD192 and the thing is just way too much hardware for my needs right now (I'm a relatively new dad, hobbyist musician). I'm thinking about selling it and picking up an 8pre, which would also let me get rid of the mixer I'm needing to use for phantom power. I don't foresee myself mastering or busing out from my system, so I don't see a need for more than stereo outputs. My setup is pretty minimal: a guitar or two at most, a couple of synths, and occasionally micing a sax, trumpet, or drum kit. I like the idea of being able to use 8 mic inputs that the 8pre has, but I'll likely never use more than 3 at a time. Is there another unit I should consider at or near the 8pre's price point?

I'm trying to price out the HD192, but I haven't seen one used ANYWHERE. Any ideas on what I could actually get for this thing (with the PCI card, of course)? Is there a limited market for this? Should I sell it somewhere other than ebay? I'd hate to simply trade it in somewhere, because I know they wouldn't give me anything for it.

Thanks for any advice.

[Dwetmaster]

I just PM'd you

[Big Red]

I haven't really gotten too far in my swapping project, but I'm reconsidering whether or not the 8pre is the right device or not. I liked the idea of the 8pre because of it's price and the fact that I'd have the ability to use all 8 channels with mics, but I don't see ever needing to do that. At most I could see recording two guitars and two vocals at the same time (which could be 6 mics if I was really being an overachiever, but I'd likely only use 4).

Most of the time, though, it'll just be me playing either guitar, trumpet, synths, or a kit. I may have a sax playing at the same time once in a while. That being the case, I'm considering basically all of the MOTU firewire devices. I'd like to spend less (two dental surgeries in the family coming up), but I don't want to kick myself for buying the wrong one later.

The 896mk3 looks great, but it's more money than I'd like to spend. The 828 looks interesting, but it only has 2 mic preamps. It looks like the thing that these two units have over the others is the V-Limit and Softclip features. I've been burned by clipping in the past and these look like helpful features. Any opinions on this? The traveler also has this, but I think if I was to spend that much, I'd just buck up and get the 896.

I don't see a need for all of the extra outputs on the units other than the 8pre for me, though, so maybe it'll give me the most bang for my buck. Perhaps I should just pick up a used 896 instead???

Any advice is appreciated.