Justin Greed
July 29th, 2008, 06:24 PM
Or maybe 4 times! :very happy:
Disclaimer:
*Not an advertisement or endorsement of any platform just my experience to help others* :Wink:
This past weekend I decided it was time to get some new conversion for my laptop/mobile set up. I’d been using the M-Box 1 and really needed 96k, decent pre-amps, decent converters and Firewire. Plus the M-Box 1 sucks donkey.. Evil!
I started with the Mackie Satellite http://www.mackie.com/products/satellite/index.html
I’d heard good things about the pre’s and converters + the price was right! I immediately noticed the self noise.. With nothing plugged in and no software running the thing emitted a low level “whirring” sound constantly. First thing I did was transfer a cassette… yep a cassette… from RCA to the ¼ inputs, and the converters sounded pretty damn good. Anyone remember Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me”? LOL
I then detached the “pod” from the doc plugged in my guitar and recorded a few overdubs. The tracks sounded really good and I heard less self noise after the pod was detached from the doc. Then came the moment of truth, how would the Onyx Pre’s sound with the 48v phantom powering a decent Mic? I didn’t even get that far, as soon as I turned on the phantom power it emitted a loud and constant “whine”. So I boxed that sucker up and took it back to Sam Ash the same day. :Thumbdown:
Next up was the Tascam “Fire One” http://www.tascam.com/products/fireone.html
I’d never heard any of their converters except for thier DAT recorders and some limited time with the DA-88’s. (I was an ADAT man myself in my recording infancy) LOL
I thought “Hey Tascam’s been around forever, it may sound “great” and once again the price was right! Once again! The first thing I noticed was the self noise.. This thing was not as “buzzy” as the Mackie but also emitted a low level “whirring” sound constantly. Also the headphone outputs were poor. I don’t monitor anything super loud especially via headphones but the output was just BAD. Next I plugged in my guitar and recorded a few tracks and the converters sounded like ASS, I still had the Mackie guitar tracks and compared them side by side and it was night and day. I’d heard enough and boxed that sucker up and took it back to Sam Ash. :Thumbdown:
Next up was the Presonus Firebox http://www.presonus.com/products/Detail.aspx?ProductId=4
I was SURE this would be the one. I’d been hearing/reading good things about the Presonus converters and driver stability. So after I loaded up the drivers, updated the firmware and loaded up a session, our old friend “self noise” came back! This thing “hummed”, reacted to every mouse movement and also emitted a low level “whine”. I loaded up a complex session and listened to a mix I was working on. And WOW! Minus the noise The D/A converters (headphones) sounded spectacular! I could hear VERY deep into the mix, delays, and reverb tails etc. I was extremely impressed with the D/A conversion. The headphone outs were also very powerful and could easily be used as a separate stereo out. So I recorded a few guitar tracks and to my horror all the “noise” this thing was emitting ended up on my tracks. As I turned up the inputs the noise just got worse… I REALLY wanted to like this box, it was the right size the D/A sounded great and the drivers were solid. I easily played back a 42 track session with tons of plugs at 96k in Nuendo with the buffer at 128 Samples on a 5200 RPM drive.. I tried it on 3 different rigs and still the self noise persisted. Making the thing unusable! So I boxed it up and took it back ! :Cry:
I was running out of options. I was NOT going the M-Box route againEvil! , M-Audio was absolutely not an option :lol: and I had a really bad experience with a MOTU Mk2 a couple of years ago:Mad: , so the Ultra Lite MK3 thingy was pretty much out of the question. :Roll eyes:
So :very happy:
I finally broke down yesterday and picked up the Fire Face 400. I was able to get GC to price match a website at $1078.00 USD. (More than I wanted to pay but) -> Its dead silent, drivers are rock solid and of course it sounds great.
I learned my lesson :grin:
Disclaimer:
*Not an advertisement or endorsement of any platform just my experience to help others* :Wink:
This past weekend I decided it was time to get some new conversion for my laptop/mobile set up. I’d been using the M-Box 1 and really needed 96k, decent pre-amps, decent converters and Firewire. Plus the M-Box 1 sucks donkey.. Evil!
I started with the Mackie Satellite http://www.mackie.com/products/satellite/index.html
I’d heard good things about the pre’s and converters + the price was right! I immediately noticed the self noise.. With nothing plugged in and no software running the thing emitted a low level “whirring” sound constantly. First thing I did was transfer a cassette… yep a cassette… from RCA to the ¼ inputs, and the converters sounded pretty damn good. Anyone remember Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me”? LOL
I then detached the “pod” from the doc plugged in my guitar and recorded a few overdubs. The tracks sounded really good and I heard less self noise after the pod was detached from the doc. Then came the moment of truth, how would the Onyx Pre’s sound with the 48v phantom powering a decent Mic? I didn’t even get that far, as soon as I turned on the phantom power it emitted a loud and constant “whine”. So I boxed that sucker up and took it back to Sam Ash the same day. :Thumbdown:
Next up was the Tascam “Fire One” http://www.tascam.com/products/fireone.html
I’d never heard any of their converters except for thier DAT recorders and some limited time with the DA-88’s. (I was an ADAT man myself in my recording infancy) LOL
I thought “Hey Tascam’s been around forever, it may sound “great” and once again the price was right! Once again! The first thing I noticed was the self noise.. This thing was not as “buzzy” as the Mackie but also emitted a low level “whirring” sound constantly. Also the headphone outputs were poor. I don’t monitor anything super loud especially via headphones but the output was just BAD. Next I plugged in my guitar and recorded a few tracks and the converters sounded like ASS, I still had the Mackie guitar tracks and compared them side by side and it was night and day. I’d heard enough and boxed that sucker up and took it back to Sam Ash. :Thumbdown:
Next up was the Presonus Firebox http://www.presonus.com/products/Detail.aspx?ProductId=4
I was SURE this would be the one. I’d been hearing/reading good things about the Presonus converters and driver stability. So after I loaded up the drivers, updated the firmware and loaded up a session, our old friend “self noise” came back! This thing “hummed”, reacted to every mouse movement and also emitted a low level “whine”. I loaded up a complex session and listened to a mix I was working on. And WOW! Minus the noise The D/A converters (headphones) sounded spectacular! I could hear VERY deep into the mix, delays, and reverb tails etc. I was extremely impressed with the D/A conversion. The headphone outs were also very powerful and could easily be used as a separate stereo out. So I recorded a few guitar tracks and to my horror all the “noise” this thing was emitting ended up on my tracks. As I turned up the inputs the noise just got worse… I REALLY wanted to like this box, it was the right size the D/A sounded great and the drivers were solid. I easily played back a 42 track session with tons of plugs at 96k in Nuendo with the buffer at 128 Samples on a 5200 RPM drive.. I tried it on 3 different rigs and still the self noise persisted. Making the thing unusable! So I boxed it up and took it back ! :Cry:
I was running out of options. I was NOT going the M-Box route againEvil! , M-Audio was absolutely not an option :lol: and I had a really bad experience with a MOTU Mk2 a couple of years ago:Mad: , so the Ultra Lite MK3 thingy was pretty much out of the question. :Roll eyes:
So :very happy:
I finally broke down yesterday and picked up the Fire Face 400. I was able to get GC to price match a website at $1078.00 USD. (More than I wanted to pay but) -> Its dead silent, drivers are rock solid and of course it sounds great.
I learned my lesson :grin: