What's in your Lab?

4k 8outs
access virus kb
roland gr 33
lexicon 550
2 rncss
virtualizer 2024
sure sm86
mackie 2404
hk audio active monitors
2 guitars
1 fukked up marshall
1 fukked up bass
technics k 350 synth
korg ax 300
cry baby
some midi contolers
useless pc with not even plugged on tascam soundcart
broken turntables - records in the corner
yo and my favorite - a friends present - real nice home mate noice

aprim wrote:YOu have enough sounds, get a real Preamp for those weak digi002 pres and a nice mic.
Avalon Pre,
U87,
Blueberry,
Numan,

You would be surpirsed how much a good preamp will take you to that next level of production.

aprim or onayone

maybe this is a silly question - maybe also for another thread - but since the advice has been given here and people's seutp is listed above, .. a simple question - could someone please explain me what a good pre-amp is for? i mean where do i plug it - its somethin i never understood?

please have a look at my setup - the pres of my mackie are also not the best ones (... and whatever signal - up to 20 channels - goes in and out of it) - but as i understand it i can't pass em by anyway coz they're build in (dunno bout the digi - but sounds the same problem to me)!

anyways - the only thing i can think of is you either plug em after a turntable to sample straight into the 4k or between the mixer or the monitors - but my monitors are active too ... so - what for and where would i plug a preamp in my setup??? and most important what would it improve?

i often been readin how great nice pre-amps would be - but i really have no clou where i should plug em in here ...

thanx for any input

motif6 classic
aw16g
emu command station px-7 just got it yesterday at the pawn shop for $250
studiophile monitors the ones with the blue light on the tweeters
mic,

A good pre amp will pick up no color or distortion for when you track.
A Good pre amp can have a EQ, and Compressor built in known as a Channel Strip or can just be the Pre Amp and Gain.
Think of it like this, a mackie board can cause you 1000 dollars. Comes with 8 preamps,
When you but a good pre amp it will cost you 1000 for 1 pre amp.
You would be surprised how better a recording sounds when run through a proper pre amp,
The Digi 002 has 4 pres that you can bypass by plugging into the Line Level input and using the preamp of your chose. May be the same for the mackie.
I know I went from MOTU 2048 II to Digi 002 with 2 Avalon Pres and my sound went from Flat to amazing.
Huge diffrence.
I plug everything through the pres and record 1 stereo and 2 mono tracks at a time when tracking. Takes a while but worth it in the long run.

It really helps to have a good Tube Pre Amp in front of a digital Daw workstation or any computer based recording system. Its great to run a digital mix into a Analog tube in stereo as well. Good channel strip Pres are great for mastering as well.



Hope that helps.

AWW_NAWW wrote:p3 1ghz 256meg of ram
Layla20 by echo (sound card)
jl cooper cs-10
logic 5.5
Cubase sx 2.01
Nuendo 2.0
Vegas 4.0
Sonar 3
E-mu proteus 2000
Studio 32 mixer
VS-1880 w/ burner
Event 20 monitors
Korg M1 keyboard/controller
MPC4k with the 8 outs

Why do you want Nuendo, Logic, Cubase and Sonar?

Anwyway I use:

Ecler HAK 320
2x SL1200
bunch o records
Realistic Concertmate 450
Casio SK1
Roland MC303
Behringer UB1202
Roland A33
Evolution U-control UC33
MPC 4k + ADAT board
Ibanez electric guitar
Intel P4 with Audiophile and some plugins (NI Elektrik Piano, FM7, Kontakt, etc)
Laptop P3 with Tascam US428 and Nuendo 1 and Waves
And then some extra MIDI interfaces,MIDI and audio tools.

Wanted: SSL, HD3, G5. (i will keep on dreaming..)

aprim wrote:A good pre amp will pick up no color or distortion for when you track.
A Good pre amp can have a EQ, and Compressor built in known as a Channel Strip or can just be the Pre Amp and Gain.
Think of it like this, a mackie board can cause you 1000 dollars. Comes with 8 preamps,
When you but a good pre amp it will cost you 1000 for 1 pre amp.
You would be surprised how better a recording sounds when run through a proper pre amp,
The Digi 002 has 4 pres that you can bypass by plugging into the Line Level input and using the preamp of your chose. May be the same for the mackie.
I know I went from MOTU 2048 II to Digi 002 with 2 Avalon Pres and my sound went from Flat to amazing.
Huge diffrence.
I plug everything through the pres and record 1 stereo and 2 mono tracks at a time when tracking. Takes a while but worth it in the long run.

It really helps to have a good Tube Pre Amp in front of a digital Daw workstation or any computer based recording system. Its great to run a digital mix into a Analog tube in stereo as well. Good channel strip Pres are great for mastering as well.



Hope that helps.

Hmmz.. This way you still use the crappy convertors of the 002! Maybe run the Apogee thru ADAT or SPDIF? (if thats possible?) So you avoid the 002's convertors

mpc 2kxl studio plus
korg ms2000r
akai s2000
2 stanton turns
vestax pm o5 dj mixer
berhinger ub2442fx mixer
AKAI dps 12 w/effects
computer (512mb ram, 20 gig music harddrive)
recycle 2.1
Acid Pro 4.0
Samson resolv 65 as
Numark Fusion cd turns
midiman radium 61
alesis philtre
and mad records

mpc 4000 /cd-r/80 gb harddrive/ extra outputs
E-mu proteus 2000
Korg Triton le
Soundcraft lx7
akai s5000
Aria bass guitar
Intel PIII with Digi 001 running Protools
Reveal Active monitors
2xTechnics 1210 / vestax pmc-07pro

ikke wrote:

AWW_NAWW wrote:p3 1ghz 256meg of ram
Layla20 by echo (sound card)
jl cooper cs-10
logic 5.5
Cubase sx 2.01
Nuendo 2.0
Vegas 4.0
Sonar 3
E-mu proteus 2000
Studio 32 mixer
VS-1880 w/ burner
Event 20 monitors
Korg M1 keyboard/controller
MPC4k with the 8 outs

Why do you want Nuendo, Logic, Cubase and Sonar?

Anwyway I use:

Ecler HAK 320
2x SL1200
bunch o records
Realistic Concertmate 450
Casio SK1
Roland MC303
Behringer UB1202
Roland A33
Evolution U-control UC33
MPC 4k + ADAT board
Ibanez electric guitar
Intel P4 with Audiophile and some plugins (NI Elektrik Piano, FM7, Kontakt, etc)
Laptop P3 with Tascam US428 and Nuendo 1 and Waves
And then some extra MIDI interfaces,MIDI and audio tools.

Wanted: SSL, HD3, G5. (i will keep on dreaming..)

I got those on a web site that lets you download free stuff. It begains with a k. Im beta testing them ll just to see wich one I want to use And When I get the money I will buy the one That works best for me. So Far Nuendo is my fav after that its cubase then logic then then sonar. I can see why Nuendo is a $1400 dollar program. you can get it on ebay for around eight or nine hundred dollars. Pm me for my e-mail address if anyone has any questions

You're still testing Logic 5 for pc???
You are full of it! How do you beta test four different proggies??

Anyway, you do wathever you like! Im not judging you or anything. Was just wondering why you want 37 hosts on 1 pc..
Peace

mpc 4000 with adat outputs, 256mo and 40gig hd
akai S6000 Full option
ensoniq Asr-10 & Dp4
Juno 60
Sidstation

motu 2408 mk3 with logic audio for mixing and effect
HD600 and HD25 headphones
yamaha monitor

technics turntables and numark mixer

I just bought the PreSonus TubePre for 125$ and its pretty good for getting more sound out of my boards. They say that you shouldn't plug it into keyboards, but I used it as a trim, pretty good sound for a cheaper pre.

I bought the mc-909 just recently for 875, its pretty good. I don't use it so much for the sampler, its kind of redundant, but it has a newer sounding 303 bass that you can screw with and the arpegiattor is sick on this synth.

Plus it has a USB interface. It has multiple outputs as well. I used to hate grooveboxes, but this one is a good one.

[off topic]
Does the MC909 has a synth build in? Or is it just another rompler?
What about sampling and slicing, chopping up the samples?
What about the sequencer? Is it the same as the MC505? (wich I hate!)
[/off topic]

btw, 850 USD for an MC909 is VERY cheap!! Where did you get it??

Alright, there are small bugs in the OS, especially with some deeper resampling from the unit itself, but I only noticed that with a sound I kept editing pretty heavily. The unit gives nice grit to samples, can't explain it. Its touchy though and saving is nerve-wracking. Big screen for chopping up samples. I use my 4K for that, it that can't sample its own internal sounds.

Great sequencer, I used the 505 and the screen itself made it poor. Big screen and you can use the grid style sequencer to input notes like the mpc4000 can now. I slave it to the mpc, sometimes I put both sequencers working simulataneously. Undo is a **** , but its there alright.

Synth basses are nice, there is a very tweakable 303, nice saws and lfos are ok. Only 64 voices, why? That is my complaint with the syth. Also, it would have been better with a zip drive to save patches instead of that smart media. I 'm looking into an external harddrive through USB for this.

I bought it used on auction. The person that I bought it from got discouraged because it was all they had. Used by itself it would be hard because the pads aren't that good, and I think it was his first unit.

I have a mpc400, a triton keyboard, proteus 2000 with 2 extra rom modules, extreme lead with three extra rom modules, xv-5050, a varios, a headphone amp, a alesis microverb, ez bus interface\control surface, roland 880ex, 2 stanton turntables and mixer, final scratch, roland ds90 monitors, omni studio audio interface, 2 computers ( 1 for the internet\ soft synths and the other for recording, sonar 3 producer's edition, soft synths ( fm7, vsampler 3, absynth 1, dr-008 drum module, fruity loops, reason, and b4).
Now if I can't make anything hot with all that, then I need to just give it up.
peace.