anyone using DI's to track their 3000?

yeah I do have some gear lust going on!

to be honest the DI is the least expensive part of upgrades I want do, and the guitarists I want to record are more friends of friends so if they are taking half their day out to come across town and record i just kind of want a solution that will cover me.

annoyingly something like a API A2D might have to wait until I've replaced my 7 year old mac, I got no problems slowly coming to terms that is the most 'sensible' first up grade, can start making use of more of the free plug ins mentioned.

SEED78 wrote:

ntalec wrote:Has built in DI's but hitting the pres' is what sounds best.

I hear this a lot during forum surfing - people's pres that have built in DIs are said to sound better if you use external DI and hit the Pre via that - not exactly sure why they would build DI input if this is the case, but I hear this again and again!!!

They use different paths.
Basically the path the pres' use will hit transformers that the DI doesn't.
It's the same on the A2D, ME-1nv etc., so they all have this aspect.

As for people saying that Pre/DI is not needed, you must not be tracking anything, it's a noticeable difference without a doubt.

SEED78 wrote:
I hear this a lot during forum surfing - people's pres that have built in DIs are said to sound better if you use external DI and hit the Pre via that - not exactly sure why they would build DI input if this is the case, but I hear this again and again!!!

I've never heard that. I can see why you'd might prefer to go DI > then Pre. Perhaps the built in DIs they don't follow the same signal path. Doubtful.

I know a few people using pres for drum machine work but usually works better if you can lift your line level to mic level.

It appears you don't fully understand the design of pres' that have DI's, they are distinctly different paths that come to a common point.
This is why you will definitely get a different sound going through the pre than the DI, you just have to match the level for proper gain staging.

Shostakovich wrote:

SEED78 wrote:
I hear this a lot during forum surfing - people's pres that have built in DIs are said to sound better if you use external DI and hit the Pre via that - not exactly sure why they would build DI input if this is the case, but I hear this again and again!!!

I've never heard that. I can see why you'd might prefer to go DI > then Pre. Perhaps the built in DIs they don't follow the same signal path. Doubtful.

I know a few people using pres for drum machine work but usually works better if you can lift your line level to mic level.

ntalec wrote:It appears you don't fully understand the design of pres' that have DI's, they are distinctly different paths that come to a common point.
This is why you will definitely get a different sound going through the pre than the DI, you just have to match the level for proper gain staging.

Shostakovich wrote:

SEED78 wrote:
I hear this a lot during forum surfing - people's pres that have built in DIs are said to sound better if you use external DI and hit the Pre via that - not exactly sure why they would build DI input if this is the case, but I hear this again and again!!!

I've never heard that. I can see why you'd might prefer to go DI > then Pre. Perhaps the built in DIs they don't follow the same signal path. Doubtful.

I know a few people using pres for drum machine work but usually works better if you can lift your line level to mic level.

Emphasis mine.

The difference between the pre path and the DI path is what makes the pre input sound better.
The DI doesn't go through the input transformer, which means if you are using a pre with character the DI won't have it the pre will.
The only thing you will get from the DI input will be gain.

This is also the reason why certain DI's are favored they are designed to add specific character to the sound like a pre would do.

Unfortunately that is not the case with the built in DI on a pre.

Once you have heard the difference that you can get from capturing your source through the proper device you won't want to go back.

Sounds nice and makes mixing so much easier.

i used to use a DI - I still do for my bass - but I've moved over to the Hi-Z inputs on my interface.....

Pres are remarkably good on my AI.

Radial JDI --> mic pre input over here. sounds nice. Definitely gives you added color.
That said, having a quality eq is a HUGE bonus when sampling into the mpc, and often after I get the eq right at the sampling stage, I'm less inclined to feel the need to run sounds thru the pres when tracking out the parts.