finally came to the truth that i gotta stop frontin...

i cant live with my delta 1010 lt, the rcas are killing me and the sound i am getting off it is not cool.plus all i have is a behringer 8 channel mixer.

i have a few choices($800 limit).... used delta 1010 or new delta 66 and a used 16 channel mackie mixer.

or a used 16 channel multitrack recorder (either korg,roland or akai)

or a used digi 001


what do you guys suggest? i need to pick one really quickly...
i would love to stay with a software multitrack like cool edit or cubase but if hardware will give me professional quality i will go with it.

what kind of monitoring system do you have. if you have a home stereo system type deal that may be the place to start.(beleive me, I know). If thats not it then your mixer may be the problem or maybe your mixing. not tring to dis or nothing but I had a 20 bit darla card w/ 2 ins and 8 outs and it sounded pretty good and it was all rca's. my mixer was the one on a fostex 4track tape recorder. I only recorded mostly line inputs(keys and modules) so you may need a mic preamp. I started with a berhinger mixer 2004a and it was cool too. So don't rush off to spend that 800 just yet especially if you don't need to. MAKE SURE its the card first and then evaulate your other gear and needs.

yea man when recording my sounds from mophatt they lose quality... when i play the sound striaght up while hooked up to my mixer it sounds just fine and then after recording it to cool edit it doesnt sound as good(more muddy,less presence, lower volume)....what i was doing for a while was sending the audio from my mophatt to my mixer then sending in the audio via an rca to rca cable from my mixer to my 1010 lt. i used to have to pump the volume nearly all the way up just to get a decent volume on cool edit.

i recently bought a 1/4" to rca cable, so i decided to try it directly from my mo phatt to my 1010lt, it sounded way better but still not as clear as the sound is on mo phatt. when i record my beat i made on my mpc i want it to sound exactly how it sounded when it was sequenced on my mpc, so now im looking for some recording alternatives. the lt just isnt good enough for me... this shyt has to sound as professional as possible and the lt isnt doing that for me, do you think a regular 1010 will do the difference.

what kind of probs are you having with the sound : static, pops, clicks??? or just bad quality. setting up your pc for recording can be very easy or it can be murder on the mind. what I do is run all my keyboards and my mpc to my behringer and then to the buss outs and then into my roland studio pack/cpu and record. what I did with my old card was run every thing thru the mixer and connect the main outs of the mixer to the 1 and 2 on the darla. the easiest way. you should be able to adjust input volume in your software. the rca's shouldn't be a problem if all your connections are good. if its clear from your mixer then it should record clear. don't judge coming from the mophat because if it bass then it wont sound clear. I had a planet phatt and the bass needs to be mixed before and after recording. plus if you have too many sounds coming out of one or to inputs then they can get muddy and some overtake the others. what I suggest is use your mixer. route bass and low freq. to like channels :channels 1,2 hi's to 3,4 samples to 5,6 vocals on 7,8 at least they can be separated : then use your main outs and send them to the delta 1010lt. it should sound alot better. use those 1/4 to rca to do that.
I know you have 8 ins but unless you have 8 separate outs going in to them it will go only as far as your cabling. MAKE SURE YOU CHECK YOUR SOFTWARE INPUT LEVELS. if they're to high then this can be the porblem too. let me know

if your really looking for straight clarity when tracking to your PC software you need to pick up a piece with the best digital to analog and analog to digital converters you can. Basically the reason your MoPhatt aint sounding that good is because it is basically playing a sample through its own converters, then it is going into your computer through your delta converters, and then back out again for mixing(and even another step if your tracking your song back into your computer). So all of this conversion is going to degrade your sound quality quite a bit. RME, Apogee, Digi products like that with the best converters you can notice a HUGE difference, especially the apogee's......but you may be looking at more than 800 for those.

ARE WAY TOO EXPENSIVE. I mean there are some options in their line that are a lil over 1000, but that is for the bare bones systems, 1 in or 1 out? Wack for the cash. They were mostly designed to work with the HD systems also. I would go to pro tools if I were you and if you have a solid machine to run it with, and I would DEF rule out using that mixer in your front end. Other than the best front end system you can afford, the most important element to get great audio is your wires, don't cheap out on them.
I record all my stuff DRY and directly into my audio card/converters (some times using a pre) and EQ after the recording, you can always add, but its a lot harder to take away. If you have ADAT ins and outs on your card, you can get a Alesis AI-3 or a OctoPRE. I got the AI-3 last week, and I gotta say the converters on it sound nicer than the ones on my 002. Now I got a total of 18 ins and outs in my system! Next step is the 32x8 and anoter recording device (maybe a DAT) for my mix downs.

I've read a lot about this issue. Everyone has differing opinions, and I'll admit I haven't been able to sit down and do a real converter shoot out at my studio. However the sentiment that is echoed by many pros is that if you have decent enough convertors (which you do) then you should be okay - and if you really need better convertors, then you are a very, very, good engineer. I think that's pretty close because I'm working with RME multiface (maybe a half step above delta 1010, but not high end) and I've figured out how to make it sound good.

Does the 1010 only have RCA analog inputs? Either way, start from the beginning and look at all your connections. Are you using crappy cable? Does the software adjust for balanced / unbalanced levels? Are you sure there is no better way to hook things up?

Second, this stuff with the volume problems, unless you have a defective unit, is because you're doing something wrong. Maybe when you are recording into the computer, you are listening to a mix of the INPUT level and the OUTPUT from the software at the same time, then when you playback, you only hear output. I can see a slight loss of volume maybe, but if it's that noticeable, it's user error or a defective piece. Make sure you are monitoring only output from cooledit.

Third, I think it would be silly to spend a grand or more on expensive converters when you are using a Behringer mixer. What would improve your sound is to get a nice DI box. Many synths/synths modules have poor gain coming out of the jack. A common technique is to run a synth into a DI, then sometimes into a mic preamp, then into the computer. I've even found that the Behringer DI box, while not really anything great, does give you a hotter level into the computer, and it costs about $40. It doesn't sound great but it suprisingly doesn't suck either. For a bigger quality jump do some research on DI's, try to get one with a gain control. Avalon, Demeter, etc all make good stuff

Tell you what, here's the secret weapon choice I've been thinking about myself lately. Kurzweil makes a reverb box called the Rumour. It costs about $500. It also has stereo converters which a lot of people are saying are absolutely great - better than delta 1010, rme,etc. Depending on how you work this could be a very good bang for the buck. You monitor through the delta, but then record each track through the kurzweil, which you hook up spdif to the delta. (the delta has spdif, right?). Not only do you have great conversion, but a nice reverb box also. I've heard the reverbs and they are really good. Plus it has some compressors and other stuff as well. The Rumour, plus a DI, plus figure out what you're doing wrong , you're good to go.

i got the 1010 lt and it works good to me, you have to make sure your levels are correct.

yea, are you sure the recording levels are all set right in software? It might play loud, but the record quiet it the rec level is too low.

go to m audio control panel. go to bass management. look at general settings. make sure the volume lever is all the way up........... i had the same problem, then i tweeked the volume lever , and never looked back... hope this helps.