a/d conversion, Mods? mic pre's with bad converters. help

ive been thinking about getting a pre-amp sometime soon to go with my 4050 mic, but im recording in to a firewire 410 and the a/d conversion isnt the best. so i was thinking of getting something like the avalon vt737 to use as a mic pre.

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... D=26019400

but was wondering if it wouldent even be worth it to get or rent a nice mic pre like the avalon becuase the a/d conversion of my box would compromise the sound quality anyway.

i was talking to some guy at guitar center about the dilemma, but i dont know if he was too knowledgeable about it either.

so basically what i want is something that has really good a/d conversion that works with protools m-powered because i track into logic and i just like to have protools on the side and i dont really wana switch interfaces whenever i switch between PT and logic.

i was asking about the M-audio pro fire 610 and he said that that sounds nice, but then i asked him if it sounded as good as an apogee ensemble and he went off on some tangent about how they are for different target audiences and kind of avoided my question.

i see that they might be for different target audiences, as PT HD is more professinal and M-powered and LE users cater more towards the bedroom recording set up.

but i want my "bedroom" recording set up to sound Professional and crisp.

Im looking for something with good quality conversion like the apogee ensemble or duet, but really, i would like something with conversion that is better than PT HD even; something like the quality of RADAR multi-track recorders converters. made by iz. from my understanding they are some of the best on the market, and i use them all the time at my school, but RADARS cost G's, and im trying to just get that for a couple channels to track out vocals, and maybe some acoustic guitars.

does anyone know anything that would have that quality that would still work with protools M-powered. or even that would work in any firewire interface?

i know black lion audio used to mod the Mbox pro's converters, and mic pres, but it mightve just been the mic pres, is it really even possible to put in new A/D conversion or would this have to be something that would be done at the factory??

has anyone modded thier firewire 410 or other firewire powered audio interface or know anyone else that puts new A/D converters in theese?

im pretty much looking for a firewire interface with professional sounding a/d converters without having to pay upwards of 15 thousand dollars.

i dont need 24-48 channels of this kind of conversion, just a few, i wana make my "bedroom" recording stuido have crisp clear sound quality.

thanks alot in advance

anyone?

rme fireface.period
or even older rme products like multiface (400-500$ sec. hand)

regarding avalon or other channel strips - first question is what you gonna record into it ? just vocal or other instr too? how big is you budget ? avalon's pres are cool, but comp is lazy. Go to gearslutz.com and read some topics you will find answer sooner then here.


bless

go buy a real interface

RME
Apogee
MOTU (modded by BLA)

or go str8 to BLA

I would avoid getting a channel strip unit. I say this because you will almost never make use of the compressor in a DAW setting. I would invest in a bit higher quality pre amp for what you would be spending on the channel strip. As far as A/D conversion, there are plenty of interfaces out there that can be modded to beef them up in that area.

If you don't need something with alot of features, look into the Lynx Two. It has 8 ins and outs total, with configurations having 2 ins, 6 outs, 4 ins, 4 outs, or 6 ins, 2 outs. So it's far less flexible than say a fireface 800. However, many people consider it to have superior converters and it's a decent amount cheaper. Another downside (depending on your opinion and your setup) is that it is PCI.

Scarecrow wrote:I would avoid getting a channel strip unit. I say this because you will almost never make use of the compressor in a DAW setting. .

HUH?


I track with compression ALL the time. DAW or not.

rickrock305 wrote:

Scarecrow wrote:I would avoid getting a channel strip unit. I say this because you will almost never make use of the compressor in a DAW setting. .

HUH?


I track with compression ALL the time. DAW or not.

Same here! I add some light compression while recording vocals and then compress more as needed during mixing and editing!