Arturia AudioFuse 8pre - good enough convertors for summing?

[stilltogetherstudios]

Hey guys!

I've been mixing quite a lot through a summing mixer at my buddies and I find it really helpful for glueing together my ITB mixes.

I've managed to pick up a Neve 8816 but I need to upgrade my I/O situation from a rather sad Scarlett.

8 quality outs + 2 ins is the main feature I need, but I can't afford the Thunderbolt/Apogee/RME boxes that do this and not a fan of MOTUS's browser based software. Extensive searches have only really thrown up the Arturia Audiofuse8pre as a viable option.

The question is, with summing in mind, would the Arturia AudioFuse Pre's outputs/inputs give me quality enough conversion when processing my mix through the I/O?

My only other option is to get a smaller interface like Audient iD44 and link something like the Behringer ADA8200 via ADAT...however I'm very uncertain that the Behringer would give anywhere near enough quality conversion.

[Hugh Robjohns]

The Neve is a 16-channel summer, so I'm slightly surprised you only want an 8-channel D-A to feed it... but perhaps you're mixing in other local sources too...

The Arturia 8Pre specs are pretty good, and comfortably better than those of the Behringer ADA8200, so if technical quality is important, then the choice is obvious.

[stilltogetherstudios]

Thanks for your reply Hugh! To answer your question I was planning to add another 8 channels somewhere down the line either with another Audiopre or something via ADAT.
Until then the plan was to begin summing via eight initial channels as at the moment I’m mostly mixing electronic tracks with smaller stem count...I’ve read conflicting reports as to whether only using half the channels on a summer can produce negative results but it was on Gearslutz

[Hugh Robjohns]

To answer your question I was planning to add another 8 channels somewhere down the line...

Fair enough.

I’ve read conflicting reports as to whether only using half the channels on a summer can produce negative results but it was on Gearslutz

Er... yes ...

[Guest]

You say that's your only option but that can't be true;
there are so many interfaces that double down using adat and spdif,
have you considered lower priced options that can layer.