Help revamping setup and need objective Input.

[6stringkev]

Newbie here (to this forum platform) but not a newbie musician being a pro player/ entertainer and songwriter.50 plus years as a guitarist/multi-instrumentalist a
With a music ed. Degree. Anyway, First I appologize if this is long...my home studio setup is changing. Sold my Mackie 24x8 which was direct out 24 channels to Alesis HD24, which in turn has been ADAT piped into my MOTU 828 mk3 interface using firewire 800 to meet my DAW's ' Sonar Producer 8.5.3 - Reaper - Studio One. (WINDOWS 7 PRO - bumping to 10 PRO) I know, I know I'm still saddling my Dinosaur, all be it my computer is a "Beast to the Max" ...Coming from the analog world I liked consoles for the preamps. Ok so as of now, been back to 8 inputs with 828 but need to expand at least to 16 mono inputs. I have several choices. I can go similar route with a great deal on a barely used almost mint condition Allen & Heath GL24 and do the same direct out idea into the HD24 into the MOTU 828. This idea allows me 6 individual aux sends for personalized headphone amp mixes in my ART headamp 6pro (For that I need more me). OR I have considered not going the old school route and ditching the use of console and HD24. And just adding Preamps to get 16 total mics eventually 24. I do track live bands at times. My choices are Focusrite Scarlett Octopre 8 dynamic, Focusrite Clarrett octopre 8, and Audient ASP800. The plus on both the Focusrites is they seem to be very solid units, do include some plugin software, and a few other cool software utilities. Also have direct through analog out plus the needed ADAT in & outs w/2 each. I have heard "raves" about the Audient since it's same pres as their big brother $48,000 studio console. All 3 are within 2-300 US dollars the Audient the most at 900 beans but no big deal. But the Audient has only 1 single ADAT out and no 8 through outs. But at same token the Audient pres I am told are for lack of better term "BIG" like WOW! ... only seen a few reviews of complaints on the ASP800. Couple on breakup? All 3 are solidly built. Only downside of not going "analog console routine again" is the ability for easy 6 routing through console aux returns for (my own mix situations). I would have to reschool slightly on separate mixes using the 8 channel preamp setup. Plus and minus for both sides of coin here. Preamp racks help downsize space. Are probably Jetsons vs Flinstones. But old school works well with no latency to speak of. My MOTU is the Master Clock with HD24 machine. If I go preamps I can sell HD24 and put towards another Telecaster lol. Not that money is major issue, I do save a big chunk on the Allen&Heath analog route. Just need other's input and suggestions. Either staying console or and choosing the most logical of those preamp choices. Been leaning towards the latter...HELP out a dinosaur riding cowboy guitarist! Thanks ahead of time!

[Drew Stephenson]

Hi Kevin, welcome to the forum.
The first question is probably, why did you sell the Mackie? I.e. what problem exactly are you trying to solve? Sound quality? Workflow? Flexibility?

[James Perrett]

But the Audient has only 1 single ADAT out and no 8 through outs. But at same token the Audient pres I am told are for lack of better term "BIG" like WOW! ... only seen a few reviews of complaints on the ASP800.

The Audient has two ADAT outputs so that it can work at 96kHz - or you can send to two destinations if you are working at 48/44.1kHz. It also has analogue outputs on a DB25 connector (which is often more handy than 8 individual connectors).

The Audient preamps are nothing special - that's not saying that they are bad but they are the standard that you should be expecting from professional preamps. They are quiet and accurate - but then so are the preamps in my large A&H console and my old Studiomaster console too.

Where the Audient ASP preamps score (in my opinion) is that the controls are obvious and easy to see in a pressured situation. They are more usable than some of the alternatives.

I've also come from a large console but, if it gets used nowadays, it is normally only used for monitoring because the studio audio interface doesn't have its own mixing app. I've gone with a selection of 8 channel preamps for much of my recording these days. In my case the preamps are feeding an RME Digiface USB which comes with a fairly comprehensive mixing app (although not as comprehensive as the more expensive RME interfaces).

[Hugh Robjohns]

...the Audient pres I am told are for lack of better term "BIG" like WOW! ...

The Audient preamps are nothing special - that's not saying that they are bad but they are the standard that you should be expecting from professional preamps. They are quiet and accurate

I agree. They do not sound BIG or WOW! For that you need to spend a great deal more for something from Grace Design, Millennia, GML or some of the high-end boutique manufacturers.

The Audients are very good, solid, neutral, reliable, professional preamps. I have an ASP880 myself and use it often. It's clean and quiet, includes useful features, and gets the job done quickly and reliably with excellent value for money.

But unless you've been using completely rubbish preamps you're unlikely to shout out Wow! when you hear them for the first time.

I'm not trying to put you off them — I often recommend them — but I am trying to manage expectations a bit!

[6stringkev]

I sold the Mackie due to 2 maybe 3 dead channels. To repair and go through total clean and tuneup I can get the A&H for same price. I was going to use the "tape in stereo" channels to feed the aux channels from phone out of MOTU 828 to go to Headamp 6 ...on Mackie I used channels to send individual head mixes while tracking. Main reason for the console route. Sure I will miss the Mackie. It had great pres to tweak vocal mics to suit vocalists characters and timbre. The preamp rackmount route seemed a simple space saver plus if i needed "coloration" I could grab a 1 or 2 channel "boutique" tube preamp channel strip. I have been lucky or blessed I haven't had to EQ much after tracking other than mix placement frequency tweaks per genre and song style. Just want my mixes to be paletable enough that don't have to be "over mastered" ... generally -12db mixes I can send to proffessional mastering. They do better than I can with my own mastering software... originally I starde with Mackie and HD24 when all this got started until I found out using DAW wasn't this big scary digital godzilla monster I was leary of. After all who wants to have to wriye down on paper to tweak console between song projects since you don't get "last saved mix"... as far as Audient is it your opinion to go with it over the Focusrite pres?

[James Perrett]

as far as Audient is it your opinion to go with it over the Focusrite pres?

Both should perform well and the Clarett Octopre does appear to have an extra digital to analogue conversion facility to make it more versatile. I tend to favour the Audient because the current ones use similar circuitry to the one that I have and I can be fairly confident that they will work as expected.

[6stringkev]

Thanks for reply. I can say The A&H got sold so my decision is made for me haha. Now to decide between the 2 preamps. Been very helpful and much appreciated.