M-Audio Fast Track Ultra

[Len911]

For recording one track at a time, the emu 1616 is $449.99 @ sweetwater, and the grace m101 is $565 @ sweetwater. Since Jeremy already has an M-audio 192 card and a peavey mixer, the grace would be the biggest improvement in sound at this price point. I am not recommending he buy a peavey mixer or another sound card. I just used the example of the peavey v10 and the comparison to the emu1616 and with what he already has as a reference.

[rnrmachine]

Hey Len,

All is cool man. I just know the E-MU preamps are better then those peaveys. No biggy because that could be subject to "what flavor do you like". I know those 1616 pres are primo. The ones on my 1820m sound amazing... every time I use a different pre, or mixer etc... and then I jack back into the 1820s, I am always pleasantly surprised.

I did say, about halfway into my post;

If you stay with the M-audio 192, you should be fine. With a new preamp... I am confident you could make some really good recordings.

So I am not disagreeing with you on ANY other topic except the preamps on the E-MU. I never used the 192 so I have no clue what sort of performance it puts out. In turn, I am open to him getting a new interface... if you guys honestly feel that is good enough. I am not going to argue. I am concerned about clock jitter, etc.. at such a low price for an interface.. but again.. I never used that one. I will not argue nor claim something I do not know.

Jeremy, in a preamp it depends on how transparent you want something to be or how much you want that pre to alter the sound... If all you are after is "clean" gain. What you have probably already suffices. If you want to add some pro sounding tone, perhaps tube, then you will have to shell out some bucks. Some pro mic pres are made to be as transparent (ie adds nothing to the source sound) as possible though, the big difference would be they are made from HIGH QUALITY components. So a lot depends on what you are going to use it for etc... since it is going to be your only pre, I would go after the highest quality you can afford. Possibly one that you can "dial in" some tube sound or have it totally clean. This way you will have a more versatile unit. Be wary of cheap preamps that have that feature though. Don't buy a bunch of cheap stuff.. buy one GOOD UNIT at a time and slowly build up. It will take years but eventually you will have a pro setup.

Anything I mentioned, I only mentioned as options... I feel NO brand loyalty nor do I believe you MUST have this or that to be pro. The BEST advice I can give you is... play like a pro... and then you will sound like a pro.

Another thing.. I know a guy that uses a Behringer B-1 mic, a $100 mic. But he runs it into a Avalon pre that cost $3000. I asked him, why the heck would you be using a Behringer? Why not a neuman or something? He said his voice sounded the best with that setup... I wasn't gonna argue, it did sound dang good. So sometimes there are odd combinations that suit you the best.

Anyway.. good conversation Len, hopefully we helped him and not confused him too much eh?

EDIT: IF everyone agrees that the 192 is a solid interface then I would go new preamp. I am keeping my vote as a neutral because I don't know that 192, other then reading about it.

Rob

[mojobone]

Agree the Emu 1616m's preamps are better than the Peaveys; they're actually slightly better than the M-Audio Audiophile 192's; both are clean and transparent. Upshot is that a character preamp like UA's Twin-Finity, API, Chandler, Art Pro MPA or whatnot, would provide some more high quality sonic options. It can be really difficult to evaluate preamps, because the differences are often so subtle, you really have to live with a pre for a while, do a whole project with it to see how it behaves when you layer multiple tracks, before you can make any useful observations. This is why I trust the opinions of engineers whose work speaks for them, when it comes to this particular category of hardware-you can't trust a simple shootout or even a double blind listening test. In any case, mic placement and technique trump all of this gear stuff.

[Jeremy Michael K]

thank you thank you thank you everyone for all of your input and ideas!

Once you all helped me figure out that for my purposes, the best single channel preamp was the direction I needed to go in, I read this:

Jeremy, in a preamp it depends on how transparent you want something to be or how much you want that pre to alter the sound... If all you are after is "clean" gain. What you have probably already suffices. If you want to add some pro sounding tone, perhaps tube, then you will have to shell out some bucks. Some pro mic pres are made to be as transparent (ie adds nothing to the source sound) as possible though, the big difference would be they are made from HIGH QUALITY components. So a lot depends on what you are going to use it for etc... since it is going to be your only pre, I would go after the highest quality you can afford. Possibly one that you can "dial in" some tube sound or have it totally clean. This way you will have a more versatile unit. Be wary of cheap preamps that have that feature though. Don't buy a bunch of cheap stuff.. buy one GOOD UNIT at a time and slowly build up. It will take years but eventually you will have a pro setup.

Rob

So I decided to go with the Universal Audio 710 Twin-Finity Single Channel Tube and Solid State Mic Preamp.


Hopefully I made the right choice, but no matter what, I figure it HAS to be a pretty darn good preamp and a good addition to my setup.

Thank you all again for lending me your collective wisdom to aid me in the decision process. Once I get more experience I will certainly pay it forward.

[Len911]

Jeremy I think you made the right choice in going with the preamp. I also think you moved up in quality from your current preamps and will definitely notice an improvement, especially if you sing through it.
Now as an aside why do we always end up spending more than we originally budgeted? I am just saying, I tend to do that all the time,lol!

[rnrmachine]

You made an EXCELLENT choice!!!

Rob

[JenoKeelcon]

Hey all people,
I want to listen to this well-done stuff that′s accessible on zappateers on my iPod. Therefore I desire to convert the FLAC to mp3. Yeah I know: I would not like to cancel the FLACs, they won′t be harmful.
However my old version convert program doesn′t work on my new computer anymore. As a result I ask you:
Which programs can you recommend, just like recommendation from best audio converter review?

[mojobone]

This is off-topic and deserves its own thread, imho. That said, TC Electronic has a stellar reputation in digital audio, and it would be hard to go far wrong at that price, given that Sony's Fraunhofer codec comparator is north of $400. (though the Fraunhofer software does much more, including batch processing and audio preview of a variety of codecs/formats)