Home studio upstart(i've done research, not mindless ?'s)

Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:48 pm

$700 will get you a dec interface with 8 well preamped XLR inputs.

check out the m-audio 2626

thats what im getting...

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:23 am

trendflows wrote:

The only thing im wondering is since it offers two 1/4 ports would that mean that i could plug in my monitors and headphones simultaneously? Basically asking if monitors only connect to one port?

Another question i have is if i purchase an interface with 2 xlr ports and add a mixer to the equation and plug in 7 microphones its only going to come out as two tracks? Can someone explain the mixer xlr port thing in a little more detail, i know i've asked a similar question above, i just havent fully grasped the concept.

I hope you all do not mind me going on your knowledge once more, despite my blunder earlier.

Thank you all so very much,
Stamati filacouris

There are two 1/4" input, two XLR input and two 1/4 output on the Duet, these are all via their 'breakout' cable. There's also a single 1/4" jack on the unit itself for your headphones.

1/4" inputs are for your instruments direct...guitar/bass, etc.
1/4" outputs are for your monitors
XLR for your mics.

You can set up the unit for easy switching/use of monitors and headphones. This was one of my favorite features. Just push the big knob on the top for 3 seconds and the monitors would mute while my headphones became active and visa versa (you can set it up a few ways).

As I said before, I'm not savy with mixers but I suspect that if you put a mixer before the Duet that you would basically be muxing down all of your channels (8 or whatever) into as stereo feed either via 1/4" or XLR to the Duet.
At that point I'm not really certain if it'd be best to have the Duets pres active or to have them passive. Ask others more experienced, experiment and certainly read the manual. You can find it on Apogee's website. It doesn't sound like you've checked it out and read much yet, so you may want to take a stroll over and read up on it a bit, look at it, etc.

Hope this helps.

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 3:20 pm

Thank you for your responses I hadn't seen them they slipped to the second page.
I've been over to the site, as you all know they offer no specs.
It seems pretty bare, no matter what i do it will only produce two tracks at a time if i am correct.
So, that answers that question and i am going to inspect the Tascam and Apogee websites more closely tonight.
The apogees drivers i am not worried about and the Tascam is on 1.02 and is compatible with leopard. So i'm not really worried about either drivers.

What it comes down to is versatility, if i purchase the Tascam i can do live recordings and my own recordings with lesser quality.
If i purchase the Duet i will spend around 300 more purchasing both the product and a DAW. But will receive better quality, being restricted when i try to record live however.

I suppose it comes down to what I really want, and personally i rather have my own recordings.
However, if i could somehow compare the Duets and US-1641's preamps that would make one a clear winner.
The duet just seems more user friendly and better for my solo acoustic/vocals etc.

If i attach a mixer to a Duet i can still record a band or so live for a rough demo, it would only come up on two tracks however correct? Is that a reasonable approach to recording live off of two XLR ports or no?

Also techincally if i purchased the Tascam 1641 and wasn't too impressed by the preamps (the duet is said to have way better preamps) i could simply chain a preamp onto the Tascam and my XLR quality would change?

Thank you all again,
Its alot of questions im sorry =/.

Best regards from NY,
Stamati

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 4:00 pm

I apologize. I know I have a personality flaw and lack tact at times with my comments. It was late and computers are not always cooperative. It's a good thing I still have plenty of hair.

Foot in mouth syndrome
Ms. Remy Ann David

Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:48 pm

Quick question -

Why the Duet over other similar, cheaper interfaces (new US-122, Firebox, Mbox etc)? Just the preamp quality?

Pete

Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:35 pm

Apogee are somewhat of a touchstone in A/D converters. Yes the preamp quality is better as well. The others are fine for entry level interfaces.

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