Metric Halo Users...

[AstroDan]

Just checking up to see who has one of their products. I'm getting a 2882 in a couple of days. I don't like the MIO forum. Not the folks, just the layout.

Metric Halo...Love it? Any complaints?

[bannerj]

I have had the 2882 for a few years now. I love the flexibility. The preamps are not that great, but I have outboard pres. I used a motu 828 along side the 2882 yesterday and was suprised by the difference between the pres. the 2882 sounds more transparent and open...sometimes even to a fault if that is not what you are looking for. I kinda liked the dirtier character of the 828 for drums yesterday anyway...for the music we were doing. That is just to say that it has its own thing that you may or may not like depending on what you are doing with it. I love mine. I hope you are getting it with the DSP. Those plugins are solid. I am really happy with MH.

[AstroDan]

Unfortunately, I'm not getting the +DSP; the only DSP model I found was double the price I paid for mine. I'll look into it later on down, for I've heard it's more than worth it.

So the pre's don't sound all that good? I've heard they sound alright for non-dedicated, non-outboard pre's but fairly noisy. Is the noise an issue for you? I guess I'm not too concerned; I have some decent outboard preamps.

Well, I'm glad you like yours. Most people who own MH have little negative things to say.

Thanks!

[bannerj]

I am just leery of people who own anything and never are capable of understanding the weaknesses of their equipment...and every thing, even the highest dollar stuff, has some sort of weakness.

Anyway, the pres are fine for high output sounds like electric amps or drum overheads. They just are too great with dynamic mics on more acoustic noises. That is when you have to crank the gain and you start getting some noise.

Make sure you study the flexibility of the MIO console. I can route several mixes and switch between studio monitors and headphones so easily. I don't need a headphone amp or a big knob or anything fancy and expensive like that.

[jajjguy]

Anyway, the pres are fine for high output sounds like electric amps or drum overheads. They just aren't too great with dynamic mics on more acoustic noises. That is when you have to crank the gain and you start getting some noise.

Here's the deal. The pres on the 2882 are great, till you get up to around 24dB of gain. Then you start getting some extra noise in there. I find that when close micing with most condensors there's no problem. For distant micing, or when using dynamic mics on non-loud source, I might prefer more gain.

BUT, i find that if I just never turn the gain up past 24dB and do whatever boosting is necessary in the computer, all is well. Maybe this is just because we are all used to recording too hot into our computers and lose track of the fact that things sound just fine when recorded at lower levels.

Altogether, I'm very happy with the box. Incredibly practical design, sounds really good, and the routing software is freakin amazing.