digi 888's- are they still worth using??

[veedub242]

I have noticed on ebay you can pick these units up very cheap (less than 200 a piece) What is all needed to run a system using 888's? I am thinking of making the change from an LE 002rack system to something where I can use a console. any suggestions?

[nestle]

ya know last year I pulled the trigger on an 888.
I would not get the one that isn't 24bit , but those are not 2 bills, and those are the ones your seeing. I work on 3 systems and one is my home rig which is PT24 with all the plugs and 3 farms w/ an 888/24 and one 882. Old yes but it cost me so little, I won't go into details but well under 2 grand and it's earned it's keep well. And talk about stable...it just keeps humming, thats a good rock solid system with no hicc-ups, a money earner.
So what I can't get more than 32 tracks, but I would've shit my pants if you told me I'd have that many tracks at home in 1988. I like PT7 but when I'm mixing I like the older system better than LE and the 888 still sounds pretty good to me, yeah HD is better but not 15k better when I still use alot of analog stuff.
Be sure you know what your getting into with compatability issues, but if you find an older system for a great price go for it-
OS 9.2.2
no OSX

PT5.3 is as far as you can go I think, but this is a good version.

I've heard that PARIS system is better though and "sounds like tape" maybe thats an option

[allbaldo]

At this point, the Mix era stuff has come down in price a lot. I'm using a D24, a DSP farm, and 2 Mix farms in a G4 (you can't use these cards in a G5), and I'm planning on getting a Mix Core and 1 more Mix Farm very soon, to replace the D24, and DSP Farm. The Mix Core's are going for around $600 on ebay, and the Mix Farms for about $400. I like this setup far better than an LE system, and it's been really solid for me.

I'm still using 3 of the 888/24's. They've served me very well, but I had the chance to use 3 Apogee AD8000's for a record not too long ago, and I found it to be a huge improvement. The AD8000's are still fetching around $1500 bucks a piece, which is quite a bit, but I hope to move to them eventually. The 888/24's seem to go for about $450, and are dropping fast.

If you want a good startup system, you can get a D24 card (about $350), a Mix Farm, and a couple of 888/24's, and you'll have an expandable setup that will work well. The last supported version of PT for Mix era cards (6.4.1) can be had for $35 on Digi's site. This version will work on OSX if you're on a Mac. Mine's been great. Good luck!

[joel hamilton]

If you dont mind the dead end in upgrade-ability....

They are totally great, and this is for sure: they are bettter than the 002r!

I would TOTALLY rather have a 32 I/) mix plus tdm rig! NO latency, totally solid operation.... In fact, I just did a record (sleepytime gorilla museum) where I recorded them at Tiny Telephone.... TT only has a mix plus rig, so I started on 2", then transferred each song into PT via the 888's at 44.1 (i almost always work at 44.1 these days) and did all the overdubs. When I got back to NYC, I opened up all the sessions on my PT HD3 rig.... theey all sounded really great to me! The performances, the sounds, everything! happy times, and I didnt even really sweat the 888's. I do like the HD converters WAY better, but the 888's are certainly good converters for day to day multi track use. If you cant make it sound good with 888's, stop recording people... I did a bunch of records with protools when 888's were the only option (from digi), and I still like the way they sound.
I always mix on a console, with outboard gear, and I hear that stuff way more than I hear which converters I was using (or forced to use at the time) wheen I am listening to a record i did in that era.... or eeven today.

[chris harris]

In fact, I just did a record (sleepytime gorilla museum) where I recorded them at Tiny Telephone....

nice! can't wait to hear this!

[snatchman]

"Are they still worth it?" I think basically anything is "worth it". Depending on your expectations out of the gear. I'm still using Adats, not the most pristine capturing devise for sure, but for the type of work I'm doing, it sounds fine! Especially with good front end gear. ( and talent of course.... ) YMMV

[I'm Painting Again]

I assisted on a session in a studio that tracked to that..It sounded awesome..

[moogplayer]

I am a big fan (and still use) PT 5.3 + OS9. Stable as hell.

[veedub242]

Right now I have a 002rack with an M-audio octane for a total of 16 inputs. I have an amazing recording space and reallly want a console to mix on. The soundcraft ghost and the new Toft or top on my list of options. I have a g4 dual 867 with a gig of ram which has been very good to me and I plan to keep it for a while.

so I am thinking of buying 2 or 3 888's (24bit)
what kind of cards will I need? Do i need a mix farm card for each block of 888's?
are there different mix farm cards for mac and pc?
I know nothing about computer cards. What about cabling from computer to 888's?

thanks Ian

[allbaldo]

How many, and what type of cards you need depends on your processing power requirements, and your I/O needs. If you intend to only use the PT rig as a "virtual tape machine", and not mix within it, using your console and outboard gear instead, you could probably get away with 1 Mix Core card (about $600) which will let you use 16 channels of I/O (2 x 888/24), and do quite a bit of automation, and use a few plug ins... quite a few if you're using the Digirack plug ins.

If you want to use quite a bit of plug ins, or higher end ones, you'll need Mix Farm cards. You can start with one (about $400), and add more if you need them. Adding a Mix Farm card will let you add more 888/24's too. The cards will work in Mac's or PC's... not G5's though, and there may be issues with newer PC's... I'm not sure on this, as I'm a Mac guy.

You'll need cables too, which unfortunately, have not really gone down much in price. You'll need a Y cable, and 2 interface cables if you have a Mix Core and 2 888/24's. There's also a card called a Mix I/O card that allows you to connect more 888/24's, but adds no processing power to the system. You'll need a Mix Core no matter what, but the Mix I/O lets you expand the system if you're not using many plug ins, but want to have 24 or 32 I/O's.

I echo Joel's sentiments on these systems. I love not having to deal with the latence issues that come with LE systems. Great recordings have been, and are still being made on these systems... 888/24's or not.

[Kitana_One]

We're still using the 888's with 3 O2R's chained together here at Audio Playground. We also have a large format Trident console in our A room that we can patch in but we don't use it all that often.

I'm relatively happy with the 888's still. We don't do much tracking of drums or guitars... mostly synths since we're also a synth museum. Most of the work we do on them is for recording audio, sequencing audio, processing, sound design and mixdowns. Not much is really done in "real time", so latency isn't much of an issue.

It'd be nice to have a HD3 system, but it's not 100% necessary, however, with the amount of sound design work I do its starting to become a necessity and an upgrade will be eminent in the semi-near future.

[joel hamilton]

"02R" not "002."

Yamaha.
Mixer.
Digital.

[Kitana_One]

"02R" not "002."

Yamaha.
Mixer.
Digital.

That is correct.

Did I make a typo and accidentally add an extra zero?

[joel hamilton]

"02R" not "002."

Yamaha.
Mixer.
Digital.

That is correct.

Did I make a typo and accidentally add an extra zero?

No, there was another post that had it confused... was it deleted somehow?

Weird...

[nystrec]

That was me. As soon as I posted it I realized what the other post said. I thought I deleted it before anyone read it but I guess I can't get anything past you Joel.