API a2d... just got it. here are my thoughts.

pixeltarian · Post by **pixeltarian** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 4:12 pm

My mind is blown.

I think my mbox2 is a piece of crap now. I've never recorded my voice and heard it the way I hear it when I sing unplugged... until today.

honestly I've only used my MXL 990 to play around with it because I'm waiting on some mics to get here, and I think even that sounds amazing. so my new thought is that this is waaaaaay more important than buying microphones. get an a2d and then get mics. my junk mics sound like gold compared to before.

I really don't even know what to say right now, I've only played around with it for like 45 minutes. holy crap though it's a night and day difference in detail and response. the guitar picks up dynamics like nobody's business. I really had to exaggerate when I wanted to have dynamics in a riff just to get it to translate correctly on the recording. the a2d on-the-fly (I.E. with no plugins) sounds pretty close to what I come up with after messing with EQ, compression, and playing in different ways to compensate for the lack of punch and even tone thoughout all the frequencies. honestly I would do those things for hours just to get something close to what this things sounds like out of the box.

another thing I noticed is that the s/pdif into my mbox has no latency. none. at least none that I noticed. I would honestly have to say that this is the best purchase I've made in my entire life! no joke.

so... I'm pretty much beaming with joy today.

thanks for all those who encouraged this purchase instead of alternate routes I could have taken. I haven't recorded in a while because I was sick of having to tweak and tweak and go plug in city of every track just to get it to sound close to what I want to hear. Even then, adding all those plugins achieved a sounds similar to what I wanted, but in the process added a LOT of color that I wasn't too fond of. I'm glad I can say goodbye to the compromise now.

ahh... life is good.

~ Jeffrey James

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 4:23 pm

you know, you can buy additional A2Ds and sync them with a 9 pin cable and...

*suddenly realises pixeltarian might go broke buying more channels*

forget i said anything!

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 4:36 pm

It is a great box, for sure. I freaked on it in a review a while back for TapeOp magazine.

Enjoy it, man. Even if you get other stuff now, that will be a valid piece of gear for years. Even if the conversion is outshined in 5 years, the pre's will still be very worthy.

Wilkesin · Post by **Wilkesin** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:44 pm

Are the pres just regular api 312's or something new?

joel hamilton wrote:Even if the conversion is outshined in 5 years,

...and I'm guessing that is not likely to happen.

trodden · Post by **trodden** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:36 pm

Good to hear!

especially about the spdif latency!!!!

I use an older finalizer for additional AD/DA and there is quite a bit of latency between it and my 001 and AI3 converters..

I've had an API 3124+ for a few years and love it, two more channels of API pre's AND converters in one box may be a great way for me to go next!!!

firby · Post by **firby** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 10:29 pm

Hey man. I dont have that conversion but I have the 3124 + from API. It is arguably the single best purchase that I have made in audio. Mine go through a trident into 24 channels of MOTU. I can testify that alot of what you are hearing are the preamps. That 2520 or whatever the opamp is that API manufacturers is the best sounding op amp that I have ever heard. The drums sound fantastic through with the really fast transient detail, All of the mics that I use really love it. If you have not tried it on a 57 or a nice ribbon yet you had better do it.

I am so out of love with my Marshall vWhatervers that I have still not plugged them into it. I am still worried about the top end. I regularly run 57s SM7, beyer m160 and shinybox 23s into it though and it is super pimp.

Like the other guy said, you wont ever need to replace that thing and when it falls out of favor at some point it will just go to the back of the line. Those things are lifers.

jessejamietig · Post by **jessejamietig** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:04 am

I love mine. Not only for the pre-amps, but I also use the converters to send a mix I'm doing out of the console from my HD system through the api and then send digitally into my old 001.

It sounds fantastic.

David Piper · Post by **David Piper** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 7:21 am

I also love my A2D!

Out of the box I did notice that the pre-amps had better "reach" and detail than my Digi 002 and ART PRO MPA pre's, but it took me a while to get used to it. I started to think it was a good purchase the first time I used it on kick & snare, and it just seemed immediately faster and more like a record. A few weeks later, a jazz combo told me they thought the drums sounded better than a previous recording, and I had the A2D on overheads.

I was dissapointed with it on vocals when I ran my own AKG C 3000's and then a friend's TLM 103. But this spring I got a Charter Oak 538, and I've been running that more often through the API and been very happy with it. I like it with my RE20, too.

It was my first piece of really nice audio gear, and opened my ears up to the difference that gear can make.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:11 pm

Wilkesin wrote:Are the pres just regular api 312's or something new?

joel hamilton wrote:Even if the conversion is outshined in 5 years,
...and I'm guessing that is not likely to happen.

They are 312's...
Okay 10 years for the conversion...

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 10:00 pm

so totally on my Amazon gift list.

grockvt · Post by **grockvt** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 7:17 pm

I just got mine a few days ago and tested it a bunch running into my Tascam 1884 via s/pdif...it works!...it sounds great!...very happy with the API! I'm up to two preamps now - the UA 2-610 and the API...

percussion boy · Post by **percussion boy** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 1:06 am

Newbie question, re the digital hookup:

How does clocking figure in this? That is, is there anything special you have to do besides hooking up the API's digital out to your audio interface's digital in?

Apologies if this is a stupid question, I"m trying to get my head around this. The a2d sounds like a great invention for the small recording setup.

David Piper · Post by **David Piper** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 6:27 am

My A2D does not pass signal into Pro Tools unless I go to the "Hardware" menu, and then change the clock source from "Internal" to "SPDIF/RCA".

I do believe this has changed on a newer version of the unit, for people that want to use the unit but need to clock to something else in their set-up.

pixeltarian · Post by **pixeltarian** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 12:25 am

David Piper wrote:My A2D does not pass signal into Pro Tools unless I go to the "Hardware" menu, and then change the clock source from "Internal" to "SPDIF/RCA".

I do believe this has changed on a newer version of the unit, for people that want to use the unit but need to clock to something else in their set-up.

I don't know I have the newest version (shipped directly from api) and I have to do the same thing... only in pro tools though. probably because pro tools is the drama queen of DAWs.

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 9:41 am

After this post, I don't want to see a single "find me a cheap ____ " from Pixeltarian ever again.

Now he knows why certain gear is worth the extra dough. And so should the rest of us.

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API a2d... just got it. here are my thoughts.

API a2d... just got it. here are my thoughts.

It's cool

a2d great sound

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