Mic Pre Question!

[24Farrington]

I run a digi001. I have some really low end mic pre's, and I'm looking to get something better. If I get something with lightpipe outputs, then I can track up to 16 channels at a time! WOO HOO!!! I know that Pre-Sonus makes an 8 channel pre with lightpipe out(DigiMAX LT found it for $719, plus a $75 rebate if you buy before July 31), so does focusrite(Octopre $999 plus the ADAT out card $229) . Has anyone used these units? Do they sound good? Is latency a factor? Any opinions?

[d franko]

The Digimax does an excellent job, as does the true systems precision 8.

[buzzaudioguy]

I've got a DigiMAX LT and it's worked great for me. It doesn't sound all that special, but it's clean, has decent headroom and it's virtually colorless. I've used in the studio and out in the field doing remote recording with just that and an ADAT. I bought it mostly do to it's price, but I'm pleased with how it performs.

[24Farrington]

Thanks guys for the input. I'm proabably gonna pick up the digimax. I'll give it a whirl and if it sux, I'll just return it. Thanks GC! he he.

Have you found latency to be an issue?

[cgarges]

The biggest gripe I have with the Digimax, as I do with alot of low-budget mic pres, is that only the first two channels have polaity reverse switches. The argument has been made that you can reverse polarity elsewhere in the chain, but to me, if you don't get the phase right before you start messing with a signal via EQ or otherwise, you're shooting yourself in the foot. Of course if you don't know about phase relationships or don't care, knock yourself out.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[buzzaudioguy]

I've had zero latency issues. I recorded an all day live gig about two weeks ago at a small theatre here in town that didn't have it's own PA. I ran 8 channel snake from the stage straight to the DigiMAX, then lightpiped it to an ADAT, then ran the analog outs from the ADAT to a small 10 channel mixing board to feed the mains and monitors. Actually I just ran vocals thru the small system I had there, but I was able to track everything I wanted to. If I had any latency problems it would've been VERY obvious. When I run it at home through my DP4/Motu rig I do have some latency issues, but that's not the preamp's fault.

[buzzaudioguy]

actually Chris, the DigiMAX LT doesn't have ANY polarity switches! That is kinda a drag. Maybe it's big brother does, but this one only had a pad and phantom power for each channel. That's it! You gotta get the phase right on the get go, or change it somewhere down the road.

[cgarges]

Sorry, I was thinking of the Focusrite box, but I think I got my point acroos. I usually recommend the M80 to people in this boat for that reason overall. I think the M80 sounds fine. It's a bit more expensive, but features-wise, I think it's worth it. It does have individual polarity, phantom power, and high pass switches on each channel, as well as a nice summing buss for submixing drums and the like. This is the other Presonus box I'm talking about. The two rack-space, blue box.

Chris