quote:

Originally posted by Tom Drinkwater:
the fireface does sound great, and the mic pres on it were a welcome surprise, really very clean and detailed.

I hadn't expected to use the pres, but they are actually better than my JLMs for some things that want fast and clean.

And the RME pres have to be better than the 002's. I agree that PT hardware is mediocre (if not cheap) in that area especially. I went with an RNP/RNC combo in that area for now.

The RME pres are not just better than the 002 pres they hold their own as a viable option for some signals when i also have JLM audio pres (and a DMP3) The RME pres are on a par with the JLMs but very different i would say, much more bassy and clean and fast.

Tom, good to hear you like the RME. I've had one since December, and it's more interface than I deserve.

Not to rain on the parade, but the converters on the ADI8 are not the same as the ones on the Fireface - you were right to be skeptical.

I researched this a while back and talked to an RME rep who said they were at different levels (quality-wise). I don't have more details than that, but at the least I'm pretty sure they're not the same.

There's got to be a way to get your PT working - especially if that's the software you want to use. I used an ADI8 with an 002 rack no problem. Just made sure I had selected the ADI as the master clock source.

All that being said, it seems like if you just dropped the 002 and went with Logic you'd be a happy camper. It works well. It's pretty easy to use. It's powerful. Logic 8 is really inexpensive compared to past versions. Lots of software instruments and such for creative writing... And you'd be cleaning up your setup by just going to the Fireface. My 2 cents.

RME assured me before i bought the fireface that the converters are the same as the ADI-2

I was VERY happy with the sound of the ADI2

the noise specs are 1db worse on the FF, but i guess thats just more stuff in the box.

I've been talking to RME extensively, and we still can't work out if my FF is faulty. it does work ok with PTLE though (on the adat 2 output) and also great as standalone, so i might be able to make a gradual shift to Logic, rather than an abrupt one.

i'm still not convinced by the meter scaling in logic.... it encourages you to run way hot, by showing not much meter until the signal is quite high...

It would be interesting to call them back and tell them you are considering getting an ADI-2 and ask them if the converters are better than your Fireface.

It's still preview for Mac, but just for the hell of it download one of the preview ( not even beta yet ) builds of Reaper: http://www.reaper.fm/ IT will do a lot of things the way you like, plays nice with the FF etc... If you have an Intel Mac, you can even set up a windows xp drive and use fully developed version and switch over later. The demo is fully functional and non expiring, so you have all the time in the world to play with it without it going bye-bye.

I'm having a look at reaper looks like a good project...

looking at the specs numbers i think the ADI2 and FF are the same converters and the ADI8 are different

the specs may not mean much soundwise, but if two units have near identical specs chances are they are the same electronics...

quote:

I would consider switching to nuendo

Everything from Cubase version 3 and up uses the Nuendo audio engine. They've taken the good bits for audio and put them in to Cubase. It's an excellent system that works very, very well. Great with hardware audio sources and midi both.

so I hear, unfortunately there is no demo or trial version of any sort, and software once installed cannot be returned. I have no idea why they think I would buy software that I have to use all the time without trying it out first!

A lot of these hardware people bundle the LE editions of Cubase, Sonar, Live, etc. That's not a bad way to go, if they're still doing that. The LE version of Cubase will give you an idea of what it's like. They limit the channels like PT does and I think they've disable some export/print function as I recall, so you can't make an MP3 or a Wav until you buy the thing.

The other thing with Cubase anyway, just to get an idea of what's what is to watch the Steinberg videos.

Vids are at: http://www.steinbergusers.com/videos.php

There's a Nuendo vid and some other helpful stuff there as well.

There's so much routing capability in this thing now that you'll be wondering how you'll ever use it all, or you'll be buying more I/O

I'm currently trying out Reaper and Logic, logic has some major advantages over PTLE, but its anything but logical, its fussy and arbitary in how it does stuff. Reaper seems excellent, but its still a preview for osx, not even beta yet, still its looking good for the future.

If i can get a copy of Cubase LE i will try it too...

quote:

Reaper

i definatly can wait for Reaper to come out have hopefully i can fix my mbox soon

quote:

Originally posted by Tom Drinkwater:
If i can get a copy of Cubase LE i will try it too...

Just realize that it's a small peak into Cubase SX4 before hand. PTLE seems to give you a closer look to HD comparatively.