Hi,

Thanks for making the Mic / Mic Pre tests. I have a little request here, if it not too much to ask for. Can you help us perform a convertor test with your existing Lucid AD9624 and Apogee Rosetta ??

It will be nice if you can use the same MIC (a low budget one would be better, ie. a Rode NT2 or Rode NTK) and the same MIC PRE (same thing, a low budget one would be preferred, eg. a dbx 386)

And simultaneously record the same performance so that we hear the same take into two different convertors (ie. set 2 mics into the same micpre but back into the computer via the two different convertors).

Examples of performance preferred would be:

1) an acoustic guitar recoring
2) a male vocal alone
3) a female vocal alone

I hope the above is not too much to ask for.

Basically I run a low-budget facilities, but am deciding to improve my audio signal by adding an affordable A/D convertor.

As you might have guessed, I do own two Rode NT2 mics and the cheap dbx 386 mic-pre.

Thanks and Regards,
[Charles]

www.tworooms.com

Hi Dot,

Sorry for another post, here's a newbie and OT question. How do I download ALL the mp3s in your sessions at one go from a PC using IE?, ie. is there a "zipped" version ??

At the moment, what I did for session one, was to go to your link at : http://www.thelisteningsessions.com/mp3/1/

and then individually right-click on the individual files and then "Save Target As.."

Thanks and Regards,
[Charles]

www.tworooms.com

[This message was edited by Charles Lee on 02-25-03 at 02:35 AM.]

Hi Charles, we have some more converters here and we will be using them in a session. It'll be a while, though, because we've got our hands full with the mics and pres right now.

Actually, I think Lynn Fuston of 3D Audio has a converter CD.

On downloading entire sessions, there's no zipped version. I thought people could use webgrabber and other utililties to grab the whole session. If that's not working and anyone has a good idea of how we can enable people to download an entire session - we're open.

Dan Richards
Digital Pro Sound
The Listening Sessions

Hi Dot,

Thanks for your reply. I went to 3D Audio but couldnt find the convertor's shootout. maybe they went out of stock??

anyway, I'ver zeroed in to just the Lucid AD and the Apogee Rosetta, and it happened that I saw u using both for your mic/mic pre shootout, so I thought you could help us perform a simple lucid vs apogee shootout.

Thanks and Regards,
[Charles]

www.tworooms.com

Charles, either the Lucid or the Rosetta are going to give you an improvement. I'm not sure of the Rosetta prices in Singapore, but they have dropped to around $1200 here in the US.

The "cheap dbx 386 mic-pre" is definitely a weak point. I would replace that with a better pre before worrying about more expensive A/D conversion.

What type of music are you recording?

Dan Richards
Digital Pro Sound
The Listening Sessions

Hi.

Thanks for your thoughts. Our main business is in Audio Post and Audio Editing for Picture/Video. Sometimes we do voice over recordings for commercial ads as well.

Recently, we started to record songs for people too. But basically the trackings for music (ie. from MIDI) are done by the composers / arrangers. So we only record the lead vocals, background singers and sometimes acoustic guitars. Sometimes the arrangers record the guitar parts themselves too, so we do mainly vocals.

My "hard-disk recorder" is the Digi 001 running Pro Tools LE on a MAC G4 (1Ghz). We only have three microphones. Two Rode NT2 and one Shure SM58.

My Mic pre is the "cheap dbx 386". Sometimes the signal gets routed into my outboard analog mixer, TOPAZ 32 by Soundtracs, and then the mic signal is bussed into the 001 because sometimes we need to "ride the faders" for certain singers. (But this would mean "double amplification", because the mic signal is first amplified by the dbx386, then it is amplified by my analog mixer.

At the moment, the signal coming back into the 001 from the mixer is via analog too. That's why I thought of getting a good affordable A/D (ie. Lucid or Rosetta) to route the signal into 001 digitally.

Sometimes I do write and arrange music as well. But that is on a PC with a Yamaha 01V and another "cheap little" Soundblaster Audigy soundcard. Then I will import the audio data files into Pro Tools LE to perform a mix, if need to.

I hope you are not bored with my signal flow explanation. Anyway, now I am deciding between the Lucid and the Rosetta because they are both within my budget.

Another item I am choosing is the MiniMe by Apogee. At least it might be an improvement to my dbx386 and plus it can act as an A/D convertor for my MAC rig as well.

Therefore if it is not too much to ask for, I would like to suggest a shootout with the minime vs rosetta vs lucid as well.

Thanks and Regards,
[Charles]

www.tworooms.com

Hi Charles, you might also consider the Grace Lunatec V3.

We're concentrating on the mics and pres right now. On the other hand, if you're interested in hiring us to do a customized gear shootout for you, please email me.

Dan Richards
Digital Pro Sound
The Listening Sessions

Charles, here's the thread about the 3D Audio ADC CD. Not sure if it's out yet, but you can ask Lynn Fuston about it.

Dan Richards
Digital Pro Sound
The Listening Sessions

Hi again,

This thread looks like personal Q&A question between me and you.

I went to check out the Grace V3. I think it will look cool beside my Digi 001 coz they happen to be in the same colour scale

But I'm not sure, sometimes i prefer the colour, purple. Specs wise (192 kHz, wow !!), it looks better than Apogee's Mini-me.

Maybe I'll do a bit more research on it.

Thanks for the offer of giving me a customised shootout. I don't think I can afford it though, as you can see; a simple less-than-USD 1K-decision between the Lucid AD9624 and Rosetta is already difficult on me..

Also, thanks for the link the 3dB, will see if i can get some simple and quick comparison results from there.


Regards,
[Charles]

www.tworooms.com

The 3D Audio AD/CD has not yet been released. Why? I dunno... but according to Lynn it will indeed be out soon.

Fletcher
Mercenary Audio

Or hangin' with Harvey Gerst at:
PSW's "recpit"