i'm curious to know what you think of the modded MOTUs. Would it still be worth the $ to buy RME or Apogee, or are you content with your MOTUs?

I think that, given my situation NOW, I'd have done things a bit differently. That said: here's my impressions...

It was shocking how much better my 896 sounded when it came back from Black Lion. It was like someone took a blanket off my recordings. Everything felt more solid; more real. The mic pre's are still only so-so, though if I had to do an all-in-one situation for live recording, the 896 would not be a bad option at all. The mods definitely woke up the 896.

My bitch with the 896 is the FireWire implementation, and I'm really pissed off at MOTU for it. I started with one 896, and it worked flawlessly for a couple years. I then got another and when I attempted to daisy-chain them on the firewire buss, the second one could not hold clock and kept clicking and searching for clock signal from the first (because MOTU stuff clocks via firewire). I found out later that this is due to a Windows XP SP2 conflict, and that there is no way to resolve it short of reverting to SP1, which I am unwilling to do because of the added security of SP2 and the fact that this machine HAS to be connected to the interweb so I can deliver projects to clients. I'm a little salty that MOTU has not worked its way around this issue with a driver patch or something of that ilk. I'm also a little pissed at myself for not doing all my homework on this one. Right now I've got 6 channels of my 2nd 896 coming into my first one via Lightpipe and AES. It's not perfect, but it gives me 14 should I need them.

In retrospect, if I had this to do over, I'd probably be looking the way of Apogee or Mytek. I know they are way more expensive, but I don't see myself running into these kinds of problems with PCI based stuff. Plus the Apogees and Myteks are better designed converters overall, and I've got enough preamps now to run converters that are just converters.

However, the 896's will probably find service again once we move out and upgrade our big multitrack rig. I figure we can set up 2 edit suites with 896's as the converter, so long as we don't want to run anything else FW on those machines (which really shouldn't be an issue).

thanks. that completely answered my question. I had been looking at RME cards, realizing that you have to buy quite a bit of stuff to be operational. It's quite a bit different from just plugging in a Firepod and zipping along.

It really can be quite a lot...and it really depends on what your goals are...do you want to have a top-notch rig capable of keeping up with the big boys or do you want something that sounds good (more than adequate, to be sure), and is easy to implement?

PS - I should've mentioned that if I were running Mac, I'd have both these converters kicking like yesterday, and I'd have a much higher opinion of MOTU. Because, from what I've heard, the MOTU stuff works like it says it should on Mac.

quote:

I found out later that this is due to a Windows XP SP2 conflict, and that there is no way to resolve it short of reverting to SP1, which I am unwilling to do because of the added security of SP2 and the fact that this machine HAS to be connected to the interweb so I can deliver projects to clients.

Maybe consider buying a real cheapie PC box to handle your email / FTP client needs etc and add it to your LAN?

I've never been a fan of exposing my studio comp to the web - I used too, and got into trbl b/c of it.

I think that I'd still run into some vulnerability issues if they are all on the same LAN...plus we need to be able to turn stuff around quickly...literally sometimes in minutes...so I need to have the internet connectivity on my work machine. But don't think I haven't considered that option.

I have to stop getting stuff! ARGH! It's like the opposite of GAS. It's GSIGMS (Gear Someone is Giving Me Syndrome)! My cousin didn't want hes Epi LP Custom, so I have it. Just got it back from the shop today. I've had a set of Duncan Antiquities sitting around for years and I finally got a guitar to slap them into. It's freakin' sweet...had my guy put in some fun things...some TOP SECRET fun things...okay...he just dug through his personal stash of big 'ol Sprague caps and put in a couple really awesome tone caps. I've been playing it for an hour or so and it's killer. Can't wait to put it on a track!

no pics? that's what these journals are for! nobody wants to read!

Ian, to bad we couldn't grab that cup of coffee at xmas time.

You mention in my journal you were thinking about a summing box of some sort. That made me think about your console project. How's that going? If all you have in line input modules, that could end up some really cool summing box with eq and such. Just a thought, but mabye that bad dog needs to be cut down into a few side-car summing units.

quote:

Originally posted by Jacl Daniels:
Ian, to bad we couldn't grab that cup of coffee at xmas time.

You mention in my journal you were thinking about a summing box of some sort. That made me think about your console project. How's that going? If all you have in line input modules, that could end up some really cool summing box with eq and such. Just a thought, but mabye that bad dog needs to be cut down into a few side-car summing units.

Buddy, you are reading my mind. If I'm looking at things right, it appears as though the EQ modules require line amps for gain makeup because the EQ's are passive. Si I really will only have a couple extra line amp cards to play with. I've had a chat with one of the guys at Roll Music Systems (the manufacturer of the Folcrom...they are here in Minneapolis) and I'm trying to find a way to basically get the EQ's up and running as a bank of EQ's in a rack or sidecar setup, and then use the extra line amp cards with some sort of summing architecture (that would also include panning as opposed to L/R assignment, as on the Folcrom) to make a sort of RMS/QE Summing amp. I should probably get on that, as the friggin' console is taking up a lot of space in the garage...

And Disco, m'boy, I'll get some pics up in the soon time...the camera is on assignment...should have some shots up this week.

***QUAD EIGHT UPDATE***

I talked to Ken Hirsch at Orphan Audio and learned a few more things about my console....the most pants-wettingly awesome thing I learned was that I shouldn't need a line amp card for each channel strip!

*WETS PANTS*

BA-ZOW!!!

I'm so excited...as you can see...

12 channels of Quad Eight preamp are now a possiblity...YAH-HOOOOO!!!

*WETS SELF AGAIN*

Hey Ian,
I finally found your post listing the Quad 8 stuff you mentioned. Wow, yours is a lot newer than the one I cut my teeth on! The one I first used was one of the older ones with the round coloured fader knobs. Love that rig you have, that was an awesome find! What's even better is that you're giving it the home and use it deserves. I'm still lost with most of this comp based recording, I think I may pick up a ff800 to go with my new Mac Pro, I gotta start sometime!

Take care,
~Mike

***MORE UPDATES***

It looks like I've scored a pair of mix jobs with a pair of death metal bands!! YAY! Nothing like a little grunt-core metal!!! It'll be fun to mix something I didn't have to track. Which is what I'm doing right now. My band (3 Pill Morning) tracked a quick EP that we're going to throw in our new press kit...i'm in the middle of all the recalls as I type (I'm printing a mix). Next week it'll be off to mastering!

..and...as I typed that...I got a call from the lead singer from Shoeleather Faith. He's putting together a compilation album for his church as a outreach tool and 3 people need to have stuff recorded. Looks like this semester I took off is going to be a friggin' profitable one...

**STUFF BREAKS! DAMMIT***

So, the neck pickup in my beloved Tele died the other week. I cried a little...okay, not really, but that was a great neck pickup. At any rate, I had to replace the set, and I figured I'd switch things up and try a set of Bare Knuckles Country Boys. They are considerably brighter than the Antiquities they replaced. I'm not gonna say better, I'm not gonna say worse. I'm gonna say way more old-school country sounding Tele. They are way clean, low output, and really sweet. The neck pickup doesn't have the horsepower that the other one did (which I loved to use with gobs of dirt), but it's a different beast now.

Since I've still got the bridge pickup, I'll probably wait for a while and buy another tele, and put the Country Boys in that, and then put the Antiquity bridge and a new Antiquity neck in ol' blue.

Definitely great sounding pickups, though. Totally Don Rich sort of old-school twang.

Due to a dirtyragamuffin-inspired glitch (I kid because I care), a post was zapped, magically, from the journal. It's all good...gives me a shot at padding my posts number!

***HEARING THINGS UPDATE***

So, a couple weeks ago, my dad's buddy, an audio install contractor calls him up and says "hey, I've got a pair of Tannoy System 800A's that we used to demo some install stuff, and my Tannoy rep doesn't want them back, because they are being phased out...you interested?"

"well...I'm not sure.."

"$500 plus tax?"

*looks online...new pairs retail at $18-1900*

"We'll be there in an hour!"

They're on our Mac rig right now...the imaging is really good, the bottom end is good, though not necessarily "honest"...though I'm not really sure that they are "nearfields" in the true sense of the word. They feel like they're more of a mid-field in terms of response. They feel truer at higher volumes than my Dynaudios...my Dynaudios feel like they're telling me the truth at lower volumes than the Tannoys.

Well...looks like it's TIIIIME for an update before I hit the sack...where to start...

Since I last left an update, I've done a shit-ton of fun things. First and foremost, I finally got to witness the rock-and-roll spectacle that is SXSW. All I can say is WOW. Unreal. Will be going again, with more passes. I've never seen so many opportunities to get blown away! We (myspace.com/3pillmorningband) got a chance to play and we made some booking contacts that we needed. Hopefully, this fall = regional college booking for 3 Pill. Excited? You bet. We might actually get the chance to make a little money with this venture.

I started on a maxi-ep/mini-lp (7 tracks, 35 minutes...WTF would YOU call it?) with the death metallers who shall remain nameless so's this doesn't show up on a search of their name and get me into hot water. Some of you remember the stories. Well...as soon as mixes were completed, they booted their lead singer. So that should be starting back up with bass and vocal tracking, and yet another set of mixes. I'm pretty much bringing down the iron fist on these guys this time. I'm busy as hell with my band, and I've got a bunch of other irons in the fire...it's craziness right now, some of which I've been notified I'm not to speak about until such time as it's made public. I'll definitely keep y'all up to date on some of my more commercial ventures.

I also helped my little brother's band work on their freshman EP. (myspace.com/valiaband) Nothing's up, yet, but so far I'm pretty happy with my contributions from a production/engineering standpoint. The drum tracking we did I'm praticularly proud of, especially considering that I did it with 5 57's, an RE-20, a Beta 52, and a pair of KSM-109's. (And blumlein C3's in the room). Nothing fancy. Nothing super-duper high buck. And the drumkit was just a Tama Rockstar. But it was well-tuned with FRESH heads, and had some really good brass hanging from the stands. It's simple, and the drums have so much attitude it's almost not fair. It helped, too, that their new drummer is a HELL of a good drummer for a 17-year-old who's not even out of high school yet. And it's not by virtue of chops. He's got good feel and he composes well. Which is something my brother has struggled to find. I'm really happy that he's starting to find guys who compliment him and his style.

The band...3 Pill Morning...well...it's been a hell of a couple months. We've lost our second vocalist/guitarist (as in we have two "lead" singers and he was the one that played guitar)(so it was only one guy that we lost...just to be clear), and I've had to step up and fill a bunch of his vocal work...it's been a steep learning curve, but I'm getting there. I still wish I wasn't chained to a mic for 60% of our set, though. But, whatev. If it means more girls pay attention to me, then I guess I'm for it. Not that it matters because I've been dating the same girl for over 2 years now. But, it's still nice to know. I digress...

3 Pill is fully engrossed in pre-production at the moment, with some of the fruits of those sessions in the MMMMUSIC Forum. I think they are some of my best recordings to date, and I'm especially happy with the vocal treatment. I did so little processing to those vocals that it's almost criminal. It was TOO easy. So I found "the mic" for Jeff (lead singer)(WHICH, by the way, was a 414EB through a TAB V78M), and I found that I sound pretty good on a U87. Up til now I'd found myself liking my 2247 for me...but the 87 just seemed to be a bit smoother. We'll have to keep playing with things. At any rate, our first round of demos (which included "Let's Live For Today, which a bunch of you also heard) have garnered us some interesting conversations with a few people in good positions to shop our stuff. So, we know we're moving in the right direction...which is a handy segue to...

...THIS! We'll probably be getting into a big studio somewhere in town towards end of July/Mayhaps as late as Mid-August to start tracking out first Honest-To-God full length. The tentative plan is to bang out rhythm tracks and all the "loud" stuff in 4 or 5 days at a well-equipped studio of our choosing, and then coming back to my place to finish out vocals. Mixing is still up in the air. We may head back into the studio to mix, or we may mix here. It still remains to be seen. But, it appears as though there may be an album journal in the works...I'll definitely keep in touch on that front, as it might be the most exciting.

So...I've been a busy little beaver. I'll be sure to keep updates coming more frequently, as I think things are going to be very, VERY interesting in the coming weeks.

NEATOO!

btw, I'd just call it an ELP.
and you've got too much gear.

NO SUCH THING!!!

...okay...there's such a thing as too much gear...but that's the stuff that's cluttering up all the dusty corners not getting used!

Hey Ian
Try using a BNC cable to clock the MOTU interfaces together. Thats what i had to do with some of my ADAT type outboard stuff. ROck on.

Chris

That's, unfortunately, not the issue. It's a firewire conflict that means I have to use one of my MOTUs as a standalone converter that clocks via lightpipe. Which reminds me, I need to go buy some more optical cables...