Control 24 Preamps

[Augusta Global]

Hello,

I got a Control 24 and I love it as a controller for PT 8 HD.

The preamps in this thing SUCK really bad.

Am I doing something wrong? I get tons of high end hiss on a mic.

I also have a Digi PRE and have been using that for about a year. I like the PRE (Same mic). I have a project studio at home... so I am not cutting platinum albums here but DAMN, are the preamps really this bad?

Thanks,
Tony

[Southsidemusic]

Yes! They are horrid and should not be used at all.

[albee1952]

Indeed...they are(were) based on the chinese Focusrite "Platinum" stuff as used in the original Mbox. Most owners I know only use them for talkback mics

[Augusta Global]

There is a way to control the Digidesign PRE from the Control 24, so I am going to keep the Control 24 and use the PRE for my preamps.

I am generally happy with the unit, it just blew me away at how bad the preamps sounded. They sound like something I had in the early 90's, a PC with a 40 dollar sound card in it.

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by Augusta Global

There is a way to control the Digidesign PRE from the Control 24, so I am going to keep the Control 24 and use the PRE for my preamps.

I am generally happy with the unit, it just blew me away at how bad the preamps sounded. They sound like something I had in the early 90's, a PC with a 40 dollar sound card in it.

The Control24 came out in the 90's so no wonder that the pre's sound like a cheapo interface you remeber

[Augusta Global]

Originally Posted by Southsidemusic

The Control24 came out in the 90's so no wonder that the pre's sound like a cheapo interface you remeber

Excellent point!!

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by Augusta Global

Excellent point!!

Hehe Thanks

All joking aside though, I remember when we had a Control24 and tried to justify not buying external pre's and use the 16 "focusrite" preamps.

When we turned the knobs to get more gain we turned and turned and nothing happened until we were like 9 - 10 of 10 and thats when we got gain and schreeking highs that sounded harsh and not good.

As I recall all 16 gain knobs were like that and didn't do much until we had turned them basically all the way up and thats when that crappy outcome made us pawn our gold necklaces and started buying external pres and compressors.

We never could get a decent sound outta thos so called "Focusrite pres" and tried all our mics. We tried Manleys, U87, TLM mics, Brauner, Telefunken expensive mics and a few less expensive mics but nothing came close to the sound needed to produce and release anything for Universal Music which we still work with.

So ... I have heard people use them preamps for tracking drums and use those 16 inputs for that alone and got kinda cool sounding records so although we never got the sound we wanted others have used those 16 channels for less sweet sounding highs and lows of drum mic'ing and guitars so you might have use for them on tracks that aren't Vocals and accoustic stuff.

I would however buy something better as you will get tired of that harshness delivered by the preamps

Focusrite have great super awesome gear so it should NOT be used as off putting gospel for their other stuff. Pre's with compressors and or EQ's are pretty well priced these days so ead up on what you want the sound to be like and ask many people what they use and start with a good preamp and build on that when you have the money

Best of Luck
Christopher

[Augusta Global]

Thanks Christopher for the feedback.

I have a Digidesign PRE and it is enough for me. I have read a ton of these threads and there seem to be mixed feelings about the PRE, but I will say that it sounds fine for me. Maybe my ears aren't tuned well enough because I still think the 888/24 sounds pretty good. I actually have one in my setup out of a "Legacy" port.

My primary gig is digital marketing and I have to degrade the audio so much at the end of the workflow (MP3 for the web) that I can in no way justify anything better than a Digidesign PRE... but for the sake of my sanity, I can't use the pres in this Control24.

I just got this Control24 in the last week. I am trying to decide, at this point, whether to run my control room monitors out of the Control 24 or run them straight out of the box (Digidesign 96).

Tony

[Barry Johns]

If you ate considering the DigiPre, then forgo it and buy this instead.

https://us.focusrite.com/news/scarle...nd-your-studio

I have the older version as well as a DigiPre and the focusrite is better.

I only use them for occasional utility preamps, but they do fine especially at that price point and you don't have to waiste analog I/O's as they have built in Digital I/O.