your opinion on PRE vs. 96

[Nils Groth]

Hello, I'm building my studio slowly. So far I have a a core card, 192 and a MIDI. I've also baught a PRE which hasn't arrived yet, but here is my question: I have a few rack synths: a Virus XL and a Fantom XR, and I intend to jack them into the PRE instead of a 96. I'm trying to get away with not buying a 96 for the moment. Do you guys see any problem doing things this way or would you really recommend going for the 96 ?

Regards, Nils.

[RobMacki]

The PRE and the 96I/O are two different interfaces.
The PRE is a preamp and the 96 is a D/A A/D converter.
The Pre will add gain stage to your signal and the 96 will give more I/O to and from PT.
They would work together rather than either/or.

hth

[mjteix]

I think Nils wants to connect his keyboards/sound modules to the PRE before connecting it to his 192 I/O interface.
I think it's a good idea.
As far as I know the PRE has separate XLR (mic) and 1/4" jacks (line/inst) inputs and they are selectable from the PRE's front panel or directly from ProTools.
So Nils could have all his (16 max.) analog sources connected to the PRE (8 mics on XLRs and 8 line/intruments on jacks) and the 8 analog outputs of the PRE connected to the (8) analog inputs of the 192 I/O.
No need for a 96 I/O yet (unless you need more than 8 simultaneous analog inputs).

[RobMacki]

and I intend to jack them into the PRE instead of a 96.

sorry if i misunderstood.