Mic Pre for HD Native Thunderbolt

[quantise]

I have an HD Native Thunderbolt interface, which I bought to get into PTHD, currently on v12.

The HDN box was split away from its Omni and I'm now looking at getting a mic pre that will work with it. I've looked at the Avid Pre I/O, which looks like it's an earlier generation device, having its outputs on a DB25 socket. Avid say that it is an HDN family device and listed as working but HDN comes with a mini digilink cable. Do you need an adaptor to get this to work?

What are my options in terms of mic pre to use with this. At most I would need 16 but could start with 8.

What do others use with this system?

Best,

John

[Drew Mazurek]

You need an HD interface for this system to work at all. You can't connect anything else directly to the TB box.

So, you'll need an Omni, and HD I/O (8 or 16 channel), Prism, Apogee, Lynx etc.

These are line level devices (for the most part), so you'll add your pres to them.

[Bookerv12]

Yep.

The Pre is just an 8 channel mic pre, not a converter or interface.

[JFreak]

It is obvious that you haven't done any research regarding HD systems. What you have is a card, and hopefully a PT HD license. Complete system is card+interface+license. So go buy some gear once you now know what you need :)

Cheapest way to get this thing working is buying a 2nd hand old (unsupported) Digidesign-branded 192 interface that gives you 8+8 analog i/o and 8+8 digital i/o (and can be expanded to 16 analog inputs).

THEN take a look at your budget and buy as nice preamp(s) you want/need. If you're on a budget, I'd recommend Focusrite Octopre that gives you 8 preamps a piece. Decent quality, but nothing to die for. Upgrade later.

[Table Syrup Records]

If you are already on the mindset of ditching the Avid I/O - I strongly suggest a Waves IOS or any of the Waves hardware solutions.

I moved from TDM in 2013 with a HD Native PCIe card, and HD I/O 16x16 (along with my 192 16x8)

This was before the Waves hardware was released, and I planned to add the DLS for DSP. Fast forward to now, and I'm not only using the Waves DLS for plugin DSP, but I've ditched the Native card altogether and I'm running my HD I/O and 192 through the DLS - so, I've got 64 voices of plugin DSP, and all of my 32 inputs and 24 outputs.

This all said.... if I were doing this today, in this room, I'd be grabbing an IOS and two IOX's, and running PTHD right off of those. No need for the HDN Thunderbolt or PCIe card at all. Straight in via Cat5e/6. Done deal.

The Waves boxes offer super low latency (1.2ms at 96k).

If you haven't looked into them, I strongly suggest it. You could keep your HD software, and sell your OMNI and HD TB.

The main thing to keep in mind is that with 3rd party interfaces, Pro Tools limits you to 32 I/O (though, soundgrid supports 128, so with other DAW's you are not as limited)

Alternatively, you could keep your HDN TB, and run a DLS - which would be a similar setup to me, and you would still incorporate your OMNI, and have the option of methods in running I/O mode (more I/O than 32, plus 64 voices of DSP -MINUS- the number of I/O) or SGP (soundgrid mode, 32 I/O in PT, and still 64 voices).

Again, if you are already thinking of other options, I would say sell the HDN TB box and OMNI, run PTHD with a IOS to start. That gives you high end converters, 8 remote controlled mic pre's, two headphone amps (seen as independent outputs, you can make custom headphone mixes with effects in super low latency, these don't eat any of the other input or output channels), and plugin DSP. Stellar. And all connects via a single Cat5e/6. You can expand from there with additional units, again via a single Cat5e/6 piggy backed off your other box. Insanely versatile system.

Worth looking into if you haven't

If you have any specific questions about it I'd be happy to help. IMO, they are killer, and a better solution than the Avid units/systems [on their own, or period, depending on your needs and setup].
If I had to do it again, right now, I'da just gone PTHD software, and all Waves hardware.

There are many different Waves solutions and configurations.... so there are a lot of options