can I use both i/o's ?

[Terry Wetzel]

Hey guys. I was finally successful in getting my Project mix I/0 working with PT's 9 but I've grown used to the sound of the Focusrite's preamps so I'm not all that pleased with the sound of the PMIO's preamps. Question. When I fire up my rig with both I/O's hooked up, the 2i4's green light is on indicating that it's receiving USB power from my pc. So, can I plug a mic or instrument in to it and then route one of the outputs to the PMIO's line inputs, therefore keeping the sound of the better preamps. The PMIO is firewire so I don't want to do anything stupid here and ruin my equipment. Thanks for any help on this.

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by Terry Wetzel

Hey guys. I was finally successful in getting my Project mix I/0 working with PT's 9 but I've grown used to the sound of the Focusrite's preamps so I'm not all that pleased with the sound of the PMIO's preamps. Question. When I fire up my rig with both I/O's hooked up, the 2i4's green light is on indicating that it's receiving USB power from my pc. So, can I plug a mic or instrument in to it and then route one of the outputs to the PMIO's line inputs, therefore keeping the sound of the better preamps. The PMIO is firewire so I don't want to do anything stupid here and ruin my equipment. Thanks for any help on this.

As long as you are using line outs to line ins you should be fine. Might want to verify on the PM that the line ins cannot be amplified, meaning they either bypass the preamps on the PM or if not, the preamps are turned all the way down.

[JoelG]

I don't think you can bypass the pre's on the PMIO, so it would still colour the sound. You can set the 2i4 as the audio device and only use the PMIO as your control surface though, if you want.

Joel

[Terry Wetzel]

Thanks guitardom and JoelG. I'll check the PMIO manual to find out if the line ins can be amplified. (I should have done that before I posted). My concern is more about whether I could damage my equipment if I do this.

[bradch00]

I ran an external pre through my PMIO and as long as I don't touch the gain on the PMIO I don't believe there was any effect on the signal. That being said, the first thing I did with the PMIO was send it to Black Lion to be modified (including the ins and they were pretty nice after that)

[albee1952]

Line outs to line ins will work fine. Since the PM is now your interface, there are some other(and maybe handier) ways to get the sound of Focusrite into your rig. The PM has a lightpipe input where you could feed a Focusrite OctoPre. Just an idea for future consideration

[Terry Wetzel]

Thanks for the tip albee. I've missed your input lately. Your always a big help.

[JoelG]

The ADAT in's obviously will bypass the pre's (that's what I use). But even with the gain down you will get some colouration on the line ins. That is the information I had received years ago from M-Audio when I moderated the now defunct M-Audio forums. It may not be particularly noticeable, and you might be perfectly happy with the sound, but it does not do a true bypass of the pre's.

Joel

[Terry Wetzel]

Hey albee. To clarify, The PMIO is my interface on my current session. So, if I plug a microphone in to the 2i4 and connect its line out,(which normally would go to the speakers), to a line in on the PMIO, would I be set to go ? Could it damage the equipment ? That's really all I was inquiring about. Sorry if my post was misleading.

[Table Syrup Records]

^that would work just fine

The line out is, just that. line level output. Perfectly fine to run that to a line OR even a mic input.

Do it :)