Roland Octa-Capture

[fiddlecat]

Anyone out there using a Roland Octa-Capture with PT 9 and Windows 7 / 64-bit?

Any direct experience and/or opinions as to stability, signal quality, etc. would be appreciated...

[fireberd]

There's a Craig Anderton review of the Octa Capture on harmony central. He tested it with PT 9 and from the review it worked well. Only issue it appears the buffer has to be set in 64 increments, eg. 64, 128, etc for it to work in PT.

I just ordered an Octa Capture but I'll be using it with Sonar X1. I have PT MP9 and I can't use it on that, but I have an MAudio Fastrack Ultra 8R that I use with MP9.

[fiddlecat]

Fireberd ----

The Craig Anderton review in fact is what initially got me interested in the Octa-Capture, but I've not found a whole lot of additional info. And certainly not much of anything here on the DUC.

I will be interested in your experience with the unit. Keep us posted as you put it through the paces. Even though you won't be using Pro Tools, I'll be curious to get your impressions of the hardware...

[fireberd]

I'll post back with my thoughts on it. It will be replacing a flakey Focusrite Saffire Pro 40. It will probably be a little while before I can do any testing/comparison, but if the preamps are at least as good as the Saffire Pro 40 I'll be happy. It won't be here until Thursday and I have (paid) recording sessions scheduled this weekend and won't have time to really test it.

I had originally said how well I liked the Saffire Pro 40 and if it went "belly up" I would replace it with another. But, I've decided to not get another Firewire type device and the reason for the USB Octa Capture. If Focusrite had an 8 preamp model comparible to the Saffire Pro 40 I would have probably went with that.

I have the MAudio Fastrack Ultra 8R but the preamps are no where near the quality of the Saffire Pro 40. For example, I had recorded a clean pedal steel guitar track using the Saffire Pro 40. The AC power on/off switch went out in the Saffire Pro 40 and I needed to fix a spot in the Steel Track (that I couldn't just cut and paste from some other part) and I tried to fix it with the Fastrack Ultra 8R and it was bright and trebly compared to the original track recording with the Saffire Pro 40 which was identical to the steel guitar input (e.g. the Saffire Pro 40 is transparent). I had to wait until I replaced the power switch in the Saffire Pro 40 before I could fix the steel track.

If I were recording drums, bass or a distorted guitar the Fastrack Ultra 8R's preamp response would not be an issue.

[RightNoises]

I'm using the Octacapture and PT9.02 on PC. It was working great until I updated to PT 9.05 and at the same time updated the Octacapture from V1.0 to v1.50 and now I get pops and clicks,etc. waiting to hear from Roland. I think it's the Octacapture update because PT 9.05 still works OK with my Mbox 2. Hope it can be worked out because the Octacapture is fantastic imo and the 1.50 update makes for much better interfacing.

[fiddlecat]

RightNoises ---

I'm still on 9.0.2 - things have been running smoothly, so why mess it up?

Keep us posted on how your issues play out...

[fireberd]

As you updated two things at the same time, you can't tell which one caused the problem. Best to only do one thing at a time.

[RightNoises]

Thanks guys. You're right - never update more than one thing at a time. Lesson learned. Still waiting to hear from Roland. As I say PT 9.05 works fine with the Mbox 2 - but I'm pretty close to rolling back to 9.02 just to see if that helps. Don't want to lose that 1.5 Octacapture update as it gives more control from the PC as well as auto changing sampling frequency without turning the box on and off. Big plus. I'll keep you informed.
Cheers.

[fireberd]

I just saw a post in the Sonar X1 forum of a user having problems with the 1.5 driver and USB 3.0. Others without the USB 3.0 do not seem to be having any problems. Do you have USB 3.0?

[RightNoises]

I've just seen that post too. I have USB 2.0 here.