Crunchy distortion with 002 rack

[kw88keys]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Just to be clear you say 8 in 8 out, but do you need ADAT or S/PDIF etc. And is that 8 mic preamps or line in do for some? How many (independent) headphone outputs needed in the box?

I would start by encouraging you to get off Firewire, it's ancient. You are likely much better served with the choices available with modern USB interfaces. What USB and other (Thunderbolt?) connectivity do you have on your PC? Can you describe the PC or post a Sandra report.

Is hardware monitoring in the interface important to you? i.e. do you rely on "low-latency monitoring" in the 002 rack today? Or do you run with small enough IO buffer size with the 002 to software monitor? And want to do that in the new interface?

The other thing you can do is look at some vendors like Motu, Focusrite, Presonus, and just see what they have on offer. Browsing Sweetwater is a good place to start. I like UAD stuff as well but it's above your price range here, and I'm hesitant to point people there unless they already are UAD plugin users/understand that trap

If you want 8 great mic preamps you might want to be willing to increase that price range a bit. But define "quality is key"... and OTOH there are great value for money options out there like the Focusrite Clarett+ 8Pre USB-C. 8 mic preamps and 10 line outs and ADAT for <$1k. And the preamps will be better than your 002 (or I'll eat my hat).

Hello Darryl,
Wow!...Thank you for the in-depth answer - You apparently very much know you stuff!! After your response, my world has changed - NO MORE FIREWIRE. I do indeed have a USB-C connector on my computer (Sandra report in the string earlier). I never use S/PDIF and use 4 XLR mic connectors max and the rest are TRS connectors to connect an Alesis mixer and TS for direct in for bass and outboard gear such as pedal boards and a TC Helicon vocalizer. I also connect a couple of external pre-amps but would be happy to discard these if I had excellent pre-amps on the interface. As for latency, I normally run at 128 samples in my PT hardware buffer and find that quite acceptable. I just want to make sure that I buy something that plays nice with Windows and ProTools 2020X. My needs are really pretty simple compared to someone like you and other heavy hitters. Thanks again. I know time is valuable and your help is VERY much appreciated.