Best sounding multi-mic pre unit on a budget?

[knewbee]

So, I'm wanting to expand my setup beyond my API lunchbox so I can track drums and/or bands. I'm on a serious budget. I'd like to get 8 channels of nice pre, perhaps with digital i/o, or I could go analog. Basically, I just want something that sounds good, without breaking the bank.

Thanks for you advice...!

[Barnabas]

It's hard to get high quality at the same time as low price.

Check out www.barnabas.com/sound/ . I put a list together last year because I was doing the same search you were. I ended up with the PreSonus M80 preamp. It's a good unit for the price. Now I have two Digi PREs.

[blairl]

Try Sytek. They have a 4 channel unit

http://www.sytek-audio-systems.com/mpx4a.html

The price on their web page says $1,600, but I think it's outdated. He'll sell them for around $800 - $900. You can also find them on e-bay quite often.

[knewbee]

What about the M80? Is that cool? Does it sound good? How do the other PreSonus digital pre's sound, especially the DigiMax LT?

If I throw caution to the wind I may get 8 channels of something like the PreSonus, then 2 channels of Vintech 1272 or something like that, to complement my API. But then my budget goes out the window. Seems to happen a lot...

Buddy of mine gets damn good drum sounds just using his Digi 001 and a Mackie 1202 with the new Mackie pre's...

[A1]

It seems like your mind is setup on PreSonus pres (which I think are good for the price) but I don't think there is much difference between the ProSonus and the Mackie mixer pres.
I own both (for location recordings) and use the Mackie pres for the most part.
Hope this helps. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[TiPo]

Yes! The new Mackie VLZ PRO mixers have newly designed XDR (Extended Dynamic Range) Preamps! They are amazing!!
Just go to my site and hear it yourself!

[tom_mac]

OctoPre. Anyone??

Focusrite..

[Mark Haliday]

I have Octopre for two weeks and am quite impressed by the preamp which is class A by the way. Which of course is fantastic at doing away with crossover distorsion, but also qualifies it as a very good toaster [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] since the heat dissipation is quite something !
But things are under control with a small internal ventilator which is reasonably quiet (once inside a rack it should not be heard)
I think however that space should be left above the unit...

The analog sound is super, super clean (no added "warmth" here), and wide ranging,(-1db 10hz to 200khz !) no ugly low freq rollofs or brittle highs like on some cheap units .

I have done drums with it and the sound is very open, with clean highs
I also have the AES/adat A/D board and the converters are again very precise in the highs (we can thank 96 khz capable A/Ds).
I compared the sound of the analog output of a given channel going through a apogee AD8000 A/D with the same signal out of the ADAT digital output connected to an adatbridge 24 and the AD8000 undoubtebly gave a "warmer" and more cosy feel to the sound. However the octopre AD board is far from ridiculous in this comparative test, surprisingly good and clean.

Finally, the limiter I consider useless (read a review somewhere that said the same) in a "normal" studio environment (where somebody is supposed to keep an eye on levels [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] ) unless one likes pumping effects... But in hectic live situations, this might prove a godsend.

Finally I have been told that Octopre sounds better than Presonus, which would be logical seen the difference in generation, but I have not been able to hear it myself.

Of course, just an opinion... [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[macjam]

I own the M80 and prefer it to the onboard pres on the Control 24. Great preamp for the price.

[JasonWorrel]

The RNP x 4. Eight channels of excellent pre for $2000.