DIGI 002 Control Surface with newer AVID S1?

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by halipino123

Poor Luke, even he gets the RTFM biz... hahhaa

Back to the question at hand, given the sound quality of RME( excellent) and the sound quality of the 002(bland and lame), my recommendation would be to sell the 002(or donate, or pair with an older computer to sell as a turn-key setup for someone just getting started) and use the money to buy an 8 channel lightpipe-equipped preamp. There are dozens of options but here are my 2 strongest recommendations:
Budget option-Behringer ADA8200(the red one). At around $200-250, it works great, sounds miles better than the 002 and also gets you 8 more outputs.
Amazing option-Midas XL-48. At around $900, you don't get the extra outputs, but you get 8 channels of absolutely wonderful preamps for drums(it beat out both my Neve and API clones). Check these 2 out and ditch the 002 and I promise, you will not regret it(I have previously owned both 002 and 003)

[Darryl Ramm]

Or use the RME for a while longer, decide how much you like their stuff (like I have.. now own three RME interfaces including a new UFX+) and buy an RME Pre12...

[halipino123]

Originally Posted by albee1952

back to the question at hand, given the sound quality of rme( excellent) and the sound quality of the 002(bland and lame), my recommendation would be to sell the 002(or donate, or pair with an older computer to sell as a turn-key setup for someone just getting started) and use the money to buy an 8 channel lightpipe-equipped preamp. There are dozens of options but here are my 2 strongest recommendations:
Budget option-behringer ada8200(the red one). At around $200-250, it works great, sounds miles better than the 002 and also gets you 8 more outputs.
Amazing option-midas xl-48. At around $900, you don't get the extra outputs, but you get 8 channels of absolutely wonderful preamps for drums(it beat out both my neve and api clones). Check these 2 out and ditch the 002 and i promise, you will not regret it(i have previously owned both 002 and 003):d

OK LOL, the 002 is a brick,. it'll be a good backup system...
I guess all I would really need is a great 2 channel preamp for vocals and maybe warming up guitar from Kemper but I am not recording drums.
I am so novice with what gear is required it hurts (sorry guys - at least I can play guitar pretty good hahha)...
Would having a 2 channel preamp also be good for reamping/ pumping up the drum tracks etc. or would I need some type of a stereo amp for that task?

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by halipino123

OK LOL, the 002 is a brick,. it'll be a good backup system...
I guess all I would really need is a greet 2 channels preamp for vocals and maybe warming up guitar from Kemper but I am not recording drums.
I am so novice with what gear is required it hurts (sorry guys - at least I can play guitar pretty good hahha).. would having a 2 channel preamp also be good for reamping/ pumping up the drum tracks etc. or would I need some type of a stereo amp for that task?

Don't understand the Kemper Mic preamp comment. The Kempler outputs line level and you can always use profiles with mic/preamps in them. I just would not be spending thousands of dollars chasing fancy preamps to try to improve a Kemper output, you have lots of control in the box and in plugins in the DAW. But hey I'm an Eleven Rack and Fractal amp sim guy.

I definitely don't understand a mic preamp comment about reamping with a Kemper. Ya poke it with a dry signal over S/PDIF and it does it's reampoing stuff.

For vocals it's a different matter, The RME preamps are very nice, if you want more color then there is a wide variety of choices especially in 500 series boxes. But look at mic and preamp budget together.

[halipino123]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Don't understand the Kemper Mic preamp comment. The Kempler outputs line level and you can always use profiles with mic/preamps in them. I just would not be spending thousands of dollars chasing fancy preamps to try to improve a Kemper output, you have lots of control in the box and in plugins in the DAW. But hey I'm an Eleven Rack and Fractal amp sim guy.

I definitely don't understand a mic preamp comment about reamping with a Kemper. Ya poke it with a dry signal over S/PDIF and it does it's reampoing stuff.

For vocals it's a different matter, The RME preamps are very nice, if you want more color then there is a wide variety of choices especially in 500 series boxes. But look at mic and preamp budget together.

Sorry man, I don't know the lingo as well as I should. I know some mix engineers send the drums out to an outboard preamp or compressor to make the drums sound big, that is what I was aiming for. And yes everyone here tells me about nice Neve clones and there sure are a lot of choices, gets confusing.
Thank you

[Darryl Ramm]

I would spend exactly zero dollars on any outboard gear and focus on plugin compressors etc. Where I'd spend money is mics and maybe preamps esp. for vocals, acoustic instruments etc.

[EGS]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

I would spend exactly zero dollars on any outboard gear and focus on plugin compressors etc. Where I'd spend money is mics and maybe preamps esp. for vocals, acoustic instruments etc.

+1

[JFreak]

002 is good so long as you have the serial auth code available. We are not talking about high end here, but it is usable if 18 inputs is enough for you.

[halipino123]

Originally Posted by JFreak

002 is good so long as you have the serial auth code available. We are not talking about high end here, but it is usable if 18 inputs is enough for you.

Yes Sir, I have had the 002 for almost 15 years and it came with PT 6.4.
all in all what all you guys are saying is the best route, look for a stellar Preamp that would go in front of the RME interface, I am doing everything but drums in my small setup.


Appreciate all the help (and not getting smacked around too much lol for not knowing as much as I should in this area)

[albee1952]

Re using the Kemper, I ran it(with regular mic cables) into a pair of Neve clones and it sounded killer(having a really good player didn't hurt). The player took the Kemper home and tried recording thru the mic inputs of the 002(he knows gain structure) and was not able to get a good sound. That's why I suggested that preamps can make or break a recording as much as the mic/di or whatever is being recorded I agree that the RME preamps are excellent, but they are(to my understanding) made to be very clean and transparent. Sometimes that is exactly what you need. Other times a preamp with "character" is what you need(which is why Neve preamps are so revered)