Carbon Expanded - ADAT

[nst7]

Agreed with the last post. For expanding the Carbon, you should look at getting the Carbon Pre. Up to two of these can be used with your main Carbon, giving you 24 i/o, plus the adats on the main unit.

[patmaki]

Thanks all for your inputs, very helpful. Was able to cancel to order for the HD I/O. Not crazy about having to add the two carbon pres to the carbon to get up to 24 channels of I/O, so will have to phase in the carbon pres over time. Anyway will get the carbon in and put it to work and see if I can't live without it. Jury's out.

[dominicperry]

The total amount of DSP processing power is the same regardless of whether you buy
a) Carbon + Pre + Pre
b) Carbon + MOTU 16A

In other words, the HDX chips are only in the Carbon.
The difference in the above setups are:

a) all channels can work at up to 192KHz. (Although you probably won't have enough DSP for tracking 24 channels at 192 with plugs).
b) you are limited to 24 channels at 44.1/48. Or 16 channels at 96KHz

a) PT can control the preamp levels (+phantom etc) of all channels
b) You will need to control the MOTU separately

a) alignment of converter delay is catered for
b) aligmnent of converter delay needs to be calculated. Good luck. Usually fine if you don't use a stereo pair split across devices.

a) pretty matching boxes
b) ugly MOTU box. Yuk.

Dominic

[digiot]

Originally Posted by dominicperry

The total amount of DSP processing power is the same regardless of whether you buy
a) Carbon + Pre + Pre
b) Carbon + MOTU 16A

In other words, the HDX chips are only in the Carbon.
The difference in the above setups are:

a) all channels can work at up to 192KHz. (Although you probably won't have enough DSP for tracking 24 channels at 192 with plugs).
b) you are limited to 24 channels at 44.1/48. Or 16 channels at 96KHz

a) PT can control the preamp levels (+phantom etc) of all channels
b) You will need to control the MOTU separately

a) alignment of converter delay is catered for
b) aligmnent of converter delay needs to be calculated. Good luck. Usually fine if you don't use a stereo pair split across devices.

a) pretty matching boxes
b) ugly MOTU box. Yuk.

Dominic

There are other options then the MOTU. The Ferrofish is a popular 16x16 option but personally I use an old Apogee AD16X to connect my 16 outboard mic pre’s to my Carbon over ADAT. I hardly ever use the Carbon Mic Pre’s other then for the 2 DI’s for bass or guitar. And I always run at 48k. I recently had to replace the AD16X and found one on Reverb for $500! I paid over $3k for my first one 20 years ago.

[dominicperry]

Originally Posted by digiot

There are other options then the MOTU. The Ferrofish is a popular 16x16 option but personally I use an old Apogee AD16X to connect my 16 outboard mic pre’s to my Carbon over ADAT. I hardly ever use the Carbon Mic Pre’s other then for the 2 DI’s for bass or guitar. And I always run at 48k. I recently had to replace the AD16X and found one on Reverb for $500! I paid over $3k for my first one 20 years ago.

Yes, but the other options (including the one you mention) have similar limitations. The Carbon only has 2 ADAT in ports, so you can never get 16 channels in over ADAT at more than 48KHz. You won't be able to control the preamps from ProTools. MOTU was just an example. Other boxes may look more attractive.

Dominic

[digiot]

Originally Posted by dominicperry

Yes, but the other options (including the one you mention) have similar limitations. The Carbon only has 2 ADAT in ports, so you can never get 16 channels in over ADAT at more than 48KHz. You won't be able to control the preamps from ProTools. MOTU was just an example. Other boxes may look more attractive.

Dominic

I agree completely, I was just giving options to the MOTU which is ugly as hell!
Also the person that we replied to never mentioned he needed 24 IO’s at 96k and in his last post he was considering just the Carbon with its 8x8 IO.
As for remote Mic pre’s, I never saw the use of it unless if used in a remote situation(pre’s on stage). I much prefer to touch the knobs on my mic pre’s

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by digiot

I agree completely, I was just giving options to the MOTU which is ugly as hell!
Also the person that we replied to never mentioned he needed 24 IO’s at 96k and in his last post he was considering just the Carbon with its 8x8 IO.
As for remote Mic pre’s, I never saw the use of it unless if used in a remote situation(pre’s on stage). I much prefer to touch the knobs on my mic pre’s

Well besides the fact that ugly is totally subjective .
One would think the quality of the audio and functionality would be paramount over looks --but hey to each their own

As for the usefulness of the mic remote feature it's kinda like a TV remote, not necessary, but pretty damn handy

I personally like to have the ability to control some features right there at the top of all the audio tracks channel strips with out having to look away from the session.

#1 link or unlink pairs of tracks
#2 turn phantom power on and off
#3 set or change input gain levels
#4 select mic or line level
#5 reverse polarity

Now to be sure you do not have the tactile thing but then ya don't have that in a DAW mixer anyway
and all that is totally subjective also AND does not actually detract from, or diminish, the usefulness --jusss sayin'

[patmaki]

Originally Posted by digiot

I agree completely, I was just giving options to the MOTU which is ugly as hell!
Also the person that we replied to never mentioned he needed 24 IO’s at 96k and in his last post he was considering just the Carbon with its 8x8 IO.
As for remote Mic pre’s, I never saw the use of it unless if used in a remote situation(pre’s on stage). I much prefer to touch the knobs on my mic pre’s

Correct, my goal is to have 24 I/o at 96kHz. Would be great if Avid would put out an equivalent to UA's X16, but for now will need to add two carbon pres. Anyway, got the Carbon up and running and tracked a drum session today. Liking it very much so far. Will probably put my UA X8 and X6 up for sale to help fund the endeavor. Thanks again, for the solid inputs here.

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by patmaki

Correct, my goal is to have 24 I/o at 96kHz. Would be great if Avid would put out an equivalent to UA's X16, but for now will need to add two carbon pres. Anyway, got the Carbon up and running and tracked a drum session today. Liking it very much so far. Will probably put my UA X8 and X6 up for sale to help fund the endeavor. Thanks again, for the solid inputs here.

My Guess is and it is only speculation (and could be wrong) is that Avid will likely not offer any additional AVB expansion units for the Carbon
Remember it is targeted at the user who does not need more than (now with Pre option) more than 24 inputs
What they will likely do is revamp their full blown HDX offerings for users with larger input needs.

The good news is Carbons mic pre's and conversion is top notch and the seamless single window integration with PT is a breeze to work with and my guess is you find the in the track Pre control feature will be one of those things you never thought about and didn't miss UNTIL you actually have it (kinda like a microwave oven )