Apogee rosetta???

[primo99]

guys, I just bought a apogee rosetta today along with a dbx 386. I dont know if I connected it right, because the sound for me was not a night and day perception. Thats pretty much what I've been hearing around and thats the reason I bought it.

the sound was slightly better, because of the mic pre but couldnt here a difference in the converter. In the A/B test, the mic pre added more warmth to the sound, but I didnt get excited with the quality.

This is the way I had my setup and my test went as follows,

first I had my rode nt1000 connected to channel 1 on the dbx then the output was connected to the A/D input on the Rosetta then connected the spdif cable to the digi. I didnt touch anything in the settings, the clock was set to internal and in the optical format the Adat and spdif mirroring was checked. on the spdif format the other was checked off and nothing checked on hp filter.

I dont know if that setting was correct but the guy in guitar center told me dont touch nothing. Its fine the way it is

In the test I recorded one vocal with the mic pre and the apogee, then I disconnected my mic and connected into channel 1 on digi. When listening to the two tracks I heard there was more warmth on the track(dbx & apogee) and on the other track there was less warmth. Now what I wanted to do was disconnect the mic pre and just compare converters, but I couldnt because the apogee inputs had xlr connections and I dont have nothing to boost the signal.

I hope there's something wrong in the hardware setup in PT because the apogee from what I heard kicks ass especially it being a dedicated converter running for a $1000.
If you guys can help me out I'd appreciate it.

[Phil O'Keefe]

For starters, I should say that I'm not a huge dBx 386 fan... but setting that issue aside...

You need to connect the Apogee's digital out into the Digi 001's digital in. And you DO need to set the Digi 001's PT LE software to "External S/PDIF" sync. Otherwise, you're still using your Digi 001's internal word clock (and the Apogee clock is better) AND your clocks are not going to be in sync, resulting in degradation of the audio - including pops and clicks in extreme cases.

If you want to do some comparisons:

You can bypass the Apogee and take the S/PDIF out from the dBx and go right into the Digi 001's S/PDIF input. You still want the clock set to "External S/PDIF" in PT, but then you're using the dBx clock and A/D converters, and bypassing the Apogee.

You can take the analog out of the dBx and into the Digi 001's line inputs (using the dBx's 1/4" line outputs). That will let you hear the dBx mic preamp with the Digi 001's converters. For this setup, you can set the software's clock to "Internal".

[MarkGenero]

primo,

Let me say this right off the bat. Even if you don't hear night and day difference, you did a good thing by purchasing the rosetta. It IS improving the sound quality of the signals you are recording, even if you don't obviously hear it. You did not waste your money. That extra quality will help all the way down the production line, mixing, mastering, etc.

I also have a rosetta and don't notice a night and day difference when using it with lower and medium end mics and mic pres. The rule is that the weakest link in your recording chain limits your signal quality. You have 3 elements in the front end of your recording chain: your mic, your mic pre and your ad converter. Right now your mic and mic pre are the weakest links. The rosetta is a much higher quality. Therefore while the rosetta is giving you better quality sound, it is limited by your mic and mic pre. So although the rosetta is giving you a better quality signal going into your recorder and you should notice a difference, you won't get that "wow" quality upgrade in your sound quality until your mic and mic pre are the same quality as your rosetta ad converter. Only then will you get a night and day difference.

So again, you did not waste your money. You just need to realize that you're limited by your weakest links and gradually upgrade your mic and mic pre as your experience and financial situation allows.

But don't despair, just concentrate on your technique and you will get great sound from your current equipment.

Mark

[mjames08]

Another question regarding the rosetta.. If I were to record some audio through my 001 that was using the rosetta's clock, would the sound quality increase or would it still be the same since it is going through the 001's a/d's..

[fresh_meat]

you are right. the recorded sound quality would remain the same if you used the Digi001's converters. however if you slave the digi to the apogees clock the playback quality will be better sounding. so if you are mastering to dat or tape the finished product will sound better.
ideally though you shoudl record through the apogees converter all the time as well as syncing to its clock.

I have a rosetta and the best way that i can describe it is that it captures exactly what you put in.
i used to record Pod into a pre then into protools and it sounded fantastic (as pods go) while i was tracking. but then when i played it back it sounded terrible.
with the apogee added to the same setup the played back sound sounds just like the sound when i was tracking it.
-meat

[primo99]

hey thanks guys for the reply I appreciate it. So phil,what your saying is the clock on the rosetta is better, then Im going to switch the clock to spdif. What about in the optical format. right now Adat and spdif mirroring is checked, is that cool or do I have to uncheck it.

hey mark and freshmeat how do you have your rosetta hooked up. Mine is the dbx to rosetta and spdif from rosetta to digi. Is this the correct way.

Isnt there a way you can do the test without using the mic pre? I want to compare the rosetta and digi without the micpre but I dont know how. Hit me up guys, thanks

[primo99]

thanks alot guys for the input. I just want to test the converters without the pre but how. theres xlrs inputs on the rosetta and theres nothing to boost the signal.

As far a having everything hooked up, what about the optical format such as spdif mirroring. does it need to be checked

[fresh_meat]

you have your stuff hooked up correctly.

to A//B the digi conversion and the apogee's find an a line level instrument thats voice you are extremely familiar with (drum machine, synths, pod etc) and plug the outputs from it straight to the inputs on the back of the digi. record something onto a track.
then plug the outputs from your instrument to the inputs of the apogee and record the same phrase to a different track. then you can listen to the difference.
if you like to broaden the contrast you can try listening to the digi track with the clock set to 'internal' and listen the apogee track synced to s/pdif.

-MEAT

[drunton]

2 comments:

1. As stated above, the clock for the rosetta is making a big difference. To compare you need to record with the rosetta. I use SPDIF inputs into the 001 for mine, the clock then has to come from the rosetta. Then compare that to without the rosetta connected, running just the analog front end from the 001. You can hear a slight difference. And yes, using the other 001 A/D inputs with the rosetta clock makes a big difference alone. For more info on this read Paul Stamler's review of the Rosetta in Recording magazine (~1.5 years ago)

2. The biggest noticeable difference comes when you record a stereo pair. That is where the accuracy of the Rosetta really shows up. You will notice a much more 3 dimensional sound using the Rosetta (or even it's clock).

Good luck. The Rosetta is a great purchase, now go for a really good all class-A pre (Neve, Telefunken, API, Hardy, Great River, UA, etc.), then upgrade your mic (but the NT1000 should continue to serve your colour pallet well).