mbase 11

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Mon May 30, 2011 7:10 pm

yeah i agree with oblio, i dont see why your synths need pre-amps before your soundcard.

if its for beefing / warming up a VA, make sure you get something that will actually work, maybe someone on the forum can suggest something.

ive always used Mooger fooger 101s for that job, but they arent cheap if you need a few of them.

ive never ever had to use a pre-amp either to boost signals or fatten up any analogue synth ive ever had.

an analogue desk is your best bet really, and will be cheaper by far in the long run.

gowans · Post by **gowans** » Mon May 30, 2011 10:24 pm

BLM seen as your soundcard aint got preamps is it an Echo Audiofire 12? Can't help you on the situaton, but if it is that card was wondering if you'd recommend it? I'm after a good soundcard around that price range so i can hook my ableton channels up to my mixing desk, also if anyone knows someone selling one i'd rather get it second hand to save a few pennies! cheers

deccard · Post by **deccard** » Tue May 31, 2011 12:11 am

::BLM:: wrote:No mixer no. I was looking to get one and fell in love with the zed16. Only thing is I cant afford it so was just looking for something to boost my synth levels as well as make it sound nice.

The level is really low from my synths going into the computer. I am using Abletons utility at the moment to boost the levels, but it colours the sound in a way that I dont like. My soundcard has no pre-amps, its just inputs so I assume this is why. My last card had preamps, and it was fine.

for coloring and tracking what about an overstayer compressor or fmr audio pcb-6a compressor?

oblioblioblio · Post by **oblioblioblio** » Tue May 31, 2011 3:12 am

the last thing i am is an expert on this topic, but my personal feeling is to get the character from sound generating machines.

Some people have got nice results from compressors, pro gain stage machines like preamps, but me personally, I think the synth should do that. The mixer should just be able to catch it.

I mean, there are clearly exceptions, overdriving a tube preamp or something, yeah I can't argue with that, but for me with my machines, all the character comes from a synergy between the oscillator and the filter. (tube overdrive is a different story), but for regular analogue synthesis, if the filter and the oscillator are well matched then that's all the character that I will ever need. Everything else further down the line just needs to be clean and be able to catch it.

If you've got hold of a dedicated overdriving or distorting gain type machine like a tube compressor, then I guess that could be an exception. And by all means, use that to add chracter, but as for using a medium expensive compressor or preamp, I don't think it's worth the bother. Use a better sound generating tool.

::BLM:: · Post by **::BLM::** » Tue May 31, 2011 1:26 pm

The reason I thought pre-amps was because my setup was fine before when I had them. It was either that or a mixer, but I couldnt afford what I wanted and I was unsure of how some smaller mixer would really add anything to my setup.

Barfunkel · Post by **Barfunkel** » Tue May 31, 2011 1:37 pm

You can get quality mixers for not that much money these days though, when you shop second hand. So many have switched ITB that there's tons of good deals floating around.

steevio · Post by **steevio** » Tue May 31, 2011 1:46 pm

Barfunkel wrote:You can get quality mixers for not that much money these days though, when you shop second hand. So many have switched ITB that there's tons of good deals floating around.

+1

if you havent got much outboard, you will only need a small mixer and as long as you get a decent quality one, its worth it.

tone-def · Post by **tone-def** » Tue May 31, 2011 2:00 pm

just get a mackie.