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Post by ragan on Mar 19, 2024 20:55:43 GMT -6
All y'all are making me feel self-conscious about my lowly SF Apollo Quad and 16. I just can't convince myself to spend another $5k on interfaces with how much I actually record so they will have to do. :x Don’t feel self-conscious! Excellent interfaces. Loved mine. It soundly whooped my super modded Black Lion 002 and I made recordings I love with it.
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Post by ragan on Mar 18, 2024 13:40:53 GMT -6
Have other folks remarked on the ‘reach’ quality on active vs passive? Because I’ve always heard similar things in discussion and clips of the passive VL37.
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Post by ragan on Mar 18, 2024 11:22:13 GMT -6
Hell yeah! Just had time to briefly listen to a couple minutes, but it sounds like the things I love about TR-era YES.
Very cool to hear new stuff from him, thanks for sharing!
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Post by ragan on Mar 18, 2024 9:55:50 GMT -6
Still experimenting with whether this is a good fit for my voice, but I love it so much on guitar and drums (and likely lots and lots of other sources) that I kept it. The VL37a has so much reach into the sound. Presents so much life and detail in this very pleasing way, with nothing sticking out. Have you (or anyone else reading and able to comment) compared a VL37 with a cloud lifter to a VL37a? I haven’t ever had the opportunity to use the passive VL37. I’m sure it sounds great though. There will be more Samar mics in my future, I’m pretty sure.
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Post by ragan on Mar 17, 2024 17:43:12 GMT -6
ragan, have you ever used the studio 939 c12 diy build with Tim's cap ? Nope, have not.
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Post by ragan on Mar 17, 2024 11:31:29 GMT -6
The BC12a ended up being way too bright on me. I think this will stick a fork in me trying to get a C12/251 style mic to work on my voice. I did basically like the mic though. Build quality felt great. Noise floor was a little higher than I would have liked but I don’t think it would have been truly problematic. I’m used to my 67 which is like dead silent, so a lot of other mics’ self noise tend to stick out to me. I am sorry this did not work for you. Was this the tube version? Mine has the brightness I expect and it is sweet. Not for my voice though - I prefer a 47. But for some voices and instruments, yes. I did not notice much noise. The only 251ish mic I liked on my voice was the Soundelux 251, but even then I would take my Heiserman 47tube over it. Yeah, the BC12a I had was the tube version.
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Post by ragan on Mar 17, 2024 10:37:55 GMT -6
The BC12a ended up being way too bright on me. I think this will stick a fork in me trying to get a C12/251 style mic to work on my voice.
I did basically like the mic though. Build quality felt great. Noise floor was a little higher than I would have liked but I don’t think it would have been truly problematic. I’m used to my 67 which is like dead silent, so a lot of other mics’ self noise tend to stick out to me.
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Post by ragan on Mar 17, 2024 10:33:06 GMT -6
Still experimenting with whether this is a good fit for my voice, but I love it so much on guitar and drums (and likely lots and lots of other sources) that I kept it. The VL37a has so much reach into the sound. Presents so much life and detail in this very pleasing way, with nothing sticking out.
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Post by ragan on Mar 12, 2024 19:35:06 GMT -6
What are the datapoints that make ya’ll skittish about Apogee? For me it's just that they seem to abandon interfaces fairly often - not the Symphony II so much: that seems to have been around for awhile and still going strong. But there have been several times now over the years where I went to buy an Apogee interface only to discover that they'd recently discontinued it. Happened with an Element, an Ensemble, a Duet, and an original Symphony. That's really my only hesitation - I've always liked the Apogee sound.
For better or for worse, Metric Halo is at the other end of the spectrum: Every interface they've ever released going back 20+yrs is still for sale and fully updatable to modern specs, with new drivers for every interface every time there's a MacOS release. Maybe MH would be more advanced if they let the original 2882 go instead of spending development and research time on manufacturing user-replaceable cards to update an interface from 2002, but I do appreciate their attempts to keep boxes out of landfills rather than sell slightly different versions of the same interface every so often (here's looking at you, MOTU 828).
Other than that, no shade thrown at Apogee over here.
Yeah that makes sense. I think that's great about MH and their ongoing support. Super cool. I don't have any inherent loyalty to Apogee. I've generally liked the one interface of theirs that I've owned, but that's about it.
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Post by ragan on Mar 12, 2024 17:00:46 GMT -6
Wouldn’t buy the Mac or the Symphony?
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Post by ragan on Mar 12, 2024 15:51:03 GMT -6
What are the datapoints that make ya’ll skittish about Apogee?
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Post by ragan on Mar 11, 2024 20:18:01 GMT -6
Its funny, I use the Apollo x8. I read these threads...look at the Apollo .......and think of the past convertors I have had......wonder for a while.....then shrug and say to myself....close your wallet and just keep mixing... LOL cheers Wiz this wasn't meant as a passive aggressive dig ..... not that anyone inferred it was...thinking more along the lines of posting in a thread that I have no dog in the fight in... Just that.. its really easy for me to get swayed (I bet a lot of us are) in reading these threads where people whose work I admire are saying things about the Apollo conversion..... I find my self starting to search on the net and must stop myself...in my life now.. conversion is the last thing I need to spend money on... Just yesterday I was reading the world wide waste of time...and found myself after reading a few threads.. looking for the best price of a guitar pedal..... and nearly bought it... till I looked up on the shelf....AND I ALREADY OWN IT!!!!!! LOL Johnkenn aint the only one... who forgets what he has had... cheers Wiz Hey Wiz. Random piece of input here. I switched from BF Apollo to Symphony MKII and sometimes when I listen to tracks I did on the Apollo I think “damn, this sounds good…should I switch back to Apollo???” We’re all a little loony for getting lost in all this hair splitting. I think you’re 100% correct to just keep using the excellent tools you have.
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Post by ragan on Mar 9, 2024 18:46:51 GMT -6
Also - if I'm reading that correctly, I wouldn't be able to listen to itunes or any music outside of Pro Tools through the Trinnov. If that’s true, that’s a bad design choice.
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Post by ragan on Mar 9, 2024 10:29:23 GMT -6
Wait. I was being nice…then I saw the Pro Tools dig. What Pro Tools dig?
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Post by ragan on Mar 8, 2024 19:04:44 GMT -6
Interesting that PT Studio has HWDC now. But that almost certainly only works with Avid interfaces, right? Johnkenn and I both noticed it with non-Avid interfaces. I’m on Symphony MKII, he’s on Apollo. I haven’t done any testing, just noticed it seemed to start working. John (I think) confirmed it with someone in the know.
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Post by ragan on Mar 8, 2024 13:12:27 GMT -6
I need to try parallel drum comp again.
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Post by ragan on Mar 8, 2024 13:11:21 GMT -6
Yes, it was literally designed for it. Well this changes the game a bit. Is there any number for Avid that I can use to confirm? Not that I don't trust you - I just want to have a name of someone so I could return if the info isn't right...although I'd probably just spend the $599 for the Ultimate sub. I just spoke to a new guy running Westlake Pro here in Nashville and he says hardware delay comp in Studio was one of the new features added several updates ago. If that's the case - and it's actually reliable - why the hell am I just not keeping what I have? What do you guys think of the ADDA? I'd imagine it's better than the Apollo AD...just wonder about the DA? This is interesting. Like I mentioned in the other thread, I had noticed that HW insert delay comp seemed to start working awhile back, without me entering values into I/O settings. I had chalked it up to the fact that the whole thing has been variable and flaky and weird for so long, but in the back of my mind had thought “I need to run some more loopback prints and compare…why does this seem to be totally sync’d now?” Why is Avid not shouting this from the rooftops? I guess, prob because they want to sell Carbons and HDX rigs.
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Post by ragan on Mar 8, 2024 12:18:50 GMT -6
Yeah, I’m kind of holding off any significant moves until I get a better sense of whether LUNA is going to grow into a fully mature DAW (HW inserts being the big thing right now). Part of me is drawn to someone doing a new DAW from the ground up. Good software dev is so expensive and I’m certain all of these legacy DAWs have a lot of janky workarounds and fixes and things stacked on top of decades old code because DAW needs have changed dramatically over time and it’s short term cheaper/easier to mod and patch existing code bases rather than tear it up and start over. So if LUNA continues to develop, part of me thinks it could end up being less buggy and more streamlined for modern users, compared to something that’s been around for a couple decades and patched a million times. That’s a lot of speculation though, obvs. I’d feel pretty shitty if I bought all this stuff and then three months from now - “Huge Luna Update! HWDC completely compensated…” That would make me sad in my heart. Seems like it’s going to happen, whether it’s 3 months from now would be the part that seems pretty up for grabs.
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Post by ragan on Mar 8, 2024 11:43:39 GMT -6
Yeah, I’m kind of holding off any significant moves until I get a better sense of whether LUNA is going to grow into a fully mature DAW (HW inserts being the big thing right now).
Part of me is drawn to someone doing a new DAW from the ground up. Good software dev is so expensive and I’m certain all of these legacy DAWs have a lot of janky workarounds and fixes and things stacked on top of decades old code because DAW needs have changed dramatically over time and it’s short term cheaper/easier to mod and patch existing code bases rather than tear it up and start over. So if LUNA continues to develop, part of me thinks it could end up being less buggy and more streamlined for modern users, compared to something that’s been around for a couple decades and patched a million times.
That’s a lot of speculation though, obvs.
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Post by ragan on Mar 8, 2024 0:58:25 GMT -6
What caused the interest, Mark? Just curious. I think I’ve read you saying how you were pretty happy to be out of the PT ecosystem (which I very much get). It is essentially one thing and one thing only. Something I've tried to address in various ways over the years with native DAWs (primarily Logic), but never fully to my satisfaction.
It is latency when tracking audio.
Yes, of course Metric Halo (like plenty of others) have a great DSP mixer, but I hate having to switch to another app whenever I'm trying to adjust my level while tracking, then having to switch back to control the DAW and hit record. Oh, but the level still isn't quite right in my cue mix, so switch over again to fix it, then switch back again to control the DAW. Eh, maybe try panning my guitar out to the side while tracking this part - whoops, gotta switch to the other app again and now switch back to the DAW. Ad nauseam. It's just for the birds, man. So dumb.
I tried for awhile to use a control surface to control JUST the MH mixer so I could grab a fader or pan knob for my cue mix. That worked OK for awhile, but it's still a little weird and makes my brain think about way more than just my performance. And sometimes Logic wants to control my control surface instead of my MH mixer. And then I think maybe it'd be more fun to use the control surface with Logic anyway. Blah blah blah.
I've looked closely at probably a dozen analog mixers to use just as my cue mixer going in, but haven't pulled the trigger on any b/c it's expensive to get one that's clean and quiet -- almost nothing is as quiet as my Halo's onboard DSP mixer.
And a Pro Tools Carbon or HDX system seems like it would solve much (if not all) of that. And then all this talk on here about Pro Tools having truly sorted out their hardware I/O compensation automatically...it's just made me think "What the hell am I doing over here? Using two apps, pinging for hardware compensation..."
Right now I'm at a stage where I'm not mixing for anybody else anytime soon, and I want to make the "plug in a mic, sit down, grab a guitar and start recording NOW" process as quick and easy and SIMPLE as possible to encourage me to start tracking myself again. I was seriously considering an SSL Big Six for awhile there for the same reason. I just want to be an artist again.
But you know, Soren hasn't been doing all that well lately, so it's also possible looking at this stuff is just a way to distract me from the pretty-much-daily-fear that is being his dad.
I remember how easy it was when I worked at Overdub Lane years ago and we used a 24-channel TDM rig with the outputs hardwired to the AMEK Angela and all outboard patched in right there in the bays. It was just so damn easy to get UP and get RECORDING very very QUICKLY. I need easier shit in my life these days. Everything else is so damn hard.
Maybe PT Carbon would make everything easier. Or maybe it would just be a different kind of complicated. I don't know anymore.
Thanks as always for your thoughtfulness and insight, Mark. First, I'm sorry to hear about Soren. You've had a hard road there, as most of us here know. PM sent on that account. Second, I am very very with you on the using two apps to record thing. It's always been clunky. For me it was from Apollo to Symphony, same workflow. Works, and the low latency is great (and a requirement, to me), but it is cumbersome.
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Post by ragan on Mar 7, 2024 22:43:10 GMT -6
What caused the interest, Mark? Just curious. I think I’ve read you saying how you were pretty happy to be out of the PT ecosystem (which I very much get).
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Post by ragan on Mar 7, 2024 19:12:25 GMT -6
I actually had the same thought “wait, did they fix this?”
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Post by ragan on Mar 7, 2024 19:06:48 GMT -6
I haven’t had time to look into it yet but sometime recently it started seeming like HW inserts were being properly compensated for me too.
I haven’t tried anything in parallel yet but I noticed a change when auditioning hardware on individual drum tracks. Haven’t had any time to look further.
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Post by ragan on Mar 7, 2024 18:52:25 GMT -6
Heheh, I mean, yeah if you cut Avid’s prices in half, they do become more competitive and reasonable. I didn’t know that was a thing. I've not seen the likes of Bill's prices exactly but I've never paid more than 75 - 80% (that includes 20% tax) of retail for anything Avid, ever.. Even then there's usually license, sub (support) deals and extra goodies. Got it. So you got your Carbon for <$3400 out the door including tax?
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Post by ragan on Mar 7, 2024 14:48:42 GMT -6
Heheh, I mean, yeah if you cut Avid’s prices in half, they do become more competitive and reasonable. I didn’t know that was a thing.
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