Going 500

VP28s have a fader and HPF, which put them in front of the others, for me.

+1 on Trace audio ! Good guy great service

Thanks Mark! For an open top end, heft, plus line level duty, I'd recommend the Heiders. The VP28's are a little bit more rolled off on top and bottom in comparison. You can extend the top and bottom of the VP28's a bit with Red Dots or similar, but it won't quite match the extension of the Heider. The Red Dots (which are standard in the Heider) are a little less aggressive in the upper mids compared to many of the standard opamp choices, so that area is a little smoother than the typical API.

The standard VP312 has plenty of extension top and bottom, but it's not made for line level processing, and lacks some of the warmth / smoothness  / sparkle of the Heider and VP28.

That was my inexperienced suspicion. Thanks for that!

I have a pair of Heiders that all keyboards are tracked through. They're fantastic.

Regarding frames, I am thinking of recording pieces and master bus pieces. Some frames have linking switches. Do you experienced guys with 500 frames find yourselves patching a lot with a patch bay or reaching around for switches... do you make a lot of routing changes and if so, does that push you to lunch box configurations with a smaller frame sitting on the rack or do you guys commit to mounting in a rack?

Sadly I've only used CAPI's once in a session and the only direct CAPI comparison I've heard was a YouTube video (that I believe Johnkenn did) but is the rolled off comment for the normal VP28 and/or the Platinum as well?  Just curious really as in that video the Heider and pVP28 were my favs and didn't really catch the platinum VP28 rolling off too much. 

I was using the Switchcraft 9625, but once I migrated to an interface with 32x32 i/o, I just have everything running to that. If I tracked more, I'd still be using patchbays, but 99% of my projects are edit/mix - so running from hardware inserts from the DAW suits me fine. 

And what OP said about "once you go 500..." - well, yeah, there are some advantages and disadvantages. 220mA at 16v can be a bit limiting for thirsty circuits and that can cost you headroom. It's amazing how much people are jamming onto those 1.5x5 faceplates - I'm thinking of things like the SSL SiX that trade on giving you on an "okay" preamp, a barebones EQ and compressor, where it might be better to get the versatility of a dedicated pre, eq, and comp.

But yeah, as my humble NYC space is light on room, I do love my 500 racks - it'd take me a second 16 space rack to house all of those modules in a standard 19" footprint. Luckily, we have country and western here.

I can openly recommend the VP28 litz with CAPI’s own CA 0252 DOA’s. I built 4 of these to replace an API 3124+ and am very happy.

I had already built some CA0252’s to run as DOA’s on colour cards so was familiar and happy with them.

I tried the CA 0252’s in the 3124 as well and the most noticeable difference was the CPAI DOAs went hotter before noticeable distortion than the API 2520’s. I have also tried the VP28’s with LTLO Rogue 5 DOA’s and they were cleaner than the CAPI DOA’s. Nice but different.

Overall the VP28 with the config above sounds a little less of the API mid forward thing but rich and bigger - and perhaps a bit smoother. To me it makes them more usable on a broader range of sources. For example I would rarely consider recoding a vocal through a API 512 pre and would generally go for a Lola or a MA5 or even an Avalon 737 tube pre, the vp28 has me thinking it could be more useful for this. Mixing groups or mix bus through them they also sound great. While my intention was to replace the API 3124 sound in my pres collection the vp28 has done that with some extra range in the deal.