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Post by Ward on Nov 28, 2022 9:19:57 GMT -6
I just finished up a massive project and now have a few days off . . . so naturally, I get sick with a ling infection. And I'm taking today and probably tomorrow off in bed. And the wife with the amazing caboose is at work. ugh
Anyhow, so that point of the thread!
Q1. What gear did you buy that you thought was going to be the tits but turned out being flat?
and/or
Q2. What gear did you buy that you thought was going to be just a momentary dum mistake but turned out to be great and indispensable?
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Post by chessparov on Nov 28, 2022 9:45:19 GMT -6
Regarding Question #1...
Blue Baby Bottle SL is Blah on my voice.
(Although I do go blah blah blah a lot)
Chris
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Post by svart on Nov 28, 2022 10:06:06 GMT -6
Q1: Tascam MX2424. Rave reviews everywhere. Bought one, bought a drive bay system so that I could actually save stuff.
Monitoring through it sounded great. Playing the audio back sounded dull and lifeless. It was impossibly slow to move files around. The backup feature never really worked and if it did, it would take HOURS to move one session. It would lock up without warning during sessions and you'd lose everything because it would only save the files after you hit STOP which also took quite some time. Tascam was of ZERO help. New drives, new firmware, new powersupply.. Nothing made it stable so I eventually stopped using it and sold it for parts. What a huge waste of money.
The ironic thing was that I was all set to buy an Alesis HD24 at the time and folks that I talked to told me that I should go with the MX2424 because the Alesis was junk. Heh.
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Nov 28, 2022 11:08:51 GMT -6
The Otari Status, I thought it would replace the DDA, intergrate automation Dynamics on every input, then I plugged it in ran some music through it and understood the haze of VCA’s called Jim Williams and asked how much it would cost to Mod the thing to be as clean as the DDA he told me he could clean it up but it would never sound like the DDA and the cost would be more than it would to make the DDA even better.
2. Patchbays, oh the ability to reroute and interface quickly, everyone with everything on bays be honest how many times have you found that magic signal chain because it was easy to re patch vs dig behind racks? Now even the live racks are getting custom panels with fully normalled TT jacks so emergency re- routes are simple.
Bonus #1 the piece that falls into both, My first RTA, thought it would be the set up tool to dial everything in, it wasn’t. It became the trouble shooting and in monitor world keep me from getting into trouble tool.
Bonus #2 the non audio tool that has become the biggest audio tool, The IPhone/ IPad. Every manual for every piece of gear I own and almost everything else in my hand, a Camera I can instantly send and receive pictures on, quick cad drawing and reader, Soundtoolz. A quick recorder and the magic of Google in my pocket? God had this existed in my gearpimp days I would be a millionaire.
Bonus #3 my little heat shrink lable maker. Everybody who looks in my racks buys one. I just had an IT guy who was complaining about how the “flags” always fall off, he just texted me he convinced his boss to buy 12.
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Post by bchurch on Nov 28, 2022 11:16:44 GMT -6
I just finished up a massive project and now have a few days off . . . so naturally, I get sick with a ling infection. And I'm taking today and probably tomorrow off in bed. And the wife with the amazing caboose is at work. ugh She must be like my own wife - doesn't want to deal with the whining of manflu. We are the weaker sex, she reminds me of that often. |
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Post by Ward on Nov 28, 2022 11:46:13 GMT -6
I just finished up a massive project and now have a few days off . . . so naturally, I get sick with a ling infection. And I'm taking today and probably tomorrow off in bed. And the wife with the amazing caboose is at work. ugh She must be like my own wife - doesn't want to deal with the whining of manflu. We are the weaker sex, she reminds me of that often. yes, we are in the brotherhood! Also, if yours has the caboose mine has, I salute you and your good fortune! (as I like to say to her, "That's some wagon you're draggin'") |
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Post by plinker on Nov 28, 2022 12:02:02 GMT -6
I'd like to hear more about "the amazing caboose".  |
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Post by Ward on Nov 28, 2022 12:17:44 GMT -6
I'd like to hear more about "the amazing caboose". LMAO . . . I've already said too much about the size 12 sloping rounded Indian rubber heavy dusty shock absorbing bumper. |
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Post by jcoutu1 on Nov 28, 2022 12:33:09 GMT -6
I'd like to hear more about "the amazing caboose". LMAO . . . I've already said too much about the size 12 sloping rounded Indian rubber heavy dusty shock absorbing bumper. Pics or it didn’t happen! 😂😂 |
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rpc
Junior Member
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Post by rpc on Nov 28, 2022 13:37:36 GMT -6
Bonus #3 my little heat shrink lable maker. Everybody who looks in my racks buys one. I just had an IT guy who was complaining about how the “flags” always fall off, he just texted me he convinced his boss to buy 12. Brand and model, please! |
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Nov 28, 2022 13:46:10 GMT -6
Bonus #3 my little heat shrink lable maker. Everybody who looks in my racks buys one. I just had an IT guy who was complaining about how the “flags” always fall off, he just texted me he convinced his boss to buy 12. Brand and model, please! Here is the one I have, I bought an after market AC adapter off of EBay and so far the OEM printable tubing carts on EBay have been fine. |
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Post by gwlee7 on Nov 28, 2022 15:18:58 GMT -6
Bonus #3 my little heat shrink lable maker. Everybody who looks in my racks buys one. I just had an IT guy who was complaining about how the “flags” always fall off, he just texted me he convinced his boss to buy 12. Brand and model, please! Lol. I first read this thinking you were asking about Ward’s Indian shock absorbing bumper up there. 😂😂 |
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Post by thehightenor on Nov 28, 2022 15:26:27 GMT -6
I spent a king’s ransom on the Blue Bottle mic and 4 additional caps well north of 5K!
I hated it - what a huge disappointment that purchase was!
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Post by bchurch on Nov 28, 2022 15:52:34 GMT -6
I spent a king’s ransom on the Blue Bottle mic and 4 additional caps well north of 5K! I hated it - what a huge disappointment that purchase was! I bought a used Blue Dragonfly. Hated it. I will give it this, very few mics are so unique in sounding horrible on virtually everything. |
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Post by Vincent R. on Nov 28, 2022 16:16:26 GMT -6
I spent a king’s ransom on the Blue Bottle mic and 4 additional caps well north of 5K! I hated it - what a huge disappointment that purchase was! I bought a used Blue Dragonfly. Hated it. I will give it this, very few mics are so unique in sounding horrible on virtually everything. Wow. My buddy made an incredible alto sax recording using a Dragonfly through a Demeter VTMP. Then again, that VTMP has a way of making cheaper mics sound really good. |
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Post by bossanova on Nov 28, 2022 17:35:49 GMT -6
GAP73 Premier.
I recorded with it for a few months and I know I raved about it on here. The noise floor and the "slow" loss of transient detail bugged me but I figured it was still adding that magic something and just learned to mix around it.
As you might guess, I went back to recording straight into an interface and found that I liked having a clean sound and that extra bit of transient detail and clarity to work with.
You can EQ and dirty audio up after the fact but you can't get it back once it's printed that way.
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ericn
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Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Nov 28, 2022 17:44:40 GMT -6
I spent a king’s ransom on the Blue Bottle mic and 4 additional caps well north of 5K! I hated it - what a huge disappointment that purchase was! The problem with most convertibles is you have a neutral amplifier and all the tone is in the capsule. So the difference is either tiny or over hyped. The exceptions that are really more of a bunch of great mics sort of in the camp of the classics are the Korby ( great sound but support was a dumpster fire followed by a flood) Lawson ( the 47 is pretty much a dead ringer for the mic Gene used and while a great sounding mic not exactly what I expect from a 47). |
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Post by phdamage on Nov 28, 2022 18:29:13 GMT -6
1. I bought a pair of Sony APR24s in 2008. They used to belong to Purple Audio, apparently. I had work coming out my ears and was so excited to make the jump to 24 track from my MS16. I had the heads relapped and had every tech I could find work on the thing. It always sounded like garbage! I used them a couple years to track and dump and then just switched to digital. The one working machine crapped out on me one day a couple years later as I was trying to align the thing. I ended up selling the one headstack and both remotes. I still have one sitting downstairs as a potential boat anchor. I woulda been better off spending that money on literally anything.
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Post by chessparov on Nov 28, 2022 20:10:58 GMT -6
I spent a king’s ransom on the Blue Bottle mic and 4 additional caps well north of 5K! I hated it - what a huge disappointment that purchase was! Sorry to hear you went through that. I thought some of the capsules were supposed to be quite good. Could it be a bit of individual taste?* Just wondering... Chris *Like the Ref C and I... We don't get along!  |
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Post by christopher on Nov 28, 2022 20:34:19 GMT -6
1) $400 focusrite scarlett. Not that much money, yet I got nothing but a run around from their returns dept. Apparently their method of dealing with their screw ups is giving you the run around and making you do many hours of tech support to try and convince you it’s your PC and drivers and updates causing the issues. I will NEVER buy another focusrite product and only tell people to stay VERY FAR away, I hope they go under! Yeah, it’s so bad and there’s so many who have never gotten any support that it looks like really they had major design flaw and their way of dealing with it is to sell it anyway and let the customers eat their mistake. Seriously. $400 is $400 and I don’t know, where I come from steal a $1.50 candy and you got jail. (Lol.. yeah i wrote this right before dinner.. and I’m sick too … haha)
(2nd gen scarlett btw. 3rd gen I think they fixed it hopefully)
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Post by chessparov on Nov 28, 2022 21:44:36 GMT -6
Guess I won't be moving up, from 3rd Gen Scarlett Solo...
To Clarett eventually now.
Chris
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Post by christopher on Nov 28, 2022 22:21:18 GMT -6
Sorry about the rant, I have problems LOL..
Well and I guess 2) has to be RME Fireface 400.
RME has spoiled the hell out of me. What was supposed to be a bandaid short term solution 15 years ago now? Jesus lol.. it’s still delivering, zero latency monitoring, works as it should, AKM clarity similar to Clarett line. The input jacks rotted out so I hard wired some pigtails, it keeps working: looks ridiculous. I replaced a couple of the coupling caps with giant big electrolytic caps.. I can’t tell any difference, stock is just as good. Crazy I even got it used back then, might be from the 90s.. it’s FireWire,.. but a dongle to USB3 and it’s still up to date and works with any mac or PC, protools or whatever. What a deal. It runs on 12v power and I *think* that’s why it has a few less DB headroom than more pro stuff, that’s the main downside for me now. Not a big deal, easy to use a fader and gain stage right
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Post by chessparov on Nov 28, 2022 23:45:52 GMT -6
It's totally OK. I'd rather not support a company like that. Glad to hear the RME is still tickin'. Chris |
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Post by thehightenor on Nov 29, 2022 3:31:45 GMT -6
I spent a king’s ransom on the Blue Bottle mic and 4 additional caps well north of 5K! I hated it - what a huge disappointment that purchase was! Sorry to hear you went through that. I thought some of the capsules were supposed to be quite good. Could it be a bit of individual taste?* Just wondering... Chris *Like the Ref C and I... We don't get along! Yeah I lost 1750 when I sold it .... ouch! The best cap was the small diaphragm condenser the B1 cap, that made it a ridiculously big SDC mic though! The B0 (251) cap was ok for BV's at a pinch but all in all, it had this kinda OTT quality to it I hated. I replaced the system with a Wunder CM7, a BLUE Kiwi (which is oddly a great sounding version of their B6 capsule) and an AEA R92 ribbon. For a SDC mic(s) my friend gave me, as a gift, a matching pair of vintage AKG 451E's (nice friend) which sound really great on percussion and acoustic guitar. I still have my over 20 year old Rode NTV - which forum member Bowie sourced a great replacement tube and it's actually a very decent tube LDC. If I had any spare money (which these days with two kids at university isn't looking likely for the next 5 years :-) I would love to get a Neumann U67 RI. Do you have one special particular mic on your current "wish list"? |
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Post by drbill on Nov 29, 2022 8:22:10 GMT -6
If I had any spare money (which these days with two kids at university isn't looking likely for the next 5 years :-) I would love to get a Neumann U67 RI. Do you have one special particular mic on your current "wish list"? On the spare money front - I hate to break it to ya, but the "university" part is just the beginning.... . At least in my experience..... Oh well..... On the special particular mic wish list - it's the Heiserman H251 without a doubt. Should be out shortly. That and a second Heiserman H47T and I'll be happy. OK....who am I kidding. There will be more mics on the horizon. But those are on the short term docket. |
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