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Here's another thing to consider as well. 24 bit converters aren't actually 24bit. The reason being is that they would have to have a noise floor at or below what 24bit is capable of which is -144db.
The lowest most converters noise floor reach is about 120db at best which leaves you with 20bits.
Everyone loves to talk about analog consoles, what do you think is happening on each channel, noise. Something that's missing in a DAW (unless you are using the Waves SSL plugs with analog switched on).
So you're far less likely to encounter any noise in a DAW compared to analog consoles which no one seemed to mind the noise they generated before.
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yeah i knew about the bits part. a lot of manufactures call it "weighted" vs. "non-weighted", nice marketing gimmic....
Ok, I'll stop worrying about the numbers now. Back to the OP, from what i've been able to find on forums and reviews, it sounds like the firestudio has a few issues with drivers, so down to the saffire and motu. Any have any thoughts?
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We used the Presonus Firepods at Full Sail and had a lot of problems with the drivers on Mac/Cubase. Not sure about the new ones but sounds like they aren't faring much better.
Haven't heard too much good about the Saffire range either, soiling the Focusrite name it seems.
Motu I've never dealt with as they are mostly Mac based. They look solid though but I'd check the drivers for PC first.
Did you check into and of the RME stuff? They always seemed to have excellent drivers but it's been years since I've looked at them.
btw what did you think of the Battery video?
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and again good point jess i wasn't thinking about the signal flow properly, early morning.
bunkcious
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06-06-2008, 07:36 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-06-2008, 08:26 AM by sven hauck.)
To attest to that being true (16 bit being adequate), when I worked in Cubase I recorded everything at 24 bit and would then use Wavelab to bring the final recording down to 16.
As I started working in Live I never switched up to 24 bit recording (accidentally, hehe), so everything was done at 16 bit. I noticed no difference in quality. Actually the Live versions were better but arguably due to improved monitoring and more experience under my belt.
One old school producer once said, "plenty of dance floor hits were made at 16 bit."
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That's becuase the whole 'more bits' equals more 'quality' is really misleading. As I said it's literally just noise (assuming that dither is being used internally which it should be unless something is coded wrong).
There is absolutely no difference in an analog wave and a digitally produced one once dither is applied, a fully continuous 'analog' waveform is made.
Dither linearizes the system completely and removes all error with just noise as a consequence.
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well i went with the M-Audio 2626. read a couple forums where people had a/b'd the 2626 and the FP and the Pro 10. sounds like, from what i read, the motu is crap.
I have the M-Audio FW410 and have never had an issue with it, plus i got a good deal on the 2626.
As for the Battery Video, i'll check it out tonight. My band was doing 12 hr days in the studio for the last 4 days. so that and sleep are about all i did....
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ok got the 2626 installed and running. little hitch in the get-a-long, had to uninstall SP3 first to do it.
First, there is no "ceiling" on the volumn control like there is with the FW410. And it goes much louder and clearer than the onyx 1640. it's very clear, i don't think i'd go so far as to call it transpearant, but for the price range, damn good.
the converters are miles above the 410 which i honestly thought were great; especially for it's price range.
ASIO drivers seem to be a little bit better as well and there was no issue with the 410's ASIO's. The mackies' sucked ass!!!! so just not even a comparison there.
working on a rmx now, so everything has been ITB. i believe the band is practicing on tuesday so i'll have a chance to test and hear the analoge inputs and mic pre's then.
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Cool glad it's working out.
