Apogee Mini-me & others, Pros & Cons Options

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DigitMus said:

Just got a MiniMe and it absolutely blows the 828 out of the water!! 2 phenomenal mic preamps, limiting, compression (you can even tweak the ratios by opening the top of the box!) famous Apogee A-D conversion (+UV22) 96khz operation, and you can even use different sample rates/bit depths SIMULTANEOUSLY (i.e. 96/24 from SPDIF & AES/EBU, and 44.1/16 via USB). For me, the 828 is now an expensive doorstop.
Scott

Holli answered:

mini-me sounds very cool fidelity wise, how much do they go for roughly?
I could look on the web site  but what kind of outs does it have, also what is the driver system? I think I speak for everyone but please let us know how you get on DigitMus , now and as an ongoing concern. Maybe this warrants a new forum! I for one would love to follow it's progress.
Holli xxx

Teiwaz answered:

DigitMus,
Great to hear a fellow Apogee user talkin' loud!
I LOVE my AD-8000...Apogee rule, man!
Maybe we should open a new thread on the subject of the extremely exciting Apogee guys and their products...  :D

And now for the rest...
;-)

Bye.

[holli]

haha, and damn the topic!! Presto, I believe your sax is a 1934 Radio Improved model, it came after the cigar cutter design (weird crook) -and an early one at that. Quite an old girl! If ever you need very specialist work done on this kind of instrument, I have a great contact here in the uk, sax players travel from across the country and Europe for his fine skills .

And back.. . If it's worth anything at all, Teiwaz is not a salesman! I've known him for quite a while and this is definately not the case! However, if I could appeal to you Presto as a fellow man of sax (well, you don't have to trust me, but hey!), he's one of the most technologically aware and sophisticated producers I have ever met. Also very rare, as I've found to my peril in the last few months working in other studios, to find someone who is in equal measure a fine musician in the traditional sense and is thus flexible and sensitive enough to respond to the material or artist. Thoroughly bloody good bloke.

Recently, a client played the outputs of his internal soundcard (g4) through my desk, we were syncronising a project I'd set up roughly. I had programmed a rough 'vibe' mix to enable him to continue writing, logic env etc. Mainly getting the bottom nice and tight and fat. He was shocked at the difference of the same track being played through my 2408. By comparison, the internal soundcard sounded bloody aweful. Bass flimsy, flopping, no integration of parts, even to the point of giving the impression of timing errors in the programming. Not to mention the highs. Yuk.

Anyway, my point is if we equate this huge difference (internal vs 2408) to an 100% improvement, my recent listening to Apogee convertors seems at least to offer relatively another 50% improvement (2408 vs apogee). Maybe it's more, but thats on the limits of what I could perceive as being better. I would tend to trust Teiwazs ear for quality over mine!

So, anyway. Hi Urbanmatador.

If you are going to do multichannel work in a theatre, honestly, I would avoid the 828, or 001, or similar. Normally I love Motu, as has been said here before -good build quality, reliable, easy to use, of course v. good conversion, BUT... do listen to the outputs on the 828.
They are unbalanced, making them subject to cable bourne noise, v. bad for long cable runs in theatres, usually having birds nests of cables and older mains wiring, not to mention the lighting rigs (bzzzzzzzzz). Also, they are quite noisy compared to the main outs (which are balanced). With lots of amplification in the auditorium, this will be intolerable. The noise floor of course rising the more outputs you use simultaneously.

The only audio card I can advise with any reliability which has multiple balanced outs, all of the same quality, and will also reject the interferance associated with theatre work internally (fat metal case) is the above mentioned 2408. I don't know of anything that comes close without spending alot more dosh. Perhaps someone else here has experience of something else that will do what you want. Best of luck, Holli xxx