Hi Red good luck with this.

I intend to participate when I get the chance. I have a few projects coming up that may be of interest and I may need some advice on.

I thought I would start this topic as a point for people to tell us what they are doing.

Redmond Neck wrote on Dec 28^th, 2014 at 5:20pm:


you get some great finds travelling to the small town markets on the outskirts of the cities.

Redmond Neck wrote on Dec 28^th, 2014 at 5:38pm:


ahh, new tools ... I have my own collection of those, although lately I've noticed the wifes crap creeping onto my shelves in the garage ... I'll have to take care of that quick smart before she thinks they're hers and dellegates my tools to the back yard... 

This was a recent project - a small audio rack I put together, I know pretty simple but it does the job.

The interface is a scarlett 18i20 I was originally going to put a cable draw where the microphones are sitting, still thinking about it. also may add a front door.

AiA wrote on Dec 29^th, 2014 at 6:16am:


It is a focusrite scarlett 18i20

It is a uSB2 interface and not firewire. It is almost as quick and does not have the risk of damage associated with firewire.

The pre amps are about the best you can get in a reasonable price. it seems to be high end amateur  to low / mid range pro.

It is roughly the equivalent of the saffire pro 40. (firewire version) I think there is 1 feature different.

8 Microphone inputs - expandable with an octopre mk2 (not very cheap for what it is)

comes with its own routing software (fully routable) and can feed the mic op directly back to an output bypassing the DAW avoiding delay to the player. multiple players can hear different mixes which are all different to the record. by that I mean that a drummer can listen to full drums and bass with muted vocals and guitar say while the guitarist is listening to guitar and vocals only with the full record happening in the control room.

Can feed phantom power to input 1-4 and or 5-8.

Limitations.

I would only recommend this one if you are looking at  micking a drum kit with up to 8 microphones, I am cheating by running 2 overheads into a mixer and pre mixing manually to get 9 or live recording a full band. (struggle with enough microphone inputs for a full band but can be possible depending on numbers).

You can record a band by cutting back on the drum microphones which is mostly possible as kits are overdone in general or recording all the instruments separate which is the most common approach.

This is the first interface this size I have tried and am happy with it so far. There are a few other viable choices. For me the decision was made on 8 inputs with reasonable quality pre amps and I was lucky to find a good deal on the price when I was deciding.

This unit is potentially significant overkill for some and the opposite for others. This unit is not cheap and the expansion option is about the same price again which seems unreasonable to me.

My opinion is very much amateur and in some areas almost certain to be horse shite. Do a lot of research and work out what you really need if looking at this market - it's not easy.

John Smith wrote on Dec 29^th, 2014 at 9:49am:


around $7500

Dnarever wrote on Dec 29^th, 2014 at 6:59am:



You got that right - it's not easy.  Thanks for the explanation.