Soundcard

sei046

Hey guys.
Thinking after the change to mac i will get away from the good old cheap and cheerful Terratec phase 88. It has made me a god few pound fair play to it but i thin its time for an upgrade.

What do you reckon? I dont need any massive amounts of inputs any more. Probably two. I dont really have a budget it mind TBH. I like the looks of the Apogee duet but not quite sure.

Any Suggestions for a nice affordable soundcard with around 2 inputs?

frobisher

Lynx make highly reputable converters that certainly ain't T-bone. I have one of their older cards (it's about 6 years old) the Lynxone, stereo A/D/A plus, digital io & midi. NB It's just conversion, no built in mic pre amps. I haven't done A-B's with converters but I bet this would blow the socks off anything new without spending alot more. See, pro-audio doesn't have to be expensive to be quality all the time (just don't tell anyone I told you!).

They can take bit of searching for which is not surprising when you consider that you can get them for......wait for it....... €100. Is there better bang for buck in conversion?! I don't think so. If you are ever in sth Dublin you can drop by and I'll talk you through them. I'll even give you tips on where to find one if you're interested.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Mar02/articles/lynxtwo.asp

sei046

fro your a star. where you based, would def pop around. heard of lynx before. where can i pick one up

PaulBrewer

Clocking and Ad/Da technology has advanced quite a bit in the last few years.

My experience with Apogee is that in my pre dealing days I owned an AD8000 which was great!
Then I heard the Rosetta which was greater! ... the the AD16x/DA16x which is greatest (so far!)

The Duet has the same mic/pre AD/DA as the Ensemble , just less of it. And sounds very good....

There's much been made of the Duet / Ensemble's integration with Logic and it is pretty thorough, but so what if you can store your mic gain settings with the track? It's not a big deal really.

However if a lad can pick up a Lynx for a hundred Euro Dollars he ain't doing so bad!

Olympic Studio 3 in London also use a Lynx 2 chan as their main Stereo Mix ins.

frobisher

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Clocking and Ad/Da technology has advanced quite a bit in the last few years.

My experience with Apogee is that in my pre dealing days I owned an AD8000 which was great!
Then I heard the Rosetta which was greater! ... the the AD16x/DA16x which is greatest (so far!)

The Duet has the same mic/pre AD/DA as the Ensemble , just less of it. And sounds very good....

There's much been made of the Duet / Ensemble's integration with Logic and it is pretty thorough, but so what if you can store your mic gain settings with the track? It's not a big deal really.

However if a lad can pick up a Lynx for a hundred Euro Dollars he ain't doing so bad!

Olympic Studio 3 in London also use a Lynx 2 chan as their main Stereo Mix ins.

These things haven't been pulled out of machines just because they got old and unfashionable. They're still still sitting in peoples PCI slots making records day in, day out. Apparently they were popular in mastering houses and TV production suites too.

PaulBrewer

frobisher wrote: »

These things haven't been pulled out of machines just because they got old and unfashionable. They're still still sitting in peoples PCI slots making records day in, day out. Apparently they were popular in mastering houses and TV production suites too.

Will it fit in a Mac, aren't they Pci x (or is it e now... I always get the 2 mixed up)

frobisher

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Will it fit in a Mac, aren't they Pci x (or is it e now... I always get the 2 mixed up)

It will indeed work on Mac. OS9 drivers.

sei046

where can i get it for 100

PaulBrewer

I'm confused. I'm on OSX 10.4.11 and new Macs Pros now come with 10.5 Leopard and have PCi - express slots.

If it won't fit and doesn't have OSX drivers........?

frobisher

PaulBrewer wrote: »

I'm confused. I'm on OSX 10.4.11 and new Macs Pros now come with 10.5 Leopard and have PCi - express slots.

If it won't fit and doesn't have OSX drivers........?

http://www.lynxstudio.com/lynxone.html

PaulBrewer

Aye, I see that ok.

Half size PCI card I don't think will fit and with No OSX driver you might have the option of running it in Classic mode , but then you couldn't run your DAW Software!

Perhaps JJ could comment, I can never remember what's what with bleedin' 'puters.

I've a feeling this option isn't a runner though, on a new Mac anyways?

studiorat

PCIe the new one and PCIx the old one. (or is it the other way around?) anyway they use different voltages, so it's a question of the card and slot being compatible.

sei046

Right lads. So if I get a lynx lets say, thats if i can get my hands on one. Whats the best way to hook it up to a mac pro with logic and my TLA 5051? I dont think the 5051 has a digital out. Just an analog in jack to jack jobby? or XLR even

PaulBrewer

I'm 90% sure that card won't work with the current Macs! That may explain why it's so cheap, not it's quality but the fact it's incompatible!

I know a man.......

Let me check.

PaulBrewer

As I thought ,

My Mac supplier tells me definitively the Lynxone won't fit in a current Mac.

sei046

and lynx two? I have heard good things about RME?

PaulBrewer

Don't know about them specifically.

I've heard good reports about RME , but never heard one.

PaulBrewer

Depends how many I/O you need and with or without Mic Pres

sei046

I dont need Pres. I suppose it would be handy to have the few in built ones but i dont really. I need to sort the whole Logic and Mac thing first anyway but figured if i was changin i really really need to get rid of that terratec

PaulBrewer

The only ones I've heard are the M-Audio cards which work great and sound great....... for the money.

If you're looking at Logic the Apogee Ensemble was designed in conjunction with Mac specifically for use with Logic.

It sounds proper great and has 4 Mic Pres, depends on budget of course.

Logic is completely integrated with it , but I'm not sure that in itself is a reason to buy, it don't make it sound any better!!

sei046

I wont have the cash for an Apogee for the next while thats for sure! baby steps!

PaulBrewer

All I can recommend is the Duet then.