RUclips never fails to amaze me. I came across Roy's channel by accident last night at 3am in the morning sitting down in the bathroom and I could not put it down! I was a pro recording engineer in Hollywood for too many years, retired now and just puttering with my home studio (Apollo Twin X and Luna). Roy is comfortable in his skin in front of the camera which goes a long way to making the videos enjoyable to watch. He is knowledgeable, totally genuine, doesn't say "um" all the time with a smooth delivery no rough edges but with no tacky salesman finish that you feel like taking a shower after you've watched. :) I am a new fan and subscriber! Great info. Best from Tod in Vegas :)
@@roycox4415 Hi Roy! Super helpful video you touched on all the right points, pathbays, snakes, CAPI, lunchbox details. It was a tour de force. Just bought more Mogami 2549 ouch! Would like to see you recording, mic selection, tips & tricks that sort of thing. Love to hear your songs. Thanks again. Tod in Vegas (bass player).
I just can't understand how this video doesn't have a million views, people who are beginning should definitely see this, I've been into music for 30 years and come from a family of musicians, I can tell you, this guy's the real deal, no nonsense and no advertising, just pure facts, take a bow good sir
@roycox4415 Im about to get 7 capi fd312 500 series preamp 2 LTLO chromas 500 series 2 Avedis Audio Electronics E27 500 Series Equalizer Module 2010s. Considering getting the LTLO silver bullet mk2. Should I get the Dangerous 2 mix bus plus summing box or is that not necessary. I plan on getting the Lynx Aurora. Am I on the right track? My goal is to have a top of the line home studio for my synthetic and do it all through fl studio i want all the warmth and saturation to then separate all the individual sounds including drums to have a clean Profesional sound that can have more clarity and warmth compared to other mixes when an artist is decided which track they want for their album.
“I don’t need to chase gear, everything sounds amazing as it is” I needed to hear that. I’m sitting back down and only allow myself to buy more gear if I can specifically say what I’m missing. If I can’t get the sound I want to get out of what I have - or if I get to a point where I notice I put the same compressor on the same thing for every session. Chasing gear is a distraction 🐥
I'm so glad you mentioned API as your favorite pre. I remember being in a B room somewhere in LA with The Box and I was blown away by my sound. I listened to that beat in the car for hours after the session, pre mix and I was amazed at the clarity of a raw mix. I'd heard vintage Neve and SSL 9K also but the API made an impression I'll never forget.
There’s just something about the tone that gets me every time, especially if you are stacking track after track using the api. Delicious, saturated tone
First, I couldn't agree more with you about the Samson S-Patch. I have five of them (I have an Allen & Heath GL2400. So, just more channels.) All of my gear runs through it. Second, I love that you are super informative, without being conceded. You very much state what you prefer but acknowledge that it's personal taste. Great video! Love from a fellow home studio nerd!
This is a one of the best videos I have watched in a very long time especially at a time when almost all RUclips channels and videos are more of advertisements than honest reviews of products
Excellent advice I was looking at new interface and Audient was on my radar now it's a done deal. Thanks Roy love the setup and CAPI kits, and one of the best patch bay explanations on YT.
Dude, your preamp rig is basically exactly what I'm going for rn. I just bought a wa73, then slurged on a stereo pair of API 312's, and I've owned a an LA610 before and know they're killer tube vibes- so my goal is to have the neve clone for vocals, the api's for guitar and drums, and the la610 for bass or really just anything I feel like because it's so F good on anything.
I’ve been searching for a video like yours for a long while and can’t believe I’m just now finding it. Thank you for the wonderful and insightful info. Great video!!
I have a Capi VP 26. I love it. It was my first real preamp and I am never parting with it. I plan on buying and building another VP26 so I’ll have a pair. If you had to say in your opinion. Of all the preamps in the Capi line, which ones would be good to track a final mix through? As in mastering. Thanks Roy
You are a real inspiration, do you know that! Also I just happened to have an Audient ID44 sitting on my desktop, I don't have the experience you do with recording studios and the knowledge of gear you have, so I was wondering if I should upgrade to something else. After this video, I have decided to stick with the ID44. Over here in the UK, everything costs, I would say, at least 25% more, even the things that are made over here! Yes it's a ripoff! I have seen all those DIY products on line before and always wondered about the validity of them and how hard it would be to assemble them, but after watching this video, I might give it a go. I especially like your advice to "make your own cables, " in fact it was all very illuminating. Thanks, really great video!
You can absolutely make your own cables and you’ll end up with the same exact mogami, canare, etc cables for a fraction of the price. I’d give it a try. Order your parts from redco on line
Can you do a video on noise in the studio, such as emi noise, hums, buzzes, crackles, pops, etc- and how to get rid of that. Also, what sort of recommended cables, etc...
Great video. I recommend doing your own thing to everybody. Build your own racks. Have a vast patchbay, it majes your studio a pleasure. I have a console (A&H GSR24M) Firewire so can either use those analogue pre amps or 500 series via RME 32 way ADAT via USB. A Tascam US2000 Audio Interface for day to day audio. Stilll works but need to upgrade for the software flexibility. Maybe a Focusrite 18i20?
I have Apollo x racks and I just added an audient asd880 for 8 channels of spdif adat, I also run the DB25s into a combo patchbay custom made by Audio Engineering at a very reasonable price, so audient is providing 8 analog, 8 line ins and 8 line outs the asp880 it is ten year old tech using Burl Brown converters but sounds great in addition to my Apollo pres Having my Samson S + patchbays allow for everything from head phone mixes to live room snakes to my new neve shelford channel strips Couldn’t see running a hybrid protools studio without patch bays, I’m partial to using and xlr or combo for mics then route into the Samsons trs Very tidy Tried the 500 series gear but just couldn’t find the love so it’s H racks that I grew up with
Nice, solid review, particularly for those of us without humongous budgets for our home setups. (Though as the vid moved on, it left me in the lurch. I'll never approach what you have). Thinking of purchasing the Audient id24. They say it has the same converters and pres as the id44. Has inserts/returns like the id44 as well. Torn between the Audient and the Motu mkII Ultralite as I like the big number of ins/outs the Motu has for my hardware. Don't think the conversion can be bypassed though. A bit of a sticking point. I'm a rookie, though, so I might not know what I'm talking about! And as they say... Nice rack!
I said the same thing and then as the years went by my equipment grew and grew but everything is reasonable and much more on a home studio level than other videos that show huge consoles, etc
Super nice, lots of great inspiration for a newbie like me! Thanks for that. But I cannot believe you went from talking about the API560 directly to the API527 and skipped the API550b like it wasn't even there! 😄
You’re right. I think I forgot to talk about it in detail but hey it’s an api 550b. I’d probably say that it’s awesome and my favorite EQ for snare top and guitars. Thanks for the comment
Really awesome video Roy..Thanks for sharing. You really simplified the process. I have the same Samson and need to get around connecting them to the patchbay
That’s a stellar unit but I can’t use it with the audient id44. I don’t have a line out for every channel coming out of the daw so I wouldn’t be able to make use of its full summing power unfortunately.
@@roycox4415 What are really outrageous bang for buck replacements for your audient are the old Motu 96k 8 channel interfaces. I know...some people laugh but I have my work studio with an Apollo x16, and a friend's holiday house kitted out with the Motu and they sound every bit as good IMO. The summing for me, with a similar setup to you, is the thing that elevates my mixes to being indecipherable from a bigger studio. Each to their own! Great workflow is oftentimes more useful than great gear and I really appreciate that in your rig.
Fantastic video! I've been rocking an Audient MK 1 ID14 for years and the converters are great to my ear. I run it with an ASP 880 ( these have gotten expensive now, glad i picked one up when i did!) to be able to have 8 in and bypass preamps with external preamps in my 500 series. Doesn't take a lot, just some key pieces and a decent work flow. I'm also just a home hobbiest though. Record myself or mess around with friend's recordings. I have an old Ramsa console too but it gets tricky deciding what to run on the inserts vs running as outboard and then summing using the board. Sometimes hybrid work flow can also be a bit tricky and you have to decide what works best for you. No question though, getting some analog gear in the path makes a huge diff.
Looove my WA73EQ. I have their WA2A and it’s killer as well. Wanted to build a solid vocal chain so I typically run my Shure sm7b into the WA73EQ and then into the Wa2a. Sounds great. I run bass through there as well and it sounds awesome.
Love this video! Where can we listen to “your sound”. I always see RUclips videos but they never tell you “here’s my mix” so we can believe them. Ive been thinking most YouTubies are just making videos for the income and don’t know shit. But they act very believeable that they know good audio. Please let us here your stuff. I would like to buy more gear. Lol. Take care, and I’m subscribed. 😊
Hello Roy, Thanks for the great Video!! Amazing! I love the way that u talk about your studio and also how simple your systems works! Have a nice time!
There are two main power conditioner units in the rack. Both are 8 input furmans. The best thing about these is the stable power levels they help keep but also making it much easier to turn on and off a bunch of the rack mounted pieces by only turning on those two units. I really believe that power conditioners are essential.
Love this video tour and detailed reviews! After watching atleast 100 videos looking for information on patchbays, I feel like you're the man that actually might be able to help me?!? I'm looking to integrate a patch bay into my home studio setup but I need some clarity on how to make the connections. Perhaps you might shed some light? I've got an Apollo Twin (2 channel thunderbolt with a UAD satellite underneath for more DSP)... a 2-channel BAE 1073 preamp (i'll probably end up recording through this most of the time and bypassing the Apollo preamps)...then I've got a couple compressors: the Universal Audio 1176ln & an "Audioscape" LA2a compressor. My question is this...how do i get from my mic or instrument source to my Apollo interface at line level WITH the ability to patch into the preamp and bypass a compressor OR use both compressors if I wanted to? I'll need to choose the right patchbay and think through every connection before purchasing cables and all that.
it seems like you have some nice gear! the only problem Im seeing is with the Apollo twin and your lack of an A to D converter. the only way to completely bypass the preamps in the twin (I use to own one) is to use the optical port on the back of the Apollo. the problem is that those BAE preamps do NOT have an optical out allowing you to go straight from the preamps to your Apollo optical in, allowing you to bypass the preamps of the Apollo. I had this issue with my capi/api preamps and the Apollo twin. This is why I purchased the presonus dp88. That device allows me the ability to convert 8 channels to an optical out and go into the optical in of my audient id44 or in your case the Apollo. The other issue is that they no longer make the dp88 so you either have to find one used or look for another converter that can transfer your bae preamps into a digital signal and then into the Apollo's digital in. I rarely use my interface preamps so the dp88 is taking in 8 channels of outboard preamps and converting them into a digital signal which is then going to my interface. Unless you do this you will be "doubling up" on your preamps by sending the bae into the Apollo's actual preamps. Your ultimate goal is to do what I have done in this video. You want to take a patch bay, send every out and in from your outboard gear to the outs and ins of the patch bay so that all of your connections are made at the patch bay itself. If you go back to my video and watch that section closely you will see that the outs of my compressors, eq's and preamps are all in the top rows of the patch bays and the ins are in the bottom rows. You need to get at least a 2 channel A to D converter to transfer your gear to digital and then hook it into your patch bay. Go on sweet water and see what they have that fits your budget. Hope that helps and let me know if you have any other questions. Roy
@@roycox4415 Hey Roy thanks for taking the time to respond in such great detail, really appreciate you!!! Thank you. I'm going to look in the A to D converter for sure. Last question though, since you know the Apollo pretty well, isn't it true that I can go line level into the 2 channels that are available by using a balanced 1/4" into the combo inputs and selecting "line" rather than "mic" in order to bypass the preamps? Or is the OPTICAL IN the solution you're recommending in order to properly incorporate the use of a patch bay in the manner in which we've already discussed? Thank you again for your time. very gracious of you.
@@matthewansell3978 I'm pretty sure that only the rack mounted Apollo units have bypassable preamps, not the Apollo twin unfortunately. I also highly recommend using the patch bay setup. Brings everything together nicely making it way easier to send out of the daw to any of your compressors or to go into the daw and audition your preamps, etc.
I truly enjoyed listening to you. I have the simplest of setups. Yamaha XS8 keys, Neumann U 87 AI, UA 6176, RME Fireface converter and DP for software. I want to learn how to mic my drum set so.... I am going to watch your video 10 more times. And thanks again for such a direct approach to such subjective information. Obviously, very knowledgeable opinion and worth all it's weight. Very Cool!
Excellent! Thanks for the video. One question; How you control/determine/adjust the sound of something (like drums, for example) recorded, within that same room situation? I mean we cannot hear the separate sound from the actual drums vs the recorded sound on the speakers or headphones.
A patch bay is about the best money I've spent in my studio. So flexible. So, so handy. I can't imagine living without it now. And thank you for sharing your experience here. Very helpful stuff. Another vote for the Audient interfaces (I have a iD14 mkii, would have got the 44 but none in stock when I needed one and haven't needed more in/outs yet but that is about to change). Excellent value for money. And also agree about the Warm 73 eq. I have a single channel (would like to double it). Warm can be a bit hit and miss but the 73 is decent IMHO.
I keep coming back to this great video. Thank you. I have had no luck finding a dp88. Are there are any other adat converters with the preamp bypass that you can recommend? Thanks.
I can’t seem to find any either that allow you to completely bypass the preamps and just use the 8 channels of Adat conversion. You can probably do this with a high end rme or lynx setup but that would be a huge price increase over what I paid for the dp88. Maybe email Sweetwater and ask them that same question. Would like to know myself actually. Thanks for the comment!
Just occurred to me that the Cranborne Audio 500ADAT could be a great candidate. I considered it overpriced as a lunchbox, but if you need conversion then it's a lot more reasonable... combining a chassis with ADAT I/O and a summing mixer, it looks like a pretty compelling option.
Great Video Roy, I am currently in the process of building my first real "Profesional"/working studio in Mexico. It is a huge challenge deciding on gear because everything costs so much more here due to 16% import tax and retail markup. I love Warm Audio but i think I am going to go with the DIY Recording Equipment 500 series 1073 clones. 500 bucks for a great rep seems hard to beat! have you any experience with the diy kits from them?
Stupid great video. Thanks for putting it up!!! Gonna look into the Sampson S patchbay. I've gone on a silly acquisition of older Beringer vintager series starved plate tube units. I've been looking for an effective way to connect it into my home studio set up. This might help me out. I'm struggling with the amount of aux inputs in my interfaces. I ended up using a spdif two channel out da/ad convert back to spdif in for a bus mix... But that is all I have unless I use my mic pres in my interface. Still looking for a good interface with better aux input options
How do you do the word clock to accomodate 20 in to the id44? I’ve been trying using the wordclock out of the id44 and connect it to the asp800 and steinberg ur824, but I’m still having some issues like the audio has some “clocking” interference. How do you set the clocking when using id44 along with your asp880 and dp88? Thanks before man!
That’s a great question. The biggest thing is setting one of your digital sources as your main clock. In my case I have three choices, the dp88, the id44 or the asp880. I was noticing when tracking that I would get occasional shifts in clocking interference that I could hear in the headphones which sounded like the signal getting lower and then subtly higher at times. I would then get clicks and pops on occasion. I tried all three as the clock source and I would still get this occasional interference. It didn’t stop completely until I ran a hard Bnc cable line from my id44 clock input to the dp88 clock input and then to the asp880 clock input which has a termination setting on it so it’s meant to be used as the last in the clocking signal chain. It terminates with a 75ohm switch setting. I then set the id44 as the source (where the clock signal starts) and I never heard any interference ever again. The exact cables I used were found easily on eBay and are the Superbat SDI Cable BNC Cable 3G/6G cables. I got one in a 3ft length and one in a 10ft length but your setup may require different lengths to meet your connection needs. It worked though. No issues since.
yes, every preamp has a bit of its own color, with some being far more noticeable in color than others but the audience preamps, as I mentioned in the video, have a nice warmth and clarity but aren't nearly as colored as the api or capi preamps.
It's hilarious that you say "Classic Audio Products of Illinois" instead of CAPI 😅They even call themselves CAPI now. lol Also the Radial "E-X-T-C" instead of "Ecstasy". Just cracks me up! You have built a fantastic studio and workflow! I love all of it!
Hey Roy. I've been enjoying your videos and they have been very helpful. I seem to be receiving some sort of feedback when I stack my outputs and inputs from my audio interface to my patchbay, so I have a questions about how you are running your xlr boxes to your interface. I have an 8 channel interface. If I were to run 8 XLRs from your box to my interface, we would then not have any inputs on the interface to run them to the patchbay. Are you using something in between your boxes and Audient 880 to have all of the Audient 880s inputs on the bottom row of the patchbay? Because if I go out and in from my interface, I get bad ground loop feedback. The top patch bay makes more sense to me because you would be running the XLRs through the preamps first which would leave the inputs of the ADAT open for the patchbay. Thanks again for these videos!
Exactly. You have to think of the patch bays as a flat layout of your xlr boxes and racked equipment. I’m picking the most used preamps I have and normalling them to the dp88 8 channels of Adat 1. I’m getting zero feedback or noise with my setup. The only way you could have back feedback is either something is hooked up incorrectly or your daw monitoring is active at the same time as your interface monitoring so you are hearing both at the same time causing a delay/feedback loop, etc.
One follow up question... with the cost of anything API/ CAPI these days, what do you think of the use of UAD API suite for example vs. the hardware pieces? Hardware obviously sounds better but the EQ's are SO close these days that I wonder if money is better spent on the preamp end vs the EQ.
If I were to put money into anything these days it would still be good outboard preamps like the CAPI or API, etc. In my comparisons the preamps make the biggest differences in the final product to me.before the CAPI preamps I was using just my interface preamps and I think I had a presonus 8 channel interface. It sounded great but after tracking through the CAPI preamps, the raw recordings sounded 80 percent done already to me. There is also a difference in the plug-in EQ/compressors and I still prefer the hardware in some cases but in a finished mix it’s harder to tell the difference now.
Roy, what do you think about Black lion audio’s API clone preamp. B12A. The rack of 4 seems like a very good deal when it seems to work out to about 250-275 per channel. Thx
@@Steviee8 I haven’t tried those yet but I can’t imagine them being terrible. Black lion audio makes some solid products. Once I got into CAPI though I never looked back. The biggest set back with CAPI is their stock inventory. Over the last 2 years they are always out of most things and you never know when they will be in stock so it’s hit or miss with them nowadays.
I would get the parts from redco online. Mine is all neutrik and mogami. The wood I had left over from another project I was building but you can use just about any wood you like. Lay out your dimensions on paper first to get an idea of the size you want the box to be etc. you want to build the wooden box to completion and then cut your holes, etc. and then wire it all up. It’s definitely a “project” and takes some time but these sell for upwards of 500 dollars each with this quality. You can absolutely do it yourself if you have the time and energy. Redco has all of the jacks and bulk parts. You need to order a snake cable that has the exact amount of channels you want in your box. Mine is 8 that I built and the one I purchased that you saw also in the video is 16. Make sure you purchase the correct snake cable channel count.
Super video! In regards to the Radial, once you send the signal through the stomp boxes and back to radial, do you take the output of the radial directly in to the interface or hit a preamp on the way back in? Thanks!
I’m coming out of the radial, into the pedal, out of the pedal, back into the radial and into daw. The tracks I’m sending through the radial have already been recorded using whatever preamp I chose so the radial is being used almost like a tone plugin after the fact
Why didn't you connect all your CAPIs through ADC/ D SUB Line inputs of the ASP880? Unlike the TRS line inputs, these will bypass all the circuitry and get you straight to the converters. This way you could actually switch between the ASP or external pres via the ADC button on the front, and you would keep the same conversion accross
Hi, great video, very helpful in so many ways! by the way I noticed that on the direct option input on the dp88, the option you are using as well, that requires the db25 connector, I cannot adjust the gain or input level, so you have to push your pre output to get a fair incoming signal, don’t know if my unit is faulty, don’t seems to me, but with synthesizer output or my soundcraft direct output I’m not getting usable level on the dp88 and therefore in my daw where I have to put gain instances to raise up the level, any of these problems with it? Do you have any of these issues? How do you resolve or do you have any solution?
I haven’t messed with the connections of the dp88 in a long time but I’m pretty sure you can insert into the xlr in and bypass the preamp also. I could be wrong but you may want to take a second look at that feature. You may be able to use the xlr in and bypass as well. I’ve never had gain issues but simple things like making sure your output device is turned up (if it has a volume control of its own) checking to make sure your cables aren’t damaged or aren’t impeding the signal, etc.
Great video! Really appreciate the detail. So we can definitely see that you like GOOD preamps. Are the warm audio really that good? I see some people hate on them and some really like them....I own a few of their mics but not the pres. Do you have any experience with Manley pres? That's all I use at my studio I just have mainly all Manley pres and few mics. I'm interested in trying those CAPI and warm pres though!🙏🏼
I haven’t used Manley preamps but after using CAPI I have no need to pursue much of anything else. I also think the warm audio preamps sound fantastic and are well underpriced considering the sound and consistency of the sound from unit to unit. I always recommend in investing in a few or “enough” good preamps for your recording needs and sticking with them. I use the CAPI as my main preamps and then the UA la610 and warm preamps as additional color preamps. Some people have no need to go beyond their interface preamps which is also fine if that does it for you.
@@roycox4415 hey thanks for getting back🙏🏼 il definitely look into both the CAPI and WARM pres. Just to change up the flavor on a few things. The CAPI to my understanding are the same components as api just that you have to build them yourself for a better price. From your video and also others I have heard CAPI even being slightly slightly better than api. Do they make CAPI in rack unit style pieces?
@@manuellujan5625 I have no experience with Warm Audio, so I cannot speak specifically. What I can say as someone who has fiddled with electronics, I trust a clone preamp (or EQ, or compressor) more readily than I trust a clone microphone. Building circuits is easy. And, with SMD, wave soldering, etc. easier to do super cheap at scale than ever. Will the quality control be as good at scale? No... but the tolerances of contemporary components are so tight that it really doesn't matter all that much. The main thing I'd be concerned about is durability. Cheap (not just "inexpensive," I'm talkin cheap lol) gear does have a tendency to crap out. So why don't I trust cheap mics? First, I didn't say that. 😉 There are some killer cheap mics (Warm may make some - again, I have no experience). But when quality control suffers, I worry about the diaphragms. A microphone diaphragm is not a resistor or capacitor. It's a physical thing. Some inexpensive mics (Lewitt and Aston come to mind) audit their diaphragms very well... and some don't. So yeah. If Warm does, that means you probably have killer mics, because I'm sure their circuits are fine. TL,DR: if you like your WA mics, give the pres a shot. If the mics are good, I'm sure the preamps are too.
Loved the video, even though I can't take some of the preamp talk seriously with the "controlled low end" etc. Especially after watching some great interface reviews that show that almost all modern, even cheap, preamps and ADCs are super linear with extremely low distortion.
i absolutely found the same thing and thought there were absolutely no differences in any preamps, etc. Then i added a set of the capi vp25 preamps and the difference in the fullness of the kick drum outside microphone was vastly different between the capi and the presonus built in preamps i was using at the time. There are a lot of preamps where i cant tell the difference, some preamps i cant tell the difference unless its compiled with a bunch of tracks together like with an entire kit recorded with the audient preamps and then the the capi. Again a big difference in tone to me. Then there are preamps where i absolutely couldn't tell the difference at all. There is definitely a reason that foo fighters track through the old neve board rather than off the shelf interface preamps. The difference is that the interfaces nowadays all track really well so in many cases there isnt a huge need to have higher end preamps unless those minor differences matter to you.
So video,i got a silly question well its not silly to me lol,But if you got stereo outs going into something else stereo,do you use 2 cables to route correct? I always see everyone just using 1 cable.
Yes, if it’s stereo you need a wire from each side going out to a single channel arch going in. My audient id 44 has two channels that I can send out which I have marked as channel 3 out and channel 4 out. If I was sending out a stereo buss I would have to send out of 3 and 4 to two channels of the ins on whatever I was going into. You are correct
The Sonarworks Plugin with the Fixed Curve Profile has always to be running in the background, if i quit Sonarworks i get the normal "untreated" sound again, right? I have the Sonarworks reference with the Mic here, but still kinda figure things out and also building more absorbers, Basstraps etc to get the most out of it. Thanks for the Video, very interesting suggestions! Just filling the Studio Desk Rack holes at the moment and after that i will go with a cranborne 500 ADAT modul, you should check that too, its a great Modul with very new possibilities! :)
yes. so in my case the sonorworks plugin is always in the listen buss section of studio one pro. About once a year ill recalibrate and make an updated profile but yes its always on when mixing or tracking. You bypass the plugin when mixing down or outputting your session so its not burned into the mix. Its a fantastic program that makes a huge difference.
@@roycox4415 wait like you talk about it, its more like a VST version? i remember a few years back i just installed a normal windows software? Do i miss something?
@@VELVET462 yes im using a plugin version of sonorworks. I use the standalone main program to create the profiles and then the plugin within my daw to run the profile
Great Video! I just got my 9th 500 Series module and I'm debating between the API 500V 10 slot or the Lindell Audio 510 w/ External PS. If you had a choice which one would you go with?
I’m partial to the api actually. Really classy high end chassis but my Lindell 6 slot has also worked out nicely so Lindell seems to be a solid choice. I got my api with the power supply for a ridiculous 600.00 dollars off a guy on eBay way back so it was the easy choice considering. I would look around on eBay and see what you can find there first. Lots of people dump great equipment every day!
My low cost studio QUALITY OF LIFE HACKS 1. Paint-markers every color. I paint all over my patch cables and cords so that instead of having 100 identical black cords, all my cords have color coding. Three red stripes on usb interface cable A, three blue stripes on usb interface cable B, Two gold stripes on midi quad interface usb cable A. Every cable is marked, labelled, and color coded. 2. Label maker/printer. Cables are all named on both ends. 3. Cable trays.
I used to run an audient id22, sounded great but i had a couple of issues with the power bus and the repairs were expensive and i was left on my own to deal with a partner after terrible support.
I don’t use the dp88 preamps at all. I only use the dp88 to convert whatever 8 channels I’m going to use as preamps. If I use a preamp that is not automatically connected to the first 8 channels, I then have the option of patching whatever preamp I like to one of the 8 x dp88 Adat ins or use the asp880 ins. All of this is done through the patch bays with ease.
My quarter inch patchbays never introduced any noise wether neutrik nor even cheapo adam halls. Except the jacks were fucked up hiw could this be ? explanation appreciated. anyways nice vudeo. keep goin!
You aren’t connecting your microphone directly to the patch bay, you are connecting it to a preamp first. Some patch bays can actually be xlr patch bays but in most cases you will connect your microphone to a preamp that is wired into your patch bay, not directly to the patch bay itself. In my case I have stage boxes on the floor that are wired to the patch bay. My mics get plugged into whatever preamp I want to use via the floor boxes and then the floor xlr stage boxes are wired to the preamp inputs in my patch bay.
33:18 I'm confused.. can't you just connect the Lunchbox preamps to the ADAT on the ID44? I really want this same setup but thought I can connect it all to the interface without the PreSonus.
Good question. You can’t connect the lunchbox preamps directly to the id44 Adat because the lunchbox doesn’t convert analog to digital by itself. There isn’t an Adat out on the lunchbox. You have to have a device that can transform the analog lunchbox modules into a digital signal. This is why I use the presonus dp88. I come out of the lunchbox via a db25 to xlr 8 channel snake. Those 8 xlr cables are then fed into each channel, 1-8 of the dp88 and then they get converted by that unit into a digital signal which is routed back out and into the id44 via the Adat cable. Aside from the dp88 there are a bunch of other converters you can use as well. There may even be a lunchbox made by other companies that actually converts the analog preamps into digital but I haven’t seen any and haven’t looked hard because my setup works perfectly as it is now. You just have to figure out how to get those analog lunchbox pres into a digital signal like it did. Hope that helps.
@@roycox4415 Thanks!! I thought once you connect the Launchbox via ADAT to the ID44 then it uses the ID44's converters to whatever's plugged into the ADAT. Is there a way to intergrade a Burl converter instead of both the ID44 and the DP88? [only preamps into Burl, into DAW and using a controller for the DAW]. Thank you.
@@SeemoreDunkan that’s incorrect. The id44 accepts Adat connections but the lunchbox doesn’t have digital outs. The id44 doesn’t convert analog to digital from the lunchbox. It just accepts a digital signal from preamps or units that have digital outputs. You still have to convert the lunchbox modules to digital first. You can also use a preamp unit like the asp880 or asp 800 that have digital outputs and those units convert the built in preamp to digital, allowing it to now be sent to the id44 digital in.
I have a home studio with a pair of adams and a sm7b and focusrite clrett and thinking of buying my first analog gear. Im a singer/producer, should i invest in a good quality preamp with eq or a compressor first? Eventually my plan is to own both but this year i can only afford one. I had a warm audio wa73 and warm audio la2a on my list
If you’re happy with your interface I would stick with what you have. You may hear a bit of a jump in quality by moving to a better preamp but the setup you have now is fine with just using plugins. Remember it’s the signal chain as a whole that makes the biggest difference in sound. Meaning, a single semi expensive unit won’t make a huge difference in sound quality on its own. I would probably get a condenser mic for vocals to use in addition to your sm7b before I bought any other outboard gear. You may like the u67 clone that warm makes. It’s killer.
@@roycox4415 i had a akg c414 xlii before this but idk my voice only suits sm7b for some reason. So i was thinking of getting warm audio wa73eq which i guess should increase the overall signal quality of my mic right?
@@oldtimer666 it can yes. You can also get a cloudlifter for around 50-75 on eBay and that will greatly increase the signal also! I use a cloudlifter on my sm7 mics and some of my ribbon mics. Amazing piece of gear
@@roycox4415 I already own a cloud lifter . I think you didn’t quite understand what I asked. My point of using analog compressor and preamp as a signal into my daw would it be night and day diffference compared to what I have right now..…¿
@@oldtimer666 that’s what I mentioned in my first reply. I don’t think it will be a night and day difference actually. It will be different but maybe not huge. Good outboard gear can certainly help but a good example is my la610mkii. It sounds great but if I do a vocal through the audient id44 and a vocal through the la610, they can sound more similar than you would think, especially in a mix context. Now if that outboard gear has EQ like the la610mkii that can make a bigger difference but you can do that with plugins if necessary. You will hear a night and day difference if your entire chain is changed. Meaning outboard preamp into outboard compressor in a treated room and then into a high end interface or console. Single pieces of outboard gear never really made massive differences to me. It was the accumulated effect of many pieces and the WHOLE upgraded audio chain.
I haven’t tried any of the evo interfaces but I’ve heard good things about them. Audient doesn’t seem to compromise on sound quality with any of their products so I’m assuming the newer evo interfaces sound fantastic also.
Is there any interface you have used and can say the converters waooooo you better than the Audient ID44 you use. I know it's preamps are one of the greatest you can get on an audio interface in any price range even when compared to thousands of dollars but how is the AD and DA converters compared to like UA Apollo and RME
I switched over to the audient id44 after directly comparing the conversion against my Apollo twin interface. The id44 sounded better in my opinion. I haven’t matched it up against the newest Apollo units but I love the sound and it’s such a fantastically made interface that I see no need to search further for something newer or “better” at this point. I highly recommend it.
It's stunning how many musicians (especially drummers) who also have a wood workshop. I'll be building my own cabinets, and snake boxes, as well. The price of this stuff passed the term disgusting years ago. Not sure what happened to the music business, but roughly a decade ago, we went from gear being inconveniently "expensive", to flat out unachievable. Thank God the semi-pro gear is now virtually as good as the stupid-expensive, "pro" gear. After going through what you just described, I finally settled on two Presonus Quantums.. I flat out couldn't tell the difference between any of these mic pre's....at least not without doing an A/B comparison which is pointless, IMO. They claim RME is the best. It's not the expense with me...it's justifying the expense. *I refuse to pay 300% more for what amounts to a 5% "perceived" increase in clarity. That makes NO sense to me, unless someone has money to burn. Haven't heard the Audient pre's, but a LOT of people rave about them, and they're affordable. But, I digress...your setup is very, very similar to my own...so, this video was very interesting and relatable to watch. Well done, and thanks for sharing.
There has never been a better time for gear in general. The middle ground sounds amazing and it’s at least ballpark affordable. High end music gear is ridiculous with the expense. I’ve seen a single channel strip box go for 8 grand on sweetwater. I refuse to pay that regardless of what it sounds like. This is also why you see companies like ssl, neve, etc making gear that fits in that middle range price point. Less people are buying the Uber expensive gear nowadays.
@@roycox4415 Well said. You know, I was laughing the other day, about this very issue. There’s a channel I really like called “Home Recording Made Easy”, where he got his start using a bunch of Presonus gear, and to this day, I think has the best “How to” videos on getting started with this stuff. He walks you though absolute ‘square 1”. Then somewhere along the line, he did well for himself, and I lost touch with him, and watched a video the other day about hybrid mixing. He now has a HUGE SSL Orign (I believe). But, was still doing videos under the “Home Recording…” moniker. I sent him a comment asking, who his audience truly is? Does he really think there are a bunch of people who own $60k-$100+K desks, setup in their home, combing RUclips on how to use it??? The whole scenario struck me as outlandish, and incredibly ironic, given the channel model that put him on the map. Anyway, I agree 200%, on the mid-level gear today. Will it hold up, and be supported 5yrs from how?….who knows. But, when it’s literally 25% of the cost of this “pro” gear, it’s still a very easy choice. Thanks again for sharing.
@@bagoodale I think capi sells red and blue dots as well as their own, I’m a fan of the SL red dots, to my ears they beat all the others I’ve tried including Gar, Whistle Rock, capi, diyre, ltlo etc
Got so much to find this video and HIM! So humble! So knowledgeable 😊 🙏🏼
RUclips never fails to amaze me. I came across Roy's channel by accident last night at 3am in the morning sitting down in the bathroom and I could not put it down! I was a pro recording engineer in Hollywood for too many years, retired now and just puttering with my home studio (Apollo Twin X and Luna). Roy is comfortable in his skin in front of the camera which goes a long way to making the videos enjoyable to watch. He is knowledgeable, totally genuine, doesn't say "um" all the time with a smooth delivery no rough edges but with no tacky salesman finish that you feel like taking a shower after you've watched. :) I am a new fan and subscriber! Great info. Best from Tod in Vegas :)
So glad you enjoyed the video! Really really appreciate the comments and I hope it helped out a bit.
@@roycox4415 Hi Roy! Super helpful video you touched on all the right points, pathbays, snakes, CAPI, lunchbox details. It was a tour de force. Just bought more Mogami 2549 ouch! Would like to see you recording, mic selection, tips & tricks that sort of thing. Love to hear your songs. Thanks again. Tod in Vegas (bass player).
@@MrMuppetbaby that’s coming next!
Ditto. Isn’t the LUNA/Apollo Universe amazing?
Agreed, couldn't have said it better.
I just can't understand how this video doesn't have a million views, people who are beginning should definitely see this, I've been into music for 30 years and come from a family of musicians, I can tell you, this guy's the real deal, no nonsense and no advertising, just pure facts, take a bow good sir
You’re too kind. Thanks for taking your time to check it out and thanks for leaving such a killer comment! You are appreciated!
@Roy Cox thank you for making a wonderful video, this will help a lot of people, I hope the youtube algorithm works its magic,
@roycox4415 Im about to get 7 capi fd312 500 series preamp 2 LTLO chromas 500 series 2 Avedis Audio Electronics E27 500 Series Equalizer Module 2010s. Considering getting the LTLO silver bullet mk2. Should I get the Dangerous 2 mix bus plus summing box or is that not necessary. I plan on getting the Lynx Aurora. Am I on the right track? My goal is to have a top of the line home studio for my synthetic and do it all through fl studio i want all the warmth and saturation to then separate all the individual sounds including drums to have a clean Profesional sound that can have more clarity and warmth compared to other mixes when an artist is decided which track they want for their album.
“I don’t need to chase gear, everything sounds amazing as it is” I needed to hear that. I’m sitting back down and only allow myself to buy more gear if I can specifically say what I’m missing. If I can’t get the sound I want to get out of what I have - or if I get to a point where I notice I put the same compressor on the same thing for every session. Chasing gear is a distraction 🐥
Now I finished watching and I suddenly want to buy a patch bay and a lunchbox 😂
Best and most down-to-earth studio video I've seen so far.
Really appreciate the comment!
I'm so glad you mentioned API as your favorite pre. I remember being in a B room somewhere in LA with The Box and I was blown away by my sound. I listened to that beat in the car for hours after the session, pre mix and I was amazed at the clarity of a raw mix. I'd heard vintage Neve and SSL 9K also but the API made an impression I'll never forget.
There’s just something about the tone that gets me every time, especially if you are stacking track after track using the api. Delicious, saturated tone
Passion on this video and delivery instills confidence and inspiration.
Thanks so much! I’m so glad you got something from the video!
making your own rack or getting your own hard wood rack made is the best advise ever, thank you
You are more than welcome. I’m all about saving money on some of the things that are just way overpriced nowadays!
First, I couldn't agree more with you about the Samson S-Patch. I have five of them (I have an Allen & Heath GL2400. So, just more channels.) All of my gear runs through it.
Second, I love that you are super informative, without being conceded. You very much state what you prefer but acknowledge that it's personal taste.
Great video! Love from a fellow home studio nerd!
Really appreciate you taking your time to comment and I’m glad you liked the video.
This is a one of the best videos I have watched in a very long time especially at a time when almost all RUclips channels and videos are more of advertisements than honest reviews of products
Thanks so much for your time and comment! So glad you enjoyed it!
Pls do more and be this consistent. I'm sure gear owners will drop free products at your door step as time goes by but pls stay honest
Excellent advice I was looking at new interface and Audient was on my radar now it's a done deal. Thanks Roy love the setup and CAPI kits, and one of the best patch bay explanations on YT.
Thanks so much. Means a lot!
Dude, your preamp rig is basically exactly what I'm going for rn. I just bought a wa73, then slurged on a stereo pair of API 312's, and I've owned a an LA610 before and know they're killer tube vibes- so my goal is to have the neve clone for vocals, the api's for guitar and drums, and the la610 for bass or really just anything I feel like because it's so F good on anything.
I’ve been searching for a video like yours for a long while and can’t believe I’m just now finding it. Thank you for the wonderful and insightful info. Great video!!
You are more than welcome! Glad you enjoyed it!
I have a Capi VP 26. I love it. It was my first real preamp and I am never parting with it. I plan on buying and building another VP26 so I’ll have a pair. If you had to say in your opinion. Of all the preamps in the Capi line, which ones would be good to track a final mix through? As in mastering. Thanks Roy
@@withnme I would say the vp28 pair if it was for only mastering.
You are a real inspiration, do you know that! Also I just happened to have an Audient ID44 sitting on my desktop, I don't have the experience you do with recording studios and the knowledge of gear you have, so I was wondering if I should upgrade to something else. After this video, I have decided to stick with the ID44. Over here in the UK, everything costs, I would say, at least 25% more, even the things that are made over here! Yes it's a ripoff! I have seen all those DIY products on line before and always wondered about the validity of them and how hard it would be to assemble them, but after watching this video, I might give it a go. I especially like your advice to "make your own cables, " in fact it was all very illuminating. Thanks, really great video!
You can absolutely make your own cables and you’ll end up with the same exact mogami, canare, etc cables for a fraction of the price. I’d give it a try. Order your parts from redco on line
@@roycox4415 Thank you so much!
Can you do a video on noise in the studio, such as emi noise, hums, buzzes, crackles, pops, etc- and how to get rid of that. Also, what sort of recommended cables, etc...
Great video. I recommend doing your own thing to everybody. Build your own racks. Have a vast patchbay, it majes your studio a pleasure. I have a console (A&H GSR24M) Firewire so can either use those analogue pre amps or 500 series via RME 32 way ADAT via USB. A Tascam US2000 Audio Interface for day to day audio. Stilll works but need to upgrade for the software flexibility. Maybe a Focusrite 18i20?
I’ve had Millenia Media and API. Now use three Audient ASP 880S. They’re beautiful sounding units with incredible detail, and excellent converters
Couldn’t agree more!!
I have Apollo x racks and I just added an audient asd880 for 8 channels of spdif adat, I also run the DB25s into a combo patchbay custom made by Audio Engineering at a very reasonable price, so audient is providing 8 analog, 8 line ins and 8 line outs the asp880 it is ten year old tech using Burl Brown converters but sounds great in addition to my Apollo pres
Having my Samson S + patchbays allow for everything from head phone mixes to live room snakes to my new neve shelford channel strips
Couldn’t see running a hybrid protools studio without patch bays, I’m partial to using and xlr or combo for mics then route into the Samsons trs
Very tidy
Tried the 500 series gear but just couldn’t find the love so it’s H racks that I grew up with
Nice, solid review, particularly for those of us without humongous budgets for our home setups. (Though as the vid moved on, it left me in the lurch. I'll never approach what you have).
Thinking of purchasing the Audient id24. They say it has the same converters and pres as the id44. Has inserts/returns like the id44 as well.
Torn between the Audient and the Motu mkII Ultralite as I like the big number of ins/outs the Motu has for my hardware. Don't think the conversion can be bypassed though. A bit of a sticking point. I'm a rookie, though, so I might not know what I'm talking about!
And as they say... Nice rack!
I said the same thing and then as the years went by my equipment grew and grew but everything is reasonable and much more on a home studio level than other videos that show huge consoles, etc
I have 6 elemtron devices in my studio also the blackbox... Sour video inspired me now to try something out . Great vid
Awesome! Glad it helped!
Super nice, lots of great inspiration for a newbie like me! Thanks for that. But I cannot believe you went from talking about the API560 directly to the API527 and skipped the API550b like it wasn't even there! 😄
You’re right. I think I forgot to talk about it in detail but hey it’s an api 550b. I’d probably say that it’s awesome and my favorite EQ for snare top and guitars. Thanks for the comment
I use the Lindell MK2 10 slot and its super solid. If you like DIY I think you'd really dig the JLM Audio LA500a. Sounds great, killer price.
I’ve heard they are great. Have to try one!
Great video. I put off patch bays forever in my home studio but I think Santa may be bringing me one for Christmas.
Absolutely phenomenal video. This should have thousands of likes soon. Great information.
Thanks so much! So glad you enjoyed it!
Really awesome video Roy..Thanks for sharing. You really simplified the process. I have the same Samson and need to get around connecting them to the patchbay
Glad it was helpful!
Amazing video, nice to see your setup and why you made those choices. Very articulate and informative. Thanks!
thanks so much for the comment and kind remarks!
All awesome, the only thing I'd suggest is a change to accommodate a Neve 8816. That thing just sings like you wouldn't believe.
That’s a stellar unit but I can’t use it with the audient id44. I don’t have a line out for every channel coming out of the daw so I wouldn’t be able to make use of its full summing power unfortunately.
@@roycox4415 What are really outrageous bang for buck replacements for your audient are the old Motu 96k 8 channel interfaces. I know...some people laugh but I have my work studio with an Apollo x16, and a friend's holiday house kitted out with the Motu and they sound every bit as good IMO. The summing for me, with a similar setup to you, is the thing that elevates my mixes to being indecipherable from a bigger studio. Each to their own! Great workflow is oftentimes more useful than great gear and I really appreciate that in your rig.
@@juniorvicepresidentofzimba4946 I used to have a motu that sounded fantastic! Great setup.
Fantastic video! I've been rocking an Audient MK 1 ID14 for years and the converters are great to my ear. I run it with an ASP 880 ( these have gotten expensive now, glad i picked one up when i did!) to be able to have 8 in and bypass preamps with external preamps in my 500 series. Doesn't take a lot, just some key pieces and a decent work flow. I'm also just a home hobbiest though. Record myself or mess around with friend's recordings. I have an old Ramsa console too but it gets tricky deciding what to run on the inserts vs running as outboard and then summing using the board. Sometimes hybrid work flow can also be a bit tricky and you have to decide what works best for you. No question though, getting some analog gear in the path makes a huge diff.
Looove my WA73EQ. I have their WA2A and it’s killer as well. Wanted to build a solid vocal chain so I typically run my Shure sm7b into the WA73EQ and then into the Wa2a. Sounds great. I run bass through there as well and it sounds awesome.
Love this video! Where can we listen to “your sound”. I always see RUclips videos but they never tell you “here’s my mix” so we can believe them. Ive been thinking most YouTubies are just making videos for the income and don’t know shit. But they act very believeable that they know good audio. Please let us here your stuff. I would like to buy more gear. Lol.
Take care, and I’m subscribed. 😊
Very useful information without the bias thanks!
You are more than welcome!
Hello Roy,
Thanks for the great Video!! Amazing! I love the way that u talk about your studio and also how simple your systems works! Have a nice time!
Awesome, thank you!
Just finished watching whole video. This is so clear and helpful. Thank,man!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Super helpful video Roy, many thanks from this newbie! Could you talk briefly about input power conditioning if you do any of that? Thanks!
There are two main power conditioner units in the rack. Both are 8 input furmans. The best thing about these is the stable power levels they help keep but also making it much easier to turn on and off a bunch of the rack mounted pieces by only turning on those two units. I really believe that power conditioners are essential.
Love this video tour and detailed reviews! After watching atleast 100 videos looking for information on patchbays, I feel like you're the man that actually might be able to help me?!? I'm looking to integrate a patch bay into my home studio setup but I need some clarity on how to make the connections. Perhaps you might shed some light? I've got an Apollo Twin (2 channel thunderbolt with a UAD satellite underneath for more DSP)... a 2-channel BAE 1073 preamp (i'll probably end up recording through this most of the time and bypassing the Apollo preamps)...then I've got a couple compressors: the Universal Audio 1176ln & an "Audioscape" LA2a compressor. My question is this...how do i get from my mic or instrument source to my Apollo interface at line level WITH the ability to patch into the preamp and bypass a compressor OR use both compressors if I wanted to? I'll need to choose the right patchbay and think through every connection before purchasing cables and all that.
it seems like you have some nice gear! the only problem Im seeing is with the Apollo twin and your lack of an A to D converter. the only way to completely bypass the preamps in the twin (I use to own one) is to use the optical port on the back of the Apollo. the problem is that those BAE preamps do NOT have an optical out allowing you to go straight from the preamps to your Apollo optical in, allowing you to bypass the preamps of the Apollo. I had this issue with my capi/api preamps and the Apollo twin. This is why I purchased the presonus dp88. That device allows me the ability to convert 8 channels to an optical out and go into the optical in of my audient id44 or in your case the Apollo. The other issue is that they no longer make the dp88 so you either have to find one used or look for another converter that can transfer your bae preamps into a digital signal and then into the Apollo's digital in. I rarely use my interface preamps so the dp88 is taking in 8 channels of outboard preamps and converting them into a digital signal which is then going to my interface. Unless you do this you will be "doubling up" on your preamps by sending the bae into the Apollo's actual preamps. Your ultimate goal is to do what I have done in this video. You want to take a patch bay, send every out and in from your outboard gear to the outs and ins of the patch bay so that all of your connections are made at the patch bay itself. If you go back to my video and watch that section closely you will see that the outs of my compressors, eq's and preamps are all in the top rows of the patch bays and the ins are in the bottom rows. You need to get at least a 2 channel A to D converter to transfer your gear to digital and then hook it into your patch bay. Go on sweet water and see what they have that fits your budget. Hope that helps and let me know if you have any other questions. Roy
@@roycox4415 Hey Roy thanks for taking the time to respond in such great detail, really appreciate you!!! Thank you. I'm going to look in the A to D converter for sure. Last question though, since you know the Apollo pretty well, isn't it true that I can go line level into the 2 channels that are available by using a balanced 1/4" into the combo inputs and selecting "line" rather than "mic" in order to bypass the preamps? Or is the OPTICAL IN the solution you're recommending in order to properly incorporate the use of a patch bay in the manner in which we've already discussed? Thank you again for your time. very gracious of you.
@@matthewansell3978 I'm pretty sure that only the rack mounted Apollo units have bypassable preamps, not the Apollo twin unfortunately. I also highly recommend using the patch bay setup. Brings everything together nicely making it way easier to send out of the daw to any of your compressors or to go into the daw and audition your preamps, etc.
I truly enjoyed listening to you. I have the simplest of setups. Yamaha XS8 keys, Neumann U 87 AI, UA 6176, RME Fireface converter and DP for software. I want to learn how to mic my drum set so.... I am going to watch your video 10 more times. And thanks again for such a direct approach to such subjective information. Obviously, very knowledgeable opinion and worth all it's weight. Very Cool!
Make sure to watch my drum mixing and micing video also. It will help you a lot!
Excellent!
Thanks for the video.
One question; How you control/determine/adjust the sound of something (like drums, for example) recorded, within that same room situation? I mean we cannot hear the separate sound from the actual drums vs the recorded sound on the speakers or headphones.
Wow, I thought I had a decent home studio, but now I feel like I'm slumming it. LOL Great video! Where can we hear some of your music? Cheers!
Maybe one day!
A patch bay is about the best money I've spent in my studio. So flexible. So, so handy. I can't imagine living without it now.
And thank you for sharing your experience here. Very helpful stuff.
Another vote for the Audient interfaces (I have a iD14 mkii, would have got the 44 but none in stock when I needed one and haven't needed more in/outs yet but that is about to change). Excellent value for money.
And also agree about the Warm 73 eq. I have a single channel (would like to double it). Warm can be a bit hit and miss but the 73 is decent IMHO.
I agree! Thanks for the comment!
I keep coming back to this great video. Thank you. I have had no luck finding a dp88. Are there are any other adat converters with the preamp bypass that you can recommend? Thanks.
I can’t seem to find any either that allow you to completely bypass the preamps and just use the 8 channels of Adat conversion. You can probably do this with a high end rme or lynx setup but that would be a huge price increase over what I paid for the dp88. Maybe email Sweetwater and ask them that same question. Would like to know myself actually. Thanks for the comment!
Just occurred to me that the Cranborne Audio 500ADAT could be a great candidate. I considered it overpriced as a lunchbox, but if you need conversion then it's a lot more reasonable... combining a chassis with ADAT I/O and a summing mixer, it looks like a pretty compelling option.
Great Video Roy, I am currently in the process of building my first real "Profesional"/working studio in Mexico. It is a huge challenge deciding on gear because everything costs so much more here due to 16% import tax and retail markup. I love Warm Audio but i think I am going to go with the DIY Recording Equipment 500 series 1073 clones. 500 bucks for a great rep seems hard to beat! have you any experience with the diy kits from them?
i used a spectrum anyalizer with white / pink noise and and EQ to fix my sound issues in my room....
Awesome content! Just came across your channel. So refreshing to see a fellow DIY’er! Sub’d! 👍🏻
Thanks for the sub!
1st time seeing your content, love it. Liked and subscribed 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Wow- great studio-great video production-thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks for watching!
Stupid great video. Thanks for putting it up!!! Gonna look into the Sampson S patchbay. I've gone on a silly acquisition of older Beringer vintager series starved plate tube units. I've been looking for an effective way to connect it into my home studio set up. This might help me out.
I'm struggling with the amount of aux inputs in my interfaces. I ended up using a spdif two channel out da/ad convert back to spdif in for a bus mix... But that is all I have unless I use my mic pres in my interface.
Still looking for a good interface with better aux input options
Thanks for the comment. So glad you liked the video!
How do you do the word clock to accomodate 20 in to the id44? I’ve been trying using the wordclock out of the id44 and connect it to the asp800 and steinberg ur824, but I’m still having some issues like the audio has some “clocking” interference.
How do you set the clocking when using id44 along with your asp880 and dp88?
Thanks before man!
That’s a great question. The biggest thing is setting one of your digital sources as your main clock. In my case I have three choices, the dp88, the id44 or the asp880. I was noticing when tracking that I would get occasional shifts in clocking interference that I could hear in the headphones which sounded like the signal getting lower and then subtly higher at times. I would then get clicks and pops on occasion. I tried all three as the clock source and I would still get this occasional interference. It didn’t stop completely until I ran a hard Bnc cable line from my id44 clock input to the dp88 clock input and then to the asp880 clock input which has a termination setting on it so it’s meant to be used as the last in the clocking signal chain. It terminates with a 75ohm switch setting. I then set the id44 as the source (where the clock signal starts) and I never heard any interference ever again. The exact cables I used were found easily on eBay and are the Superbat SDI Cable BNC Cable 3G/6G cables. I got one in a 3ft length and one in a 10ft length but your setup may require different lengths to meet your connection needs. It worked though. No issues since.
Welp.. I wasn’t going to get a patch bay.. but now.. 🤣 Thanks in advance for helping me save some time and prevent future headaches.
Love the money saving diy aspect
Me too! Thanks for watching
Audient preamps and jfet di's are arguably the best on the market for a "clean" sound.
couldn't agree more!!!
Aren't Audient pres and Jfet supposed to have a bit of color to them?
yes, every preamp has a bit of its own color, with some being far more noticeable in color than others but the audience preamps, as I mentioned in the video, have a nice warmth and clarity but aren't nearly as colored as the api or capi preamps.
@@roycox4415
Thanks for taking the time to reply, Roy. Your studio tour was excellent.
@@rjb7569 never hesitate to reach out!
Awesome video!! Thanks for sharing.
this guy needs a pbj for his lunch boxes although it's a very informative video
This was so incredibly helpful!!
It's hilarious that you say "Classic Audio Products of Illinois" instead of CAPI 😅They even call themselves CAPI now. lol Also the Radial "E-X-T-C" instead of "Ecstasy". Just cracks me up!
You have built a fantastic studio and workflow! I love all of it!
I actually do call it CAPI in the video but wanted to make sure someone new knew exactly what they were called in case they wanted to look them up
Hey Roy. I've been enjoying your videos and they have been very helpful. I seem to be receiving some sort of feedback when I stack my outputs and inputs from my audio interface to my patchbay, so I have a questions about how you are running your xlr boxes to your interface. I have an 8 channel interface. If I were to run 8 XLRs from your box to my interface, we would then not have any inputs on the interface to run them to the patchbay. Are you using something in between your boxes and Audient 880 to have all of the Audient 880s inputs on the bottom row of the patchbay? Because if I go out and in from my interface, I get bad ground loop feedback. The top patch bay makes more sense to me because you would be running the XLRs through the preamps first which would leave the inputs of the ADAT open for the patchbay. Thanks again for these videos!
Exactly. You have to think of the patch bays as a flat layout of your xlr boxes and racked equipment. I’m picking the most used preamps I have and normalling them to the dp88 8 channels of Adat 1. I’m getting zero feedback or noise with my setup. The only way you could have back feedback is either something is hooked up incorrectly or your daw monitoring is active at the same time as your interface monitoring so you are hearing both at the same time causing a delay/feedback loop, etc.
One follow up question... with the cost of anything API/ CAPI these days, what do you think of the use of UAD API suite for example vs. the hardware pieces? Hardware obviously sounds better but the EQ's are SO close these days that I wonder if money is better spent on the preamp end vs the EQ.
If I were to put money into anything these days it would still be good outboard preamps like the CAPI or API, etc. In my comparisons the preamps make the biggest differences in the final product to me.before the CAPI preamps I was using just my interface preamps and I think I had a presonus 8 channel interface. It sounded great but after tracking through the CAPI preamps, the raw recordings sounded 80 percent done already to me. There is also a difference in the plug-in EQ/compressors and I still prefer the hardware in some cases but in a finished mix it’s harder to tell the difference now.
Roy, what do you think about Black lion audio’s API clone preamp. B12A. The rack of 4 seems like a very good deal when it seems to work out to about 250-275 per channel.
Thx
@@Steviee8 I haven’t tried those yet but I can’t imagine them being terrible. Black lion audio makes some solid products. Once I got into CAPI though I never looked back. The biggest set back with CAPI is their stock inventory. Over the last 2 years they are always out of most things and you never know when they will be in stock so it’s hit or miss with them nowadays.
Would love to know what resources you would recommend to build one of those stage boxes. They look super interesting! Is it just a snake?
I would get the parts from redco online. Mine is all neutrik and mogami. The wood I had left over from another project I was building but you can use just about any wood you like. Lay out your dimensions on paper first to get an idea of the size you want the box to be etc. you want to build the wooden box to completion and then cut your holes, etc. and then wire it all up. It’s definitely a “project” and takes some time but these sell for upwards of 500 dollars each with this quality. You can absolutely do it yourself if you have the time and energy. Redco has all of the jacks and bulk parts. You need to order a snake cable that has the exact amount of channels you want in your box. Mine is 8 that I built and the one I purchased that you saw also in the video is 16. Make sure you purchase the correct snake cable channel count.
Super video! In regards to the Radial, once you send the signal through the stomp boxes and back to radial, do you take the output of the radial directly in to the interface or hit a preamp on the way back in? Thanks!
I’m coming out of the radial, into the pedal, out of the pedal, back into the radial and into daw. The tracks I’m sending through the radial have already been recorded using whatever preamp I chose so the radial is being used almost like a tone plugin after the fact
@@roycox4415 thank you for taking the time to reply.
Why didn't you connect all your CAPIs through ADC/ D SUB Line inputs of the ASP880?
Unlike the TRS line inputs, these will bypass all the circuitry and get you straight to the converters.
This way you could actually switch between the ASP or external pres via the ADC button on the front, and you would keep the same conversion accross
I’m bypassing all of the circuitry in the same way through the dp88. Direct to converter also
I have the ID44 and love it.
Hi, great video, very helpful in so many ways! by the way I noticed that on the direct option input on the dp88, the option you are using as well, that requires the db25 connector, I cannot adjust the gain or input level, so you have to push your pre output to get a fair incoming signal, don’t know if my unit is faulty, don’t seems to me, but with synthesizer output or my soundcraft direct output I’m not getting usable level on the dp88 and therefore in my daw where I have to put gain instances to raise up the level, any of these problems with it? Do you have any of these issues? How do you resolve or do you have any solution?
I haven’t messed with the connections of the dp88 in a long time but I’m pretty sure you can insert into the xlr in and bypass the preamp also. I could be wrong but you may want to take a second look at that feature. You may be able to use the xlr in and bypass as well. I’ve never had gain issues but simple things like making sure your output device is turned up (if it has a volume control of its own) checking to make sure your cables aren’t damaged or aren’t impeding the signal, etc.
I have a lunchbox and want to connect it to my Presonus AR16c, I have bought insert cables from jack to xlr, what do I do now?
Thanks a lot for all the explaining
My pleasure
Great stuff, thanks for that - S-patch user here 😎
They are great patch bays!
Great video! Really appreciate the detail. So we can definitely see that you like GOOD preamps. Are the warm audio really that good? I see some people hate on them and some really like them....I own a few of their mics but not the pres. Do you have any experience with Manley pres? That's all I use at my studio I just have mainly all Manley pres and few mics. I'm interested in trying those CAPI and warm pres though!🙏🏼
I haven’t used Manley preamps but after using CAPI I have no need to pursue much of anything else. I also think the warm audio preamps sound fantastic and are well underpriced considering the sound and consistency of the sound from unit to unit. I always recommend in investing in a few or “enough” good preamps for your recording needs and sticking with them. I use the CAPI as my main preamps and then the UA la610 and warm preamps as additional color preamps. Some people have no need to go beyond their interface preamps which is also fine if that does it for you.
@@roycox4415 hey thanks for getting back🙏🏼 il definitely look into both the CAPI and WARM pres. Just to change up the flavor on a few things. The CAPI to my understanding are the same components as api just that you have to build them yourself for a better price. From your video and also others I have heard CAPI even being slightly slightly better than api. Do they make CAPI in rack unit style pieces?
@@manuellujan5625 I have no experience with Warm Audio, so I cannot speak specifically. What I can say as someone who has fiddled with electronics, I trust a clone preamp (or EQ, or compressor) more readily than I trust a clone microphone.
Building circuits is easy. And, with SMD, wave soldering, etc. easier to do super cheap at scale than ever. Will the quality control be as good at scale? No... but the tolerances of contemporary components are so tight that it really doesn't matter all that much. The main thing I'd be concerned about is durability. Cheap (not just "inexpensive," I'm talkin cheap lol) gear does have a tendency to crap out.
So why don't I trust cheap mics? First, I didn't say that. 😉 There are some killer cheap mics (Warm may make some - again, I have no experience). But when quality control suffers, I worry about the diaphragms. A microphone diaphragm is not a resistor or capacitor. It's a physical thing. Some inexpensive mics (Lewitt and Aston come to mind) audit their diaphragms very well... and some don't. So yeah. If Warm does, that means you probably have killer mics, because I'm sure their circuits are fine.
TL,DR: if you like your WA mics, give the pres a shot. If the mics are good, I'm sure the preamps are too.
@@VinceWhitacre that's probably the best advice I've ever received on this subject thank you.
@@manuellujan5625 hope it helps!
Loved the video, even though I can't take some of the preamp talk seriously with the "controlled low end" etc. Especially after watching some great interface reviews that show that almost all modern, even cheap, preamps and ADCs are super linear with extremely low distortion.
i absolutely found the same thing and thought there were absolutely no differences in any preamps, etc. Then i added a set of the capi vp25 preamps and the difference in the fullness of the kick drum outside microphone was vastly different between the capi and the presonus built in preamps i was using at the time. There are a lot of preamps where i cant tell the difference, some preamps i cant tell the difference unless its compiled with a bunch of tracks together like with an entire kit recorded with the audient preamps and then the the capi. Again a big difference in tone to me. Then there are preamps where i absolutely couldn't tell the difference at all. There is definitely a reason that foo fighters track through the old neve board rather than off the shelf interface preamps. The difference is that the interfaces nowadays all track really well so in many cases there isnt a huge need to have higher end preamps unless those minor differences matter to you.
So video,i got a silly question well its not silly to me lol,But if you got stereo outs going into something else stereo,do you use 2 cables to
route correct?
I always see everyone just using 1 cable.
Yes, if it’s stereo you need a wire from each side going out to a single channel arch going in. My audient id 44 has two channels that I can send out which I have marked as channel 3 out and channel 4 out. If I was sending out a stereo buss I would have to send out of 3 and 4 to two channels of the ins on whatever I was going into. You are correct
@@roycox4415 Thanks my man…🫡🫡🫡
Bass traps supposed to be much thicker. What material is this?
The Sonarworks Plugin with the Fixed Curve Profile has always to be running in the background, if i quit Sonarworks i get the normal "untreated" sound again, right? I have the Sonarworks reference with the Mic here, but still kinda figure things out and also building more absorbers, Basstraps etc to get the most out of it.
Thanks for the Video, very interesting suggestions! Just filling the Studio Desk Rack holes at the moment and after that i will go with a cranborne 500 ADAT modul, you should check that too, its a great Modul with very new possibilities! :)
yes. so in my case the sonorworks plugin is always in the listen buss section of studio one pro. About once a year ill recalibrate and make an updated profile but yes its always on when mixing or tracking. You bypass the plugin when mixing down or outputting your session so its not burned into the mix. Its a fantastic program that makes a huge difference.
@@roycox4415 wait like you talk about it, its more like a VST version? i remember a few years back i just installed a normal windows software? Do i miss something?
@@VELVET462 yes im using a plugin version of sonorworks. I use the standalone main program to create the profiles and then the plugin within my daw to run the profile
@@roycox4415 thanks, it makes more sense now!
Great Video! I just got my 9th 500 Series module and I'm debating between the API 500V 10 slot or the Lindell Audio 510 w/ External PS. If you had a choice which one would you go with?
I’m partial to the api actually. Really classy high end chassis but my Lindell 6 slot has also worked out nicely so Lindell seems to be a solid choice. I got my api with the power supply for a ridiculous 600.00 dollars off a guy on eBay way back so it was the easy choice considering. I would look around on eBay and see what you can find there first. Lots of people dump great equipment every day!
@@roycox4415 Nice! Yeah I LOVE eBay! I just purchased a new API 500v from Guitar Center for $754. I had a 20% coupon in my email!
Im not anywhere near tracking live drums. If I'm wanting to go DIY pre/eq and just record vocals/DI where do you recommend i start?
Do you mean diy as in tracking the vocals yourself or diy pre/EQ as in building the pre/end yourself and then tracking vocals?
@@roycox4415 DIY building modules
A true Leicaman. Brilliant.
My low cost studio QUALITY OF LIFE HACKS
1. Paint-markers every color. I paint all over my patch cables and cords so that instead of having 100 identical black cords, all my cords have color coding. Three red stripes on usb interface cable A, three blue stripes on usb interface cable B, Two gold stripes on midi quad interface usb cable A. Every cable is marked, labelled, and color coded.
2. Label maker/printer. Cables are all named on both ends.
3. Cable trays.
I used to run an audient id22, sounded great but i had a couple of issues with the power bus and the repairs were expensive and i was left on my own to deal with a partner after terrible support.
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for the video! What If you would like to record with the other pre amps other than the 8 pre amps that are already connected to the DP88?
I don’t use the dp88 preamps at all. I only use the dp88 to convert whatever 8 channels I’m going to use as preamps. If I use a preamp that is not automatically connected to the first 8 channels, I then have the option of patching whatever preamp I like to one of the 8 x dp88 Adat ins or use the asp880 ins. All of this is done through the patch bays with ease.
@@roycox4415 I see it clearer now thanks for the help!
My quarter inch patchbays never introduced any noise wether neutrik nor even cheapo adam halls. Except the jacks were fucked up hiw could this be ? explanation appreciated. anyways nice vudeo. keep goin!
How do you connect the XLR input from the microphone to the patch bay?
You aren’t connecting your microphone directly to the patch bay, you are connecting it to a preamp first. Some patch bays can actually be xlr patch bays but in most cases you will connect your microphone to a preamp that is wired into your patch bay, not directly to the patch bay itself. In my case I have stage boxes on the floor that are wired to the patch bay. My mics get plugged into whatever preamp I want to use via the floor boxes and then the floor xlr stage boxes are wired to the preamp inputs in my patch bay.
Great video! Thank you!
Thanks so much for watching!
33:18 I'm confused.. can't you just connect the Lunchbox preamps to the ADAT on the ID44? I really want this same setup but thought I can connect it all to the interface without the PreSonus.
Good question. You can’t connect the lunchbox preamps directly to the id44 Adat because the lunchbox doesn’t convert analog to digital by itself. There isn’t an Adat out on the lunchbox. You have to have a device that can transform the analog lunchbox modules into a digital signal. This is why I use the presonus dp88. I come out of the lunchbox via a db25 to xlr 8 channel snake. Those 8 xlr cables are then fed into each channel, 1-8 of the dp88 and then they get converted by that unit into a digital signal which is routed back out and into the id44 via the Adat cable. Aside from the dp88 there are a bunch of other converters you can use as well. There may even be a lunchbox made by other companies that actually converts the analog preamps into digital but I haven’t seen any and haven’t looked hard because my setup works perfectly as it is now. You just have to figure out how to get those analog lunchbox pres into a digital signal like it did. Hope that helps.
@@roycox4415 Thanks!! I thought once you connect the Launchbox via ADAT to the ID44 then it uses the ID44's converters to whatever's plugged into the ADAT.
Is there a way to intergrade a Burl converter instead of both the ID44 and the DP88? [only preamps into Burl, into DAW and using a controller for the DAW].
Thank you.
@@SeemoreDunkan that’s incorrect. The id44 accepts Adat connections but the lunchbox doesn’t have digital outs. The id44 doesn’t convert analog to digital from the lunchbox. It just accepts a digital signal from preamps or units that have digital outputs. You still have to convert the lunchbox modules to digital first. You can also use a preamp unit like the asp880 or asp 800 that have digital outputs and those units convert the built in preamp to digital, allowing it to now be sent to the id44 digital in.
@@roycox4415 Thank you SO much for clearing that up :)
great video!
Thanks so much!
I have a home studio with a pair of adams and a sm7b and focusrite clrett and thinking of buying my first analog gear. Im a singer/producer, should i invest in a good quality preamp with eq or a compressor first? Eventually my plan is to own both but this year i can only afford one. I had a warm audio wa73 and warm audio la2a on my list
If you’re happy with your interface I would stick with what you have. You may hear a bit of a jump in quality by moving to a better preamp but the setup you have now is fine with just using plugins. Remember it’s the signal chain as a whole that makes the biggest difference in sound. Meaning, a single semi expensive unit won’t make a huge difference in sound quality on its own. I would probably get a condenser mic for vocals to use in addition to your sm7b before I bought any other outboard gear. You may like the u67 clone that warm makes. It’s killer.
@@roycox4415 i had a akg c414 xlii before this but idk my voice only suits sm7b for some reason. So i was thinking of getting warm audio wa73eq which i guess should increase the overall signal quality of my mic right?
@@oldtimer666 it can yes. You can also get a cloudlifter for around 50-75 on eBay and that will greatly increase the signal also! I use a cloudlifter on my sm7 mics and some of my ribbon mics. Amazing piece of gear
@@roycox4415 I already own a cloud lifter . I think you didn’t quite understand what I asked. My point of using analog compressor and preamp as a signal into my daw would it be night and day diffference compared to what I have right now..…¿
@@oldtimer666 that’s what I mentioned in my first reply. I don’t think it will be a night and day difference actually. It will be different but maybe not huge. Good outboard gear can certainly help but a good example is my la610mkii. It sounds great but if I do a vocal through the audient id44 and a vocal through the la610, they can sound more similar than you would think, especially in a mix context. Now if that outboard gear has EQ like the la610mkii that can make a bigger difference but you can do that with plugins if necessary. You will hear a night and day difference if your entire chain is changed. Meaning outboard preamp into outboard compressor in a treated room and then into a high end interface or console. Single pieces of outboard gear never really made massive differences to me. It was the accumulated effect of many pieces and the WHOLE upgraded audio chain.
if you like the HS you should try the MSP's
What's that song in the intro?
🔥🔥🔥Great video ✊🏾🎵🎵
What do you think of the new Audient Evo stuff?
I haven’t tried any of the evo interfaces but I’ve heard good things about them. Audient doesn’t seem to compromise on sound quality with any of their products so I’m assuming the newer evo interfaces sound fantastic also.
Is there any interface you have used and can say the converters waooooo you better than the Audient ID44 you use. I know it's preamps are one of the greatest you can get on an audio interface in any price range even when compared to thousands of dollars but how is the AD and DA converters compared to like UA Apollo and RME
I switched over to the audient id44 after directly comparing the conversion against my Apollo twin interface. The id44 sounded better in my opinion. I haven’t matched it up against the newest Apollo units but I love the sound and it’s such a fantastically made interface that I see no need to search further for something newer or “better” at this point. I highly recommend it.
@@roycox4415 I have used the Audient ID14 MKi and presently using the Mkii. Hoping to upgrade to the ID44 mkii
You have a better rack because of your effort. Im going to build a slanted rack from your motivation.
love it! please share the final rack!!! would love to see it!
It's stunning how many musicians (especially drummers) who also have a wood workshop. I'll be building my own cabinets, and snake boxes, as well. The price of this stuff passed the term disgusting years ago. Not sure what happened to the music business, but roughly a decade ago, we went from gear being inconveniently "expensive", to flat out unachievable. Thank God the semi-pro gear is now virtually as good as the stupid-expensive, "pro" gear. After going through what you just described, I finally settled on two Presonus Quantums.. I flat out couldn't tell the difference between any of these mic pre's....at least not without doing an A/B comparison which is pointless, IMO. They claim RME is the best. It's not the expense with me...it's justifying the expense. *I refuse to pay 300% more for what amounts to a 5% "perceived" increase in clarity. That makes NO sense to me, unless someone has money to burn. Haven't heard the Audient pre's, but a LOT of people rave about them, and they're affordable. But, I digress...your setup is very, very similar to my own...so, this video was very interesting and relatable to watch. Well done, and thanks for sharing.
There has never been a better time for gear in general. The middle ground sounds amazing and it’s at least ballpark affordable. High end music gear is ridiculous with the expense. I’ve seen a single channel strip box go for 8 grand on sweetwater. I refuse to pay that regardless of what it sounds like. This is also why you see companies like ssl, neve, etc making gear that fits in that middle range price point. Less people are buying the Uber expensive gear nowadays.
@@roycox4415 Well said. You know, I was laughing the other day, about this very issue. There’s a channel I really like called “Home Recording Made Easy”, where he got his start using a bunch of Presonus gear, and to this day, I think has the best “How to” videos on getting started with this stuff. He walks you though absolute ‘square 1”. Then somewhere along the line, he did well for himself, and I lost touch with him, and watched a video the other day about hybrid mixing. He now has a HUGE SSL Orign (I believe). But, was still doing videos under the “Home Recording…” moniker. I sent him a comment asking, who his audience truly is? Does he really think there are a bunch of people who own $60k-$100+K desks, setup in their home, combing RUclips on how to use it??? The whole scenario struck me as outlandish, and incredibly ironic, given the channel model that put him on the map. Anyway, I agree 200%, on the mid-level gear today. Will it hold up, and be supported 5yrs from how?….who knows. But, when it’s literally 25% of the cost of this “pro” gear, it’s still a very easy choice. Thanks again for sharing.
nice video - well done.
Thank you very much!
Fantastic channel. Subscribe absolutely loved this. You should have way more subs RUclips get your shit together this guys great
That’s really kind and much appreciated. Brand new video coming out in a few days!
Subscribed 🤘
thanks for the info Mr cocks it was great!
Hs6???
Meant to say hs7. It’s the 6.5 inch speaker so I always think 6
Right on
Squirrelling
Birch you say
Yes. 3/4 inch Baltic birch ply sheets
Red Dots and Blue Dots are SPECIFICALLY Scott Liebers designation, all the copycats are riding his coattails on using that designation, simple fact
That is correct. I bought all of mine from Scott himself.
So capi does not sell the red dot opamps that are your favorite? Great video by the way!
@@bagoodale I think capi sells red and blue dots as well as their own, I’m a fan of the SL red dots, to my ears they beat all the others I’ve tried including Gar, Whistle Rock, capi, diyre, ltlo etc
"It (the Warm audio) has that Neve vibe. Does it sounds like a 1073? I could not care less.".....................united-statian's brain at it's best.
It made an 8 xD
God Bless Roy Cox 🙏🎸
God Bless President Trump 🙏🇺🇲