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Trance Forum ť ť Forum Equipment - monitor controller vs. preamp for volume regulation

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monitor controller vs. preamp for volume regulation

PoM
IsraTrance Full Member

Started Topics : 162
Posts : 8087
Posted : Jul 3, 2011 16:01

mate i have the tc thingy,for the price it s good but it s crap ,you get what you pay for, after few months of use (almost never touching the knob) it started to make noise when i adjust the volume knob, left and right chanel are not well calibrated in 1/4 if not more of the range of the knob,would not be surprised it affect other things in the sounds... still good to protect your ears of audio burst and to write some tunes but when highest fidelity is needed no way i would use this in my main monitoring chain .

imo get the tc and later if you update your sound interface or d/a get something with integrated volume control .

klippel
Stereofeld

Started Topics : 91
Posts : 1153
Posted : Jul 4, 2011 09:48

Quote:

On 2011-07-03 16:01, PoM wrote:
imo get the tc and later if you update your sound interface or d/a get something with integrated volume control .

this mate. cheers for your help. that was exactly what i was gonna do!

http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/stereofeld-frequenzwechsel
"I've always been a believer in musical repetition to draw in the listener and make the music hypnotic. Another thing I believe in is repetition." Alan Parsons

klippel
Stereofeld

Started Topics : 91
Posts : 1153
Posted : Jul 15, 2011 11:01

so i got that tc level pilot and tested it yesterday. so far i am impressed, totally uncoloured sound an believe me, my monitors tell me every dirty secret in the monitoring chain. very clear sound and i have no r - l bias as you mentioned you experience pom.. all the way left and right channel are equally loud.
really smooth hands on feeling as well. good bang for the money so far.. now i just hope it will last in this working condition

i am still impressed about the sound quality of the rme 9632.. now that i hear it directly

PoM
IsraTrance Full Member

Started Topics : 162
Posts : 8087
Posted : Jul 15, 2011 15:38

nice mate maybe they fixed it on newer unit i know it was a common problem.. rme sound ok yes as long as you don t need critical recording and listening like in mastering situation,for electronic music it s great ...
also when recording lot of source a better a/d will make a full tune sounding a bit better, it can make a small difference that is not that small for many but it s when highest quality is needed and budget is there..

klippel
Stereofeld

Started Topics : 91
Posts : 1153
Posted : Jul 15, 2011 15:41

Quote:

On 2011-07-15 15:38, PoM wrote:
nice mate maybe they fixed it on newer unit i know i was a common problem.. rme sound ok yes as long as you dont do critical recording like in a mastering situation.

well yeah, it is still more limited then my monitors and definitely not the end of the story, but for 200 euros used in mint condition this baby does a very nice job for years now. bang for the buck wise this is insane quality. will not keep my hands of a dedicated d/a converter that i already hat here for testing though someday ;-)

PoM
IsraTrance Full Member

Started Topics : 162
Posts : 8087
Posted : Jul 15, 2011 15:48

i used that card for years too , lot of bang for the buck with this card, rock stable.. you can find some cheap lavry da10 or mytek secondhand , not sure how good it is, it s suposed to be in a different class than rme (i had some file recorded on prism and lavry and i have to say i have been disapointed with lavry blue a/d so now i have some doubt about their d/a too..i m not sure it s transparent)

Colin OOOD
Moderator

Started Topics : 95
Posts : 5380
Posted : Jul 18, 2011 23:46

When the time comes for you to upgrade from the TC unit, this is supposed to be very good, with a passive audio path:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/presonus_central_station.htm
...although you'd probably want to get this too:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/presonus_csr1_control_station.htm

There's also a cheaper unit by the same people:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/presonus_monitor_station.htm

Mastering - http://mastering.OOOD.net :: www.is.gd/mastering
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Contact for bookings/mastering - colin@oood.net

klippel
Stereofeld

Started Topics : 91
Posts : 1153
Posted : Jul 19, 2011 08:26

@pom: what are you using now dac or soundcard wise if you used the rme before??

@colin: thanks for the tip mate, will look into that

up to now i do not feel a need to replace the tc as it is refreshingly uncoloured in the chain after several test session, but who knows what it sounds like if i upgrade the rme with a dedicated DAC.

PoM
IsraTrance Full Member

Started Topics : 162
Posts : 8087
Posted : Jul 19, 2011 21:57

metric halo,great company, well thought products ,great drivers ,great sounds ,great dsp but sadly mac only and expensive.

with the 9632 that is a great card with lot of digital i/o and midi you could just try some d/a and see if it worth it for you.
mytek or lavry da 10 are suposed to be good, the lavry have built in analog volume control.
it depends your needs if you want a monitoring chain wihtout compromise , to write tunes not really worht it even the cheapest card are good enought.

PoM
IsraTrance Full Member

Started Topics : 162
Posts : 8087
Posted : Jul 19, 2011 22:50

Quote:

On 2011-07-19 08:26, klippel wrote:
up to now i do not feel a need to replace the tc as it is refreshingly uncoloured in the chain after several test session, but who knows what it sounds like if i upgrade the rme with a dedicated DAC.

to ear difference with the tc you could record audio passing to it , then record the same audio just from ad/da loop and invert the phase of one and you will hear the difference.. never bothered doing this..
if you want to see if l/r are well calibrated record a mono sound passing to the tc and look if l and r have the same volume on the recorded file

yep try a dac, on your monitoring it could make a nice difference, it also depends about experience to apreciate subtility and if it worth it for you ,small improvments are expensive...
with thomann and most store you can get your money back you will just have to pay for the post to send it back..so imo if you need one d/a try and report

PoM
IsraTrance Full Member

Started Topics : 162
Posts : 8087
Posted : Jul 19, 2011 23:35

Quote:

On 2011-07-19 22:50, PoM wrote:
if you want to see if l/r are well calibrated record a mono sound passing to the tc and look if l and r have the same volume on the recorded file

if u wanna try this use some noise from a synth to make it more easy but it seems yours dont have the issue or its maybe more sublte in yours than mine.

if there is some difference in sound i guess even with good da you wont hear it, you need to a/b at exaclty the same volume it s not easy to set up . listening with the tc then unplug it to listen wihtout is not critical enought. the way i said earlier by recording the same file with and without and do a null test is more easy to set up

klippel
Stereofeld

Started Topics : 91
Posts : 1153
Posted : Jul 20, 2011 08:23

i am an audiophile gearslut, so a d/a will come at some point in the future (when i have money to spend again, them monitors were quite an investment for now)

my ears are well trained to subtle changes in the sound of my setup as my "listening" setup is better than the "producing" chain which makes me very sensitive towards changes there..
unfortunately my producing skills are nowhere near my ear training level

you might be right that it is not necessary to have a high end setup for production only, but for me this is just about the fun i have working on it.

will report on ir again when i start testing some tasty gear!

vipal
IsraTrance Full Member

Started Topics : 123
Posts : 1397
Posted : Jul 21, 2011 02:06

having presonus central station, very nice solution.

http://soundcloud.com/vipal

Trance Forum ť ť Forum Equipment - monitor controller vs. preamp for volume regulation

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