Multiple ins/outs for heavily outboard project studio

PeteC

Hi folks, 

I use a MacBook Pro and Logic X to track and mix my projects.  

I have quite a lot of DIY outboard gear I have built up over the years - mostly clones I have built myself ( I'm an electronics nerd)  of decent gear ( Neve 1073, Pultec valve EQs , Calrec EQ clones , GSSL compressor, 1176, REDD47 preamps etc ) 

I rely heavily on multiple ins/outs to get signals out of Logic and into the external processing.  I very much like out-of-the-box processing. 

Up to now I have been using 2 Edirol FA-101s linked together by Firewire which gets me 16 analogue ins/outs and 4 digital ins/outs , and by and large its great despite being rather long in the tooth and having some small latency (11ms) which I'm used to working with. 

I'm considering selling some of my guitar gear ( one or two decent guitars ) and an amp or two in order to upgrade my interface. but I don't need onboard mic pres etc which most of the current crop of interfaces seem to come with. 

My question is what would be a great interface to buy ( either new or recent used ) which would give me lots of in/outs ? 

or should I go with a good quality external mixer and live with fewer ins/outs ? 

ideas very welcome...! 

cheers
Pete

Winny_Pooh

Antelope Orion springs to mind, it really depends on your budget.

Stuckfast

I've been looking into this recently too. Seems to me the PreSonus Quantum 4848 wins hands down, it's got 32 analogue ins and outs and costs less than most 16-input interfaces. But, you'll need Thunderbolt.

Nerine

I would probably mention Avid, Antelope or Apogee. 

PeteC

Thanks all. Those look like good options   

octatonic

PeteC said:

Hi folks, 

I use a MacBook Pro and Logic X to track and mix my projects.  

I have quite a lot of DIY outboard gear I have built up over the years - mostly clones I have built myself ( I'm an electronics nerd)  of decent gear ( Neve 1073, Pultec valve EQs , Calrec EQ clones , GSSL compressor, 1176, REDD47 preamps etc ) 

I rely heavily on multiple ins/outs to get signals out of Logic and into the external processing.  I very much like out-of-the-box processing. 

Up to now I have been using 2 Edirol FA-101s linked together by Firewire which gets me 16 analogue ins/outs and 4 digital ins/outs , and by and large its great despite being rather long in the tooth and having some small latency (11ms) which I'm used to working with. 

I'm considering selling some of my guitar gear ( one or two decent guitars ) and an amp or two in order to upgrade my interface. but I don't need onboard mic pres etc which most of the current crop of interfaces seem to come with. 

My question is what would be a great interface to buy ( either new or recent used ) which would give me lots of in/outs ? 

or should I go with a good quality external mixer and live with fewer ins/outs ? 

ideas very welcome...! 

cheers
Pete

Get something you can expand over Dante.

I've written numerous articles on Focusrite and Avid interfaces that I have expanded simply by adding more IO over ethernet.
You can find links to my articles in my signature.

I've also got a shitton of outboard- IMHO having loads of Dante IO is NOT a replacement for a well thought out patchbay topology.
I still run 4x96 way patch bays.

Suggestions- Focusrite Red series, Avid MTRX/MTRX Studio.
I wouldn't go down the Antelope route myself.