DieHard, First of all thanks for taking your precious time to make such a long answer for some question on my particular setup.
I have 3 in use DAWs, my main is a
-Hackintosh with a Intel Q6600 Core2 quad overclocked to 3.07GHz, TI chipset firewire card and Gforce 7300LE. It has 10.6.8 and protools 9.0.4HD. It can use the Saphire56 and the AP2496 with audioevolution drivers...
http://www.audio-evolution.com/drivers/, but I use only the Saphire to let the M-Audio for my...
-866DualMDD w 2 gig of DDR400 with AP2496 and a AM-III
-GHz dual DA (original466) w 1Gig Ram and Digi 001.
I have 4 places to design the DAWs setup:
Sometimes I multitrack drums on my band's practice-room, needing more than 8 (12 in fact) inputs at least. If recording a band, maybe all my 20 ins should be filled! Taking 3 DAWs and sync'em all, but 80% of time is just tracking drums
My main Project Studio, with the 3 DAWs on a machine room (my hall). In this place I can have ANY PRE, ANY A/D, ANY CLOCK and NY D/A.
I am in my Hall with my DG-60 and I can choose any DAW to record my Guitar, Bass, etc. I have a Boss D.I.. 80% of the time I would use a G4.
I am in my Sitting room with my guitar and my tubeman or my trackmaster and a G4.
OK… let's do some basics on the stuff you mentioned…
1) The Audiomedia III has 18-bit converters on the analog A to D hardware side… but 24 Bit via S/PDIF RCA in/Out…
so if you are only recording 2 analog tracks at a time… just use the 2496 (Media III is a step backward)… so for nows let's ignore the Audio Media III all together
also for now let's ignore the Behringer UCA202 USB "toy" Audio Interface
I feel there
could be a misconception. 20bit conversion
should be better that 16 bit, but a Apogee
16 bits conversion can be far more superior than most "cheap" 20-24 bits conversors.
Ditching the AM3 for been
18 Bits A/D and D/A is not fair. It still have a "nice" clock and 24 bits digital path.
I feel that to run Logic you need an XSkey and ProtoolsLE need an LE card(orM-Box)
dongle. Using an AM3 with an RME ADI2 or an 001 with an RME ADI8 are still considered High-End Setups.
In my workflow I prefer to use PT from the start. I am tired to jump from Logic to Protools... It is hard enought to take PT 9 sessions (7.x format) to PT 5 sessions.
Let´s focus on the MDD. I can choose to use AP2496 and AM3 A/D, clock and D/A just using a pair of RCA to make a loop of SPDIF, and have the 4 ins. After your post I think you suggest to use the AP2494 as a Apogee...
![Tongue :P](http://macos9lives.com/smforum/Smileys/default/tongue.gif)
. But I could have the A/D and the D/A from the AP2496
but the masterclock being the AM3.
My trackmaster have an option to have SPDIF out and wordclock in, but is 200 euros...280$. I am not going to buy till 2016.
On the practice room the master clock would be the FS56, ADAT to 001 to have ADAT sync and the SPDIF out (RCA) to the MDD for clocking . Only carrying the 2 G4s, with a boot on Tiger/Leopard to adjust FS56 standalone mode. But it could be the AP2496 the "Apogee"lite...
![Grin ;D](http://macos9lives.com/smforum/Smileys/default/grin.gif)
. I think the first one is preferred.
how does the sapphire 56 work in mac os 9?![Huh? ???](http://macos9lives.com/smforum/Smileys/default/huh.gif)
i check compatibility http://uk.focusrite.com/downloads/os?product=Liquid+Saffire+56
do u use some funky driver?
this says 10.4 tiger +
i dont even think the original saffire worked in mac os 9?
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep05/articles/saffire.htm
There is NO OS9 driver, but I can use it as ADAT Master/ SPDIF Master on standalone mode with ANY of my DAWs just booting 10.4 or newer and connecting a firewire cable. "Save to Hardware" and you have a OS9 compatible PREs.
![Grin ;D](http://macos9lives.com/smforum/Smileys/default/grin.gif)
You call the "ADAT Slaves", but for me are my "Masters" (best clock)
2) The number of tracks you need to record simultaneously is a big factor…. you never mentioned it.. If you have and old DAT… like a Panasonic, the A to D converters are very good and you can go up to 4 tracks with the 2496… 2 analog and 2 digital S/PDIF simultaneously… the S/DPIF signal from the dat will provide audio word clock and digital audio info to the 2496 from the signal itself…so far looking good… but need a mixer
also 4 inputs is probably not enough… so scratch the 2496
Guitar Amp… the Yamaha DG60-112 is nice guitar amp, I am a big fan of of the tones, If you have 2 inputs avail for guitar I would definitely use the line out of the DG60, but also record the signal totally dry for re-amping later in the DAW via a direct box.
Final Setup…. Yeah !!!
1) Keep Liquid Saffire 56 and BUY OctPre(s) as needed http://global.focusrite.com/answerbase/connecting-a-liquid-saffire-56-to-2-external-preamps-via-adat
via ADAT lightpipe… clock as shown or shot the moon and buy a LUCID Clock ($300 on ebay) as the master clock…. not really needed though unless you have $300 extra dollars… also BUY a direct box for guitar
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LUCID-GENx6-WORD-SUPER-CLOCK-GENERATOR-96K-FREE-CABLES-PRIORITY-SHIPPING-/291174524028?pt=US_Computer_Recording_Interfaces&hash=item43cb5aa47c
2) Sell 2496 (or save for Mac #2) the mixing mac ![Smiley :)](http://macos9lives.com/smforum/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
3) Sell Digi001 and keep the 56 as the main interface
4) Sell Audiomedia III (was awesome in the day at 16Bit/44K… but now we need to record in 24Bit/88K or at least 24Bit/44K)
5) Use the "track master" as Main Vocal PreAmp line out to the 56 (Great reviews on Compressor and EQ) which should be done at input stage
I love DG60 sound. Its 20 bits AD and DA sound to me better than original line6's POD. Also love Amplitube1, 2,
UAD's Nigel and Softtube's Guitar amp room.
I love sandwichs, but for 10 bucks, I'll keep the 001...
![Grin ;D](http://macos9lives.com/smforum/Smileys/default/grin.gif)
.
I think Audiomedia III (and all AM series) are still amazing. Why we differ? Tell me your AM3 experience, because mine was different. The trackmaster with the AM3 is a good recording combo, IMO.