Mic through Preamp and into an RCA input?

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Glint_Eye
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Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:53 pm

Mic through Preamp and into an RCA input?

Post by Glint_Eye » Wed Mar 26, 2014 11:26 pm

Hey everyone,

let me explain you the situation. i want to perform live with vocals and soft synths
through ableton. so therefore i need some good sounding and loud preamps and an
audio interface with low latency.

right now i've got a focusrite saffire 6 which has really good preamps but
the round trip latency i get with it is around 18ms at 128 samples and thats kinda
bothering me. so i was thinking about getting another soundcard. i thought about
the NI komplete audio 6 because it seems to have a very good latency performance
but i've read alot, that the preamps have very low volume.

so i dont really know. i researched a lot and just couldnt find the right interface.

i am on a very low budget and cant really go over 200€. i buy everything 2nd hand anyway.
so maybe something older which used to be expensive and good and is cheap now would also
be fine.

so i was thinking to maybe get back my NI audio 4 dj which i had before the focusrite and
maybe buy an outboard preamp and run it into the RCA inputs of the audio 4 dj.

but i dont really know if that would make much sense or would be a reasonable thing to do.
but if it works, maybe i get better results this way.

that it. some advice would be very nice. :)

H20nly
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Location: The Wild West

Re: Mic through Preamp and into an RCA input?

Post by H20nly » Wed Mar 26, 2014 11:33 pm

Mac or PC?

Glint_Eye
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:53 pm

Re: Mic through Preamp and into an RCA input?

Post by Glint_Eye » Thu Mar 27, 2014 12:20 am

pc. win 7

H20nly
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Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:15 pm
Location: The Wild West

Re: Mic through Preamp and into an RCA input?

Post by H20nly » Thu Mar 27, 2014 1:09 am

hmmmm, i was going to suggest a used Apogee Duet if you said Mac. they don't make them for PC.

do you have a firewire port?

Glint_Eye
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:53 pm

Re: Mic through Preamp and into an RCA input?

Post by Glint_Eye » Thu Mar 27, 2014 1:20 am

i dont have a firewire port.
but the apogee would still be to expensive.
i really just have around 200 to 250€ max.

thats why i thought about an outboard preamp with the NI audio 4 dj

H20nly
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Re: Mic through Preamp and into an RCA input?

Post by H20nly » Thu Mar 27, 2014 1:41 am

well, you said used... you could get one of the originals for that price.

i'm not sure what to tell you. for that money you can really only get one or the other unless you buy something with some years on it. Firewire would have been perfect because new tech doesn't have it so finding someone trying to offload a good, but dated bit of kit could have worked in your favor.

i have Presonus BlueTube pre-amp that I replaced with a Universal Audio 710 (love it). The Presonus wasn't bad for the money... it's a dual channel pre, but they make a single version
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ ... fgodFUUAQQ
that would be within your budget. i didn't even try to find the best price BTW.

the problem is that you said you want to use it with RCA connectors... that ups the ante again. :? i'm not sure how many pre-amps you'll find that use RCA.

fishmonkey
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Re: Mic through Preamp and into an RCA input?

Post by fishmonkey » Thu Mar 27, 2014 3:36 am

almost all mic pres have line outputs, and RCA inputs are almost always line level (one exception being special turntable inputs). so with an adaptor or the right cable (mono phono jack to RCA) it shouldn't be a drama...

Glint_Eye
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:53 pm

Re: Mic through Preamp and into an RCA input?

Post by Glint_Eye » Thu Mar 27, 2014 2:19 pm

hey H2Only,

yeah you're right, you can get a 2nd hand apogee duet for around 210-140€. sorry :)

yeah i've got the impression too, that i can go either for low latency or good preamps
on that budget.

i was thinking to go from the preamp with an xlr to rca adapter into the audio 4 dj.

anyway. do you or anybody else maybe no some good, older usb interfaces which could be around 200-250€ 2nd hand.

thx so far everyone

H20nly
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Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:15 pm
Location: The Wild West

Re: Mic through Preamp and into an RCA input?

Post by H20nly » Thu Mar 27, 2014 3:48 pm

do you plan on recording or is this just for live performance?

Glint_Eye
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2013 9:53 pm

Re: Mic through Preamp and into an RCA input?

Post by Glint_Eye » Thu Mar 27, 2014 4:40 pm

it would be mainly for live performing

H20nly
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Location: The Wild West

Re: Mic through Preamp and into an RCA input?

Post by H20nly » Thu Mar 27, 2014 5:34 pm

i used one of these as my first interface:
http://www.amazon.com/Alesis-MultiMix-8 ... B00404E7VK


add a pre-amp like the Presonus i mentioned earlier, or save your loot for a little while for something better...

BLAM!

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