Big Knob or MOTU 8Pre Experience?

[Matt Ludwig]

Hello,
I'm looking into upgrading the audio end of my editing system and replacing my cheap mixer with a Mackie Big Knob and my cheap USB audio interface with the MOTU 8Pre. Anybody had experience with either of these? I'm running Windows (hoping to switch to Mac soon when I get the money!) and use the Adobe Suite. Thanks!

[Steve House]

Originally Posted by Matt Ludwig

Hello,
I'm looking into upgrading the audio end of my editing system and replacing my cheap mixer with a Mackie Big Knob and my cheap USB audio interface with the MOTU 8Pre. Anybody had experience with either of these? I'm running Windows (hoping to switch to Mac soon when I get the money!) and use the Adobe Suite. Thanks!

The 'Big Knob' is not a mixer, it is a monitor speaker controller, essentially a volume control for listening to playback and switcher to route the output to different speaker systems. It doesn't do any of the things a mixer is usually used for in the system and doesn't replace one. Instead look at something in the Mackie VLZ compact mixer line - the 1202VLZ3 is the same price.

[Bill Ravens]

FWIW...

I bought a Big Knob on Ebay. I love the utility this switcher provides. As Steve said, it's not a mixer.

[Tim OBrien]

I don't have an 8Pre, but I do run a Motu828mkII (same guts, just 2 preamps and 8 line-in/outs) on a Windows laptop.

Zero problems, but be aware that Motu demands that you use a TexasInstruments or Lucent firewire chipset. You can get them either in PCI cards or for laptops, PCMCIA cards.

When I bought my laptop I already knew I wanted to get an 828mkII, so I made sure that the laptop had a TI firewire chipset.

[Eric Shepherd]

You may want to check out this item:
http://presonus.com/firestudio.html
Along with this:
http://presonus.com/firestudio-msr.html

This gives you a lot of functionality and you're not restricted to various firewire chipsets. The MSR runs via CAT5 and gives you 2 headphone controls, surround monitor control, and a talkback mic. The interface gives you 8 mic pres, adat i/o, midi i/o, 0 latency monitoring and a bunch of other stuff. It's a sweet combo. :)

-Eric

[Matt Ludwig]

Thanks! I actually went ahead and got the Big Knob and 8Pre. I did realize in reading your responses I forgot to mention that I only used the mixer as a volume control for my monitors between stereo sources, so the Big Knob has been awesome. I love the added talk back ability and being able to different headphone mixes out. The 8Pre has worked flawlessly so far, except for the fact that in Adobe Audition 1.5 it is only recognized as a two channel source...So I don't know how to record simultaneously using all 8 sources. However in programs like SONAR all 8 inputs are recognized just fine. The only thing I wish the 8Pre had was more analogue outs. It has headphones and a main out (L/R), but that's it. Down the road I could buy an D/A converter to use the ADAT outs, but I don't see that happening in the near future. Anyway, to anyone who wants any details on these, I have them and they work great!

[Eric Shepherd]

that's cool, glad you're enjoying it.

You may need to enable more inputs in the Audition settings.

The Presonus Firestudio does everything you want, with the additional analog outs and all. You can use them with a headphone amp to run like 9 stereo headphone mixes if you have a really picky large group of people recording all at once. :) Or ADAT to analog conversion, etc. And the remote doesn't run audio through it, like the Big Knob does, so you wouldn't have an extra device/slightly more noise.

Just some thoughts. :)
Eric

[Matt Ludwig]

Yeah, just to respond to you're comments. The man at Guitar Center said they've had more problems with the Firepod and stability with drivers and such that he said to stay clear of it. So he recommended the Pre8. Just FYI, things you get with the Pre8 and not the Firepod are:
-More physical INs (with the ADAT)
-Analog In Meters (unlike just the peak/clip lights on the Firepod)
-Individual Phantom Power switches on each channel
-The ability to use it as a stand alone ADAT converter
-And supposedly, more stable drivers according to some.

But, with that said, the Firepod (if working properly) was what I was originally planning to get until the guy directed me away from it...which is why I posted this to see if anyone had experience with the 8Pre.

Thanks again!

[Eric Shepherd]

Hi Matt,

Are you talking about the Firepod or the FireStudio?

Firepod:
http://presonus.com/firepod.html

Firestudio:
http://presonus.com/firestudio.html

The Firepod is a 10x10, the Firestudio is 26x26..

The FireStudio is the one I was referring to. I believe it works in standalone modes. My father owns it, I don't get to see him often enough though, and haven't seen since he bought it based on my recommendation at Christmas.

You shouldn't need individual Phantom Power switches. Any dynamic mic will just ignore the Phantom signal. The only ones that should have a problem with Phantom are super old ribbon mics. The more modern designs won't have a problem with it. It's a common misconception that you should only turn it on when needed. A lot of live sound consoles have one master Phantom on/off switch, but only a few of the mics on the stage would be condensers. Cymbal mics on the drums, maybe a few others. But not the majority of the mics.

For what it's worth, I've noticed salespeople are often times either biased towards a personal preference, the item that earns a higher commission, or they're interested in selling an item that has more in stock.

I had a guy at a local Sam Ash trying to convince me to get the M-Audio interface that looks like the Digi002, even though I told him I needed more pre's than it offered. But he was bent on selling me something that was only better than a Digidesign offering, instead of actually trying to show me what I needed.. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything from him.

Anyway.. :)