More channels for recording?

Do you have other recommendations for a vocal/acoustic guitar mic? I’ve been looking the Miktek C4, Miktek C7(or the cardioid only C1 version which is a lot cheaper but promises the same sound as the C7), the Blue kiwi and Mojave 300. All of these would propably do well in general but naturally I can’t say which will work best for me in my recording conditions. I actually - based on soundclips - prefer the C7 over the C4 but getting a tube mic would be something I don’t yet have.

I will most like get the ISA first in near future and then decide on the possible second pre and a vocal mic.

All of the preamp options you mentioned would propably serve me well but I kind of would like to try a tube pre. The Summit 2ba 221 has also got nice reviews. Would I be ok recording with this in 24b/88.2 sample rate?

I propably wont be upgrading the mR816x interface to another anytime in the near future. This addition of two more preamps/channels to record simultanously will propably serve me for quite some time.

Edit: Hmm. I was thinking if I get the robbie + Kiwi bundle and drop the ISA out I would need a digital converter between the Robbie and MR816?

i can´t comment on the miktek mics, never used any of them.
But if you prefer C7 over C4, then you probably like FET more than Tube mics. :wink:
i never used mojave tube mics.

The Kiwi is an oustanding Mic and can be compared to mics like Gefell UMT 800 or Neumann U87.
At that pricepoint wich Thomann sells it, it´s almost a no-brainer to me.

Other mics for Vocals?
There are so many choices:
Shure Sm7(combine with condenser), Sennheiser Md441 (combine with condenser),
Neumann TLM 49 (modern colour), Neumann TLM 193 (vintage colour), Brauner Phantom (it has harsh high, but works really great with tube mic pre), Gefell UMT 70 (great mic, works with every source), AKG C414 XLS (better than XLII because it has less colour and takes eq well, can be used everywere)… and many more. too much gear, so little time :wink:

Good tube mics: RODE Classic II or Brauner Valvet X.

EVERY mic pre is okay with ANY sample rate. Because it is analog, not digital.
But if you ask whether the ISA supports 2 channels in 96khz: yes it does.

Yes, you will need a converter if you don´t use a mic / Line Channel of the MR816x.
Adding another preamp stage is not the optimum,
but if the MR816 is as clean as many people say, there should be no problem.
2 Channel converters are too expensive in my opinion.
RME ADI2 is 600€ … the same as Focusrite ISA One + digital card right now.

Do you have any opinion on if I add a Great River ME-1NV as the second pre with the ISA on? It’s so hard deciding what gear to get. The ISA I will get for the digital conversion but the next mic and second pre are a very hard choice…

i don’t know wich mics you already have and what type of sound / colour you seek.

i love both blue robbie and kiwi. 1699€ right now are fairly cheap for that great bundle.

great river me 1 nv is wonderful. a modern interpretation of the neve sound. you could combine it with neumann tlm 49 for vocals or perhaps akg c 414 xls if you need a versatile mic.

or get a brauner phantom and combine it with Universal Audio Solo 610. creamy and silky.

… i could write a whole day long about wonderful mic / preamp combinations.

but:
there nothing like " the perfect microfone and preamp combination" for every singer, instrument and type of music.
It is a matter of taste.

Hi beatpete,

sounds like you maybe could help me with connecting two MR816´s via ADAT.
I´ve tried to do this but can´t see any chance setting up the outputs of the second device to the inputs of the “Basis” MR816 each other.
The outputs are named “Adat out 1-2, Adat out 3-4, etc” and that´s what i get. Every Signal set in the MR Editor to “Adat out 1-2” will be received on the second device on both Adat Channels (1 and 2). So maybe i would be able to have 4 x Stereo Channels… but i want 8 Mono Channels.

How can i do this? Any idea?
Both MR816´s are set to 44.1 kHz, so it should be possible.

i’m not beatpete and don’t use the mr816 myself. but i can give you some hints where to look:

  • the second unit should be setup for standalone mode before you connect them. perhaps an initial setup of the unit is needed. take a quick look at “standalone mode” in your user guide for mr816.

  • may i ask why recieving 4 stereo channels is a problem? you can set the levels / gain individually and record the left or right tracks in mono.
    afaik the adat protocol itself translates the audio in pairs. you will always have to connect adat 1/2, adat 3/4 etc… its the same when you connect sp/dif, you will recieve a stereo pair of audio. you may need to connect stereo pairs, but you will be able split them to mono inside your mixer / daw.

Exactly, in the Cubase “connections” page, you can set up a mono input using say “adat 1” and then another mono input as “adat 2” etc., although, as cut-a-corners said, you can just use the left or right side of a stereo input on a mono track as well.
You’ll have to setup the 2nd MR816 with the editor to use in standalone mode, i.e. route all analog ins to adat outs and visa versa and then diconnect it from the MR816 editor.

So,

I got the ISA and would need some help to set things up to work correctly. I have managed to get the ISA through to the MR816 to my PC and the signal shows up in my DAW. However, I cant get the monitor the sound through the headphone input of my Steinb. Is this normal? I mean, if I track the ISA simultanously with the MR naturally I’d like to hear the signal. And also, is it possible/am I supposed to hear redorded signals from the ISA headphone input simultanously with the MR?

EDIT:
Now I somehow lost the signal too, it doesn’t show up in my daw or my MR editor. Ps. managed to get the signlal back; I was told to hook the bnc cable from the ISA spdif to MR816 Adat(the MR spdif doesn’t fit) but that didn’t work so I plugged the cable to the ISA adat → MR adat and now it seems to work.

|DIGITAL CONNECTION|

  • adat is the correct way to setup if you use optical connection (lightpipe connector) from isa to mr.
    spdif is talking a different digital language than adat.
    correct: ADAT OUT> ADAT IN
  • bnc to ADAT ? that doesn’t work! BNC connection is for wordclock.
    correct: BNC wordclock OUT → BNC Wordclock IN. (reread my post or lookup google for correct wordclock connection.)
  • You don’t necessarily nead to connect Wordclock if you can sync via ADAT. That should work just fine. Just connect wordclock if you have problems.

|Monitoring|

  • i don’t know why you shouldn’t be able to hear your ADAT signal (ISA) with your MR headphones. Did you activate monitoring in Cubase? It should work fine if you setup monitoring / cue mix correctly.
  • To hear recordet signal you must connect something to your ISA. There are two CUE inputs (left and right cue input) on the ISA. IF you connect audio to it you can PUSH “cue mix” on the front of the ISA. then you will be able to hear the signal you connected to it (for example the second headphone output on your mr816 if you want it simple. or connect output 7/8 of the mr816 if you wan’t to create cue mix inside cubase)

Oh, yes, I of course meant the optical cable for the adat. Things seem to be working at the moment. I was hoping I would be able to use the headphone input of the ISA to have a total of three headphone inputs with the MR. I will see if I can plug one of the outputs to it as you mentioned.

However, for some reason I get the adat signalfrom the ISA to my daw as double. Meaning that the MR signal come as 4 stereo/8mono signals and as mono signals each input has its own track in my daw. The Isa gives one signal which I can have on two tracks but splitting it I have yet to figure out; with the ISA I can’t seem to find how to split that one signal to two signals as I’ve udnerstood I souhld be able to record a mic and the line-in connections at the same time.

if you are able record isa with 8 adat channel active, then you only record in 44.1 / 48khz.
in 88.2 / 96 khz one adat lightpipe is reduced to 2 stereo / 4 mono channels.
in 96 khz you can record 8 analog and 4 digital adat with mr816 if you use one lightpipe connection.

if the isa gives one track… is it stereo or mono? it should be stereo. to split it inside cubase: open vst connections, select the input tab, create a new mono bus and select adat 1. another mono bus for adat 2. thats how you split stereo signals.

the preamp isa is one channel. you have external input for AD. you have to connect your line signal to a second preamp / di box and hook it up to ad input od isa. the preamp stage of isa (like almost every other single channel preamp out there) is either Line or Mic preamp. Not both at the same time.

of course you can use isa as third headphone amp for your mr.
i personally would use it like that: vst connections, output tab, create a new output. if you connected isa headphone / cue input to mr 816 output 7/8, then select output 7/8. i use sends for cue mix (select q-link on desired channels and create send to output 7/8)
i never bothered using steinberg control room option if you want to use it that way. please refer to user manual for that. (i always use external monitor control)

Sorry for the late reply.
Firstly, don’t daisy chain the two MR816s.
Plug in the “slave” via firewire, then, in the MR Editor, route each analog out to a adat out and each adat in to an analog out. Set the clock to “external”
Now, disconnect the firewire and connect to your “main” MR816. You should now be able to see your slave MR816 analog ins on your adat inputs.
In Cubase (in the “VST Connections” panel) you can add mono or stereo input and output channels, that way you could have 16 mono channels for instance, or 2 stereo, 12 mono etc.

Update:
So, I got the ISA, the Blue Kiwi and the Robbie. Been doing some recordings with them. Everything seems to be working ok. Still getting to know the mic better.
I must say I wasn’t impressed with the build quality of the Kiwi. And I had to send the first one I got back because it was so dirty; dusty and it had stains on it as if fingerprints or something. The second one I got was clean but the top of the mic was about half centimeters off the Blue logo in front of the mic and a tiny bit loose as in I can turn the capsule head to fit in line with the logo. I didn’t send it back because of this but still amazes me how a product this expensive is not build absolutely precisely to be perfect.

Oh, is it normal when using the Kiwi and Robbie to record a acoustic guitar I have to turn the gain knob of the Robbie almost all the way up(to the second last blue dot on the front panel of Robbie) to get a medium loud signal? Seems a bit strange if it’s this quiet.