# Awesome Digital Mic Pres



## chimuelo (Oct 10, 2016)

Finally got the right sound after months of mods from Revive Audio, Black Lion Audio and Voodoo Labs.

Manley Tube Mic Pres are incredible but so expensive.
I always wanted to have the automation and VCM FX provided on Yamaha DM and O2Rs/01V96 mixers, but just don't like thier Mic Pres and analog audio path.
But I didn't have the 8000 USD to get both.
Midas Mic pres are really nice on the Midas M32 but not on the Behringer gear.
But modified ADA8200s sound much better.
But I still couldn't get the Square Wave to smooth out like Soft Clipping of a Tube Mic pre.
Thanks to ADAT I can link out of the ADA8200 into modified ART TurbOpto8 pres, out into the ADAT Ports on the 01V96 VCM.

Total costs 2900 USD.
Mixer used with dual ADAT Card and ATA Case was 800 bucks.

Now I have 16 hot Mic Pres for vocals bass guitar drums and keys.


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Oct 10, 2016)

Where did you get the ART modified? What do you think of it? My ADA8000 recently died so my studio went from having 10 preamps to 2 (my RME). I'm deciding on what I should get and am looking for an upgrade from the ADA8000. The only issue with the ART is that it doesn't do 96kHz and I'm not sure if that's something I'll need soon. As such, I've been considering the Presonus DP88 although it costs twice as much. I've also been considering getting into 500 series but that's far more expensive and so the little recording that I do might not justify it. Perhaps ART + 500 would be better than just a DP88.


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## chimuelo (Oct 10, 2016)

Im doing 96k since the 01V96 is built around those specs.
The ART is easy to modify, I took advice from modifiers since they do the VLA Mods.
Some Burr Brown opamps and new low gain Tubes.
Its really cool though with Behringer ADA ADAT I/Os as I could run a TC Fireworx into the ADAT, use 6 mic pres then assign the ADATs in the mixer, all 8.
Fireworx go to an AUX or Bus, other 6 for vocals direct bass mic'd amps.

Just using the Midas mic pres on the ADA8200 and having the audio signal path re worked and decoupled allows the quality of the mic pre to be heard.
The ART just gives me that soft clip sound that made vinyl recordings and 8 track tapes sound so juicy.
I did like the excellent sounding Channel Strip VCM FX Yamaha uses.
It has really good circuit modelling like UAD and Scope DSP.
But nothing beats having the real thing.

I can run the entire automation from my Physis K4.
Tap Tempos and excellent ducking delays for vocals too.

I know its used gear and thrown together, but the sound I wanted came at a much cheaper price.
Digitally controlled analog is the juice for me.


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## chimuelo (Oct 11, 2016)

The outputs of the Revive Audio ADA8200 and decoupling are excellent.

Needed seperate outs from my DSP Rack (soundcard) to go to FOH IEMs and Stage Monitors.
Mostly for EQ/filtering.
Nice having extra outs by using an ADA8200, but the Burr Brown opamps remind me of old Roland hardware outs.
Don't need Tubes on my keys, just a full hot signal.

So if you need a really versatile ADAT Mic Pre ADA8200 is sweet and can be had for 550 to 750 total depending on modifiers workload. They drop rates when they get slow.

The ART Opto8 is a really great if you need the Tubes.
Great for vocals and guitars/bass/drums.

For samples and synths the ADA with modifications is really a good investment.


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Oct 17, 2016)

Any idea how the outs are on an unmoded TubeOpto? Might need to use them for adding more speakers in surround setup as I'm using all the outs on my RME. Still trying to decide if I should get it instead of the DP88. A black friday or boxing day sale on either might help me make my mind up.


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## chimuelo (Oct 17, 2016)

Im assumming youre talking about the analog outs.
I havent even used them.
But I can say with confidence that the ADA8200 modded by Revive Audio puts in Burr Brown high bandwidth op amps that sound really nice.
But having a pair of ADA8200s from Black Lion Audio and 1 x Revive ADA8200 the difference seems to be that Revives are hotter than the BLAs.
Probably higher gain parts.

Another type of output opamps that are hot are Analog Devices.
I have those in my Bellari units.
You really need high gain for sample playback be it from RAM or Native apps.

I loved Roland Samplers back in the day because they had really hot outputs.
Kind of funny EP tried to nail that quality with his samples in Omnisphere.
Guess he heard what most of noticed too.
Back then 8bit 12 or 16 didnt matter. Did it sound good?
Ensoniq Mirage sold like hotcakes in 1985.
8bit iirc...

Good luck but if you can get a revive ada8200 I think youll be happy.


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## chimuelo (Oct 19, 2016)

This is going to be our drum submixer.
I just don't like the quality of digital gates/comps on drums.
You need to gate/expand the audio at its source using inserts.
We currently are trying out mixers and every time I hear something I really like it seems to using discrete audio and Burr Brown parts.
Symetrix Expander/Gates and dbx Quad Comp with this new 1U is going to allow us to get the highly sought after MegaDeath drum sound.

https://reverb.com/item/2255675-apb...X9PV0PX5nd1jxQgRnNYMcNqWUfpEJBsenzBoCppvw_wcB

Currently using a Rolls modded up.
But without keyed sidechained loops and inserts isnt cutting it.
Midas and Yamaha digital mixer FX are basically plug ins, not nearly as powerful as Symetrix or dbx.


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