Re: WHAT SORTS OF FIREWIRE INTEFACES ARE PEOPLE USING THESE DAYS?

[William Walker <billwalker@baymoon.com>]

Hi Ted, My suspicion is that there is an impedance mismatch of some  
kind going on whereby the outputs of the VG99 are feeding the MOTU in  
such a way as to degrade the sound.  If there is any way on the VG99   
to change the impedance or gain structure of the  outputs that might  
help. If you have a di box or line level matching device to try that  
might help, and definitely try the two main ins as they might have a  
wide range of impedance matching than the line ins. Also, remeber that  
optimal output setting going in to the monitor speakers won't be the  
same as optimal output levels for going in the MOTU. The MOTU is  
acting like another preamp stage so you will nee to work to find the  
optimal balance between VG99 level and MOTU level. The fact that your  
dynamics went south suggest that an overly hot signal from the VG99 is  
causing some unwanted compression.  Another thing to try is using the  
digital coax out on the VG99 if the MOTU you are using has digital  
coax ins, that way you can total bypass the analog preamps.
  Bill
On Dec 13, 2010, at 7:45 AM, tEd ® KiLLiAn wrote:

> Bill,
>
> I was doing sort of a "scientific" A/B test with the MOTU on  
> Saturday morning.
>
> I played my Gibson and VG99 combination into the MOTU and listened  
> through external monitors.
>
> I did my best to get the sound levels all adjusted and dialed in so  
> it sounded good - then played and listened.
>
> After that, I simply plugged the VG99 into the same monitor speakers  
> themselves and adjusted them to similar volume levels and played and  
> listened.
>
> The difference was quite palpable.
>
> It was like the difference between being at a live gig and listening  
> to an MP3 recording of one.
>
> All the subtle details were gone and a lot of the dynamics.
>
> In fact the straight VG sounded so much better that I was inspired  
> to play it the entire rest of the day (about 5 hours) and completely  
> lost track of time until dinnertime.
>
> That hasn't happened in months and months.
>
> Now I might get a different result if I used the 2 main "preamped"  
> inputs of the MOTU - I will have to try that out.
>
> As it was I was only using a pair of the regular line-level inputs  
> on the back.
>
> But even if it does sound better to me on those inputs it will nag  
> me to no end that I am not getting as good of sound on the others if  
> I happen to use them (as I had planned).
>
> Any advice would be helpful Bill.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Ted
>
> On Dec 12, 2010, at 11:30 PM, William Walker wrote:
>
>> Hey Ted I'm curious are you running directly in to the MOTU and  
>> using amp sims and effects plug ins? or are you going stereo direct  
>> and using hardware effects and or amp simulators?
>> Before I would even recommend interfaces I'm curious why it sounds  
>> so lame to you and wonder if you would elaborate  in more specific  
>> detail.   Are you clipping your inputs, do you have anything acting  
>> as a buffer between your guitar and the interface, are  using any  
>> compression to smooth your transients?  does it sound harsh and or  
>> sterile? Even a higher end interface with better converters like  
>> the Apogee stuff can sound brittle if you are hitting it too hard.  
>> I've used a MOTU 2408 for several years now and its worked fine.   
>> I've never been bothered by its sound or latency.
>> Bill
>