Hey everyone, Im in the process of setting up my new home studio to be able to record as professionally as i can. I want an extra 8 channels for recording drums and just wondering what best ADAT extension for under $1000?

I was originally looking at the Behringer ADA8000 (cheap in know) and then saw its got some pretty bad rep sound wise, so what is everyone else using and getting great results with. Im also looking at a Focusrite OctoPre Dynamic Mk2 to run with it. Again its mainly for drums.

Thanks

Focusrite has a nice range, starting with the Clarett Octo Pre

Im currently using the Universal Audio Apollo Twin which has ADAT as my interface and Im looking to add inputs via ADAT and wondering the best way to go about it.
I like the look and the reviews on the OctoPre mk2 Dynamic unit. Is this all i need to accomplish what it is i'm trying to do? Or is a further unit needed to get this job done?

I use the Audient ASP 800. I have it ADAT'd to an apollo 8 so I get 8 channels of 96k out of it but I've used it with my Twin as well. You would be limited to 44.1k @ 8 channels as the twin only has a single ADAT in. Low cost, 6 great sounding clean preamps and 2 epic sounding HMX channels. Only real issues I have found are 1) no phase switch on the 6 clean preamps 2) no soft limit on the converters. Great bang for the buck.

What's up with no optical outs on this and on the twin mk2

Yeah, that bums me out, too.

Also you can get up to 48K sample rate with ADAT without going up to SMUX, that's how I use mine.

I would be looking at the Clarett OctoPre (not the lower OctoPres), the Presonus DP88, and possibly the Audient ASP stuff if you like those a lot.

I think all three of these options will have extremely high sound quality, as good as anything out there.

I personally own the DP88, Clarett 8PreX, but don't currently own any Audient. I chose the first two options because of ADAT OUT that the Audient gear lacks. Not that that does you any good with an Apollo Twin or iD14 anyway. I use mine with larger interfaces with more connectivity options, so it matters for me. This way I can use hardware inserts (hybrid) and/or sent out channels to a mixer or summing mixer.

I think it would be smart to step up from the Behringer.

I heard BLA does this as a mod. just don't understand why a company would shoot themselves in the foot like this twice. Do they not realize how many people would buy it. I know so people that use their twins as an adat interface. That might have doubled their sales... maybe they were afraid of not selling apollo 8's? I doubt it because people who buy Apollo 8s have no interest in adats and external pres. This really is a shame. I had the unit in a shopping cart, and then took it off lol

I agree this is a major shortcoming. However as an Apollo 8 owner I am still VERY MUCH interested in SPDIF and ADAT I/O, use it all the time. My long term goal is to exceed 30 I/O.

Is anyone in here running the Presonus DP88 with an Apollo Twin? I'm having some issues with it and running out of time to return it (Contacted Presonus yesterday and still have not heard back).

The DP88 will not sync with the Twin via ADAT. I just had a UA 4-710 hooked up the same way for a while without any issues, when I try to press the External Sync button until it's red for ADAT, the power button LED just continues to blink. However, if I set the DP88 to Internal Clock, it seems to work and I get levels into the Twin. When recording a few channels though it into ProTools though, I swear I'm hearing some flutter and weird things occasionally.

I sent in a ticket to Presonus to ask them about it, we'll see what they say. I don't know if I'm being impatient, but it's frustrating that I set up a ticket during business hours on Monday and they couldn't get back to me today. I tried calling, but their phone support it apparently limited to "live sound" only. This is my first presonus product, we're not off to a great start... I can write a list of all the other audio companies I've called on the phone and had answers to simple questions within 30 minutes, it just seems weird to me.

sucks that it cant support 96K / 8 channels - would much rather see AES

I'd probably do the Universal Audio 4-710D since i';s exactly 4 PREs and could do 4 channels at 96K over the ADAT

Just to ask- since you are using it for it's A/D path, might it be looking to it's ADAT input for clock -assuming you hadn't done that already of course?
..I'ts been a while and I've been using the BNC patch between 8-ch converters so long..

I strongly recommend the Audient ASP800. Sounds great, feels really solid, the "Retro Channels" are nice, good price. The drums in this clip are recorded with the ASP800, no problems driving the m160 ribbon mics for overheads:
Glyn Johns drum recordings

Save a little more money and go Universal Audio 4-710D

I'm using a Twin with a DP88.

But there is also an Apollo Duo in my setup.

I'm using a BNC wordclock cable from the big interface to sync the DP88.

With only a Twin, you probably want to set the DP88 to "Internal Clock," and then setup the Twin to receive sync over ADAT, "Clock Source" within the Apollo Console Settings menu.

You can change the DP88 sample rate by repeatedly pressing the "Internal Clock" button to scroll through the available options. The Twin should follow if set up correctly.

Crap, so that means I have to Slave to the DP88. That's frustrating, as I ran my 4-710 as the Slave for well over a year with the Twin. Was I running the 4-710 all that time incorrectly as well??

I just sold mine. It's a great unit and I liked it but when you need to expand past 4 outboard preamps via ADAT, it's not useful anymore as you can't bypass the 4 preamps in it. There's not a lot of choices in terms of ADAT interfaces that let you go strait into the converters for all 8 channels. You have the DP88, the more expensive Audient ASP (Where you're paying a lot for the preamps that I didn't need), or an older option like the Apogee Rosette.

That's going past what was said.
You can decide to run external converters master or slave. Usually it's a choice of which is more practical, and/or by the notion that converters run internal clock (master) can have a sonic advantage over being run off external clock.

Or read that the other way. Some may take a less or worse 'hit run eternal.
See what RME says about their re-clocking quality being such -it won't be a factor.

The rationale I took was 'master is the one I do everything on -i.e. also master playback! :>) ..and the recording when it's not 'all 16 needed.

Certainly that unit can run slave off BNC. And.. how about the D/A ADAT cable to the external unit's ADAT input question?

Lucid ADA8824 is a good deal still...
Just bought one for $250, using it and 2 more with a MOTU 2408 as a Kontakt sampler. Using with an old computer, sounds great.

The other issue is you would need to use the Audient as the master clock. The UAD Apollo Twin does not have word clock or ADAT out and the Audient does not have ADAT IN. This may have some real world impact. Even so, I would agree that the Audient is the best choice for this use case.

I'm using a DP88 into my Apollo Twin at 96K

I'm only getting the first four channels, which kind of sucks, but it works and sounds great.

I'm using my Konnekt48 as ADAT inputs to my Apollo Duo rack SF synced with wordclock. Works great.

hello good sir!

i acknowledge your post is a couple of years old

i thinking of buying audient asp 800 to go with my apollo 8

have you had any issues with clocking?

i want the apollo 8 to be master and have read contradictory statements about that combo