Old 10-17-2019, 01:51 PM   #1
kirk1701
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Default Spdif to bypass onboard preamps

Okay,

I want to make the most of my recording/mixing setup. I still find ad/da conversion super confusing.

I normally run my pre73jr through the no. 3 line input of my Tascam US-600. This connects to Reaper via USB. I track everything this way.

I've always felt it was overkill to run a preamp into a preamp. Is it possible to use the SPDIF input to bypass in the onboard preamp? If so, how? I'm a dunce in this area.

Also, I'm monitoring through the stereo outs of the interface. I'm assuming this is correct. When I track, I add a new hardware output on the armed track so I don't have any latency.
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Old 10-18-2019, 10:41 AM   #2
serr
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Are you saying that the lowest gain knob position for those xlr inputs is still higher than unity gain? There's no way to connect a balanced line level input to that xlr without attenuating it first?

XLR inputs will often have the lowest level = line level but not every piece of gear does that. Some mic inputs are already boosted at the lowest input level - being that they were made to connect microphones to and all.

Getting a whole additional audio interface or external ADC unit to do your AD conversion and output to SPDIF so you can continue to use the Tascam? Shit, I'd just take this as an excuse to upgrade that interface altogether and get something with better AD converters and proper line level balanced inputs!

A used Apogee Duet (1st gen) has Apogee ADC's and sells for as low as $50 on Ebay, for one example. You'd notice the AD stage improvement over that Tascam. You're not going to find a stand-alone ADC with SPDIF with that good of AD converters for that. Oh, and you'd finally have a pair of balanced outputs too.

PS. There's no latency difference between a hardware send on a track used as a source track vs a track used as a hardware output bus. Your latency is determined by the block size and the baseline latency of the hardware audio interface you connect.

Last edited by serr; 10-18-2019 at 11:12 AM.
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Old 10-18-2019, 10:50 AM   #3
karbomusic
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kirk1701 View Post
I've always felt it was overkill to run a preamp into a preamp. Is it possible to use the SPDIF input to bypass in the onboard preamp? If so, how? I'm a dunce in this area.
The manual says the combo mic input (input #2 on the right) is TRS balanced line input when using a balanced 1/4" TRS cable, if that is the case and the gain knob doesn't change gain, it is a line in and is what the external pre is supposed to plug into.

If the gain knob does change gain when using TRS Balanced input on input 2, then turn the gain all the way down which should be the same thing - no need to worry about noise if it isn't actually gaining up anything since a preamp with zero gain is just a buffer = line input. Regarding spidf, the Pre-73 doesn't have a digital/spdif out so that's not going to work anyway.
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Last edited by karbomusic; 10-18-2019 at 10:59 AM.
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Old 10-21-2019, 11:47 AM   #4
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Good notes!
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