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[MikeM]

I'm just about to upgrade several pieces in my home studio setup.

Current setup is:

Apogee Mini-Me
Logic 9
Cascade Fathead II Ribbon Mic
KEL HM-1 Mic
MacBook Pro i5
Yamaha HS50M Monitors
Sony 7506 Headphones
Yamaha Motif Es6

I play acoustic and electric guitar, keys and sing. I only record 1 track at a time, though I do sometimes run my acoustic's pickup and a mic into the apogee at the same time onto 2 tracks.

I'm finding it a pain to unplug and replug mics/instruments all the time during a session, so I'm replacing the Apogee.

I also plan on getting a "real" mic and have settled on the Blue Blueberry for both vocals and acoustic guitar. I've decided to also purchase the Blue Robbie as my pre.

My question is on the interface: I have limited funds so I'm looking at the MOTU 896 MKIII or Presonus Firebox. The question is whether on either of these you can entirely bypass the preamp circuitry .. or .. are you always going thru it like on my Mini-Me. 


Thanks in advance.

Mike

[davesanridge]

What about on of the new mbox mini's? They have HD level AD and have a zero latency analog monitoring thru. Might be what you need.

[Fletcher]

I'm just about to upgrade several pieces in my home studio setup.
My question is on the interface: I have limited funds so I'm looking at the MOTU 896 MKIII or Presonus Firebox. The question is whether on either of these you can entirely bypass the preamp circuitry .. or .. are you always going thru it like on my Mini-Me.

You're always going to have to go through something... like on the "Mini-Me" you're going through the mic amp... but its not functioning as a mic amp, its functioning as a line amp [because you're going into the Mini-Me at line level and not mic level].

No matter what interface you get the input will have to go through some kind of amplifier.  It could be a line amp that is acting as a buffer amp or it could be a mic amp that is acting as a buffer amp [like it does in the "Mini-Me"].

What I would suggest you focus on is the clarity and detail / sound [or "lack of sound"] that front end amplifier provides.  In my experience I can say with some authority that the front end amplifier in the "Mini-Me" is very clean and clear imparting almost no personality of its own on the audio... which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your perspective [from my perspective that's a good thing... but as always, YMMV].

Peace.