Old 03-25-2008, 06:36 AM   #1
Wolffman
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Default Behringer ADA8000 , Any good ?

I'm looking to get an 8 channel mic pre with digital light pipe to connect to my rme ff400. I checked these out and read some reviews and nobody seems to think there crap but i'd like to know what people who own and have actualy used them in
recording sessions think of them. They really suit my budget at the moment ( very cheap )but i would hold off if they just aern't worth it. Are there any other options ? with light pipe in a similar price range. I can get the ADA 8000 for about $360.00 AUD at the moment.
Thanks in advance
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Old 03-27-2008, 11:58 AM   #2
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yes they are good.

clock it with your RME and it'll be even better.

bear in mind that it wont do over 48khz however.

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Old 03-27-2008, 12:30 PM   #3
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Can't beat 'em for the value. Don't expect miracles from the mic preamps though. They ARE transparent IMO. If you want a mic pre with "color" you won't find it in the ADA8000. You can always line-in from your favorite preamp(s).

The converters are fairly decent and like Dave said, use the Wordclock from your RME and you may be surprised. I use one with an EMU1820M with Wordclock and it sounds great.

D
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Old 03-27-2008, 11:44 PM   #4
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If you can stretch a little bit more, you can jump up a bit in quality and get away from the standard risk of failure that tends to be inherent in Behringer products, you might look at Presonus.

Presonus has the Digimax FS (~US$599), and they also just recently came out with the Digimax D8 (US$399), the latter of which seems to be basically the Digimax FS with a bit less I/O connectivity. (For reference, the ADA8000 typically streets for US$249.99 here.)

Personally, I'm not too fond of the Behringer pres -- they aren't actually as transparent as they are often given credit for being, but rather a bit metallic and a bit thin at the bottom, and they can tend to build up some funkyness if you use a lot of the Behringer pres in a large mix (making you have to work harder to get your mixes sounding good). That's my experience, anyway.

The Presonus seems to be better in the preamp department, and honestly I just feel like their gear is a bit more trustworthy.

That said, there have been commercially released albums done with stuff recorded entirely through Behringer pres, just as there have been commercial albums done with stuff entirely recorded on Presonus pres. There are lots of happy ADA8000 owners (though the one thing I hear of going bad on these is the power supplies -- rather typical for Behringer).

I'd ask yourself the following:

(1) Is it at all possible that I could afford to stretch to one of the Presonus units?

(2) If the Behringer goes tits up on me within the first week after the warranty expires (which is a VERY common occurrence with Behri gear), how badly will it impede my finishing the project I'm working on (or upcoming projects), and how long will I have to save up to buy another one to replace the broken one?

For what it's worth, a friend of mine did a bit of AB testing between the converters/pres on a Presonus Digimax LT and a Behringer DX3216 (which would have the same pres and converters as the ADA8000), with both clocked to the same source (which I believe was his RME card). He recorded a tamborine and an electric guitar (direct) through each, and the results sounded surprisingly close. The Behringer was very slightly grainier sounding, and the Presonus had a bit cleaner detail.

I've been so close to just biting the bullet and buying an ADA8000 for so long, until Presonus came out with the Digimax FS. I tend to be REALLY hesitant with Behringer gear, even though they do sometimes come out with the budget gems that don't break a week after you buy them, and the ADA8000 is reputed to be one of their successes in this regard. I scored the Presonus for $500, and to me it was worth paying the additional $250 for the better build quality and the peace of mind.
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Old 03-28-2008, 02:11 AM   #5
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Well it sounds to me like they are well worth their modest price tag. I actually saw them mentioned in another thread where they also got the thumbs up. Although reliability is certainly a concern it would seem that these units have been fairly reliable.

Scottdru
Many thanks for your very informitive post, I had a look on some sites here in Aus and was unable to find the digimax D8 but found both the FS & LT models but their price seems a lot higher here at AU $1499 & $1949 respectivly which sadly is way out of my price range at the moment I also looked at the motu 8pre and it goes for about $850, still more than twice the price of the ada8000. I'll keep looking at some other brands and weigh up my options

Thanks again everyone
Cheers
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Old 03-28-2008, 11:34 AM   #6
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I have an ADA8000 and a DigimaxLT. The first served me well for a few years and it's unbeatable for that price. The latter has much better pres, internal clock, and powersupply. I would then reapeat everything that Scotdru said, but I'll ad that if you google around a bit you'll find you can mod in a few ways an ADA8000... like bypassing the pres if you need to.. definetly worth the price: if you're on a budget go for it. The only thing I found really annoying is the phantom power: you can only switch it on or off for all eight channels at the same time.... beware of ribbon mikes !
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Old 03-28-2008, 02:39 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scottdru View Post

The Presonus seems to be better in the preamp department, and honestly I just feel like their gear is a bit more trustworthy.

I certainly agree with your comments...
But ironically, the pre's on the ADA8000 are actually quieter than those on the original Digimax.
I'm generally not a Behringer fan... but they did well with the ADA8000 (especially given the street price of ~$230).


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Old 03-29-2008, 10:36 PM   #8
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if you only need 2-4 inputs, try the audiofire 4. it is less than $220 and has specs that rival RME and faired well in tests against an Apogee rosetta.
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Old 04-14-2008, 01:18 PM   #9
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I have one hooked up to my E-MU 1212M card... I love it.
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Old 04-14-2008, 01:38 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by daverich View Post
clock it with your RME and it'll be even better.
I would have said the same thing... then i read the Dan Lavry thread, and his thought provoking comments...

now I am just confused.

.t
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Old 04-14-2008, 02:33 PM   #11
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I can second that, I bought two and a fireface 800 to do some live recording and i couldn't get them to clock properly. I've also not been able to get either to clock to my VSL2020 either????


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Old 04-24-2008, 05:18 PM   #12
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The Behringer wouldn't be bad at all if you could bypass those rubbish mic preamps and just use line ins.

This one sounds pretty good and is dirt cheap:
http://www.smproaudio.com/index.php?...ask=view&id=45

Around 160Euro in Europe.

***EDIT***
They come from Australia - so you should be quids in!

Last edited by TheCaptain; 04-24-2008 at 05:21 PM.
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Old 04-25-2008, 09:33 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallisman View Post
I would have said the same thing... then i read the Dan Lavry thread, and his thought provoking comments...

now I am just confused.

.t
IMO, It's wise to clock (one or both?) external when running two sperate AD chassis together, converting with both at the same time.

I don't see a reason to use just the ADA800 with a FF800 sitting there, used as a clock. Seems to me the FF800 inputs would be used first.

It could be Dave is referring exactly to this. That the two seperate clocks could tend to drift, which would be undesireable, and that a single clock source would probably sync better. The RME (with external clock jitter correction) could even be clocked by the ADA8000 if the ADA8000 inputs were used first, or seperately.
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