WC/converter advice to upgrade perference!

[TimS]

I've been pretty lucky to find some nice AD/DA converters for a pretty reasonable price (US$ too), however, I've been told its probably a better idea to get a better Word Clock device.
I see the benefit in doing this and am asking the pro's here on the forum what would be good recommendations.
I've got a 003R with a little outboard (micpres, EQ's, comps, delays, FX) and so far I have been pretty happy with it.
I know Black Lion Audio do serious upgrades on the 003, and those are currently out of my budget, but a BLA make a WC box which significantly upgrades the WC ability.
http://www.blacklionaudio.com/microclock.html

I'd rather put my money into the WC upgrade and get some more 500 series modules, althought the AD/DA converters would be nice also.
Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendatiosn on which would be the better option to go for..
Tim..

[heathen]

When I still had my motu what ever it was converters I clocked them from my apogees once to see if it would make a difference, which it did but was quite minimal, though still slightly better. Any improvment is good I think. Anyway I clock everything from my apogees and have no issues with sync and the like.

I dunno about black lion mods, some say good others say it takes forever to be done for minimal improvment, I was thinking about it but just bought apogees as I know they are good.

What were the converters you can get cheap? Better converters will more than likely beat an external clock in my opinion as good converters will have a good internal clock anyway, most likely.

[TimS]

Swissonic AD 24 and DA 24 (half rack series)

[Sammas]

What kind of effects do you have? You could always jump on something like a Kurzweil KSP-8 and connect it via Adat. This way you get 8 channels of effects and rather raved about conversion all in one package.


...otherwise, I'd just skip the digital upgrade altogether. Analog doesn't get outdated... preamps, comps, mics, eq's, etc will still sound great 20 years later. A word clock will be useless. Just a thought.

[jkhuri44]

i second that, i think you should get convertors man, a word clock will be cool...but before wasting money on that i think you should focus on convertors, pres and other stuffs.

i think world clock should be the icing on the cake, not the main cake ingredient :) Plus, a good convertor usually has an improved WC as well, a good example is an Apogee AD16...not sure about the swissonic, but if its decent, then the WCing will be a step up from the 003.

[TimS]

see, thats the thing - decisions...
I've read alot of people say the converters in the 003 arent "too" bad, hence why they went for a WC upgrade instead.
Hmm, I'm up the Gold Coast this w/e for my birthday, so I'll have a chat with Daniel from Legacy when I pop in..

here's some infor on the Swissonic converters..
http://www.prorec.com/Articles/tabid/109/EntryId/19/Swissonic-AD24-and-DA24-Converters.aspx

AD24 info
http://www.canadapromedia.com/sales/Swissonic%20Docs/AD24.htm
DA24 info
http://www.canadapromedia.com/sales/Swissonic%20Docs/DA24.htm

[chris p]

Hi TimS

The AD24 has w/c in, the DA24 has w/c out, and your 003R has w/c in/out.

On that basis, I would use the DA24 as the master to clock the other two units. I agree with Heath that a solid external clock is a slight improvement, but only when everything else in the signal chain has been maxed up. Your cash is better spent, in my view, on the mic / preamp and outboard / mixing part of the equation ahead of digital clocking.

I have used an AD24 to clock a (pre-w/c) MOTU converter using the ADAT time signal - that's supposedly one of the big no nos, and yet it worked just fine. Like Heath I now use my Apogee converter to clock my AD24 and that's pretty rock solid.

[rick]

i have a set of swissonics here
in short forgot what ever you worrying about and buy and use them , dont worry about the clock thing the swisssonic is well clocked

those things are REALLY serious converters ! ( but the company that built em had some business issues )

[TimS]

Well, I have nice mic pres and comps and stuff so the outboard part of the equation is pretty much amost done (I still need a few more 500 series to finish the lunchbox off)..
Well, looks like converters will be the order of the day then.. The WC in the Swissonic sounds like it will be better than the 003 stock WC anyway..
Thanks for the replies guys..

[heathen]

Yeah get new converters, best bang for the buck. 1 thing I noticed when I hooked up the apogees to the motu via lightpipe was the motu LP input would clip even though the apogee still had'nt just 1 thing to be aware of. Dunno if the 003 will or not.

[heathen]

You never bought any of those German eq's did you Tim? Saw a whole bunch go last week for about $150euro each, Telefunken pre's going for cheap too. I can't afford any at the moment.......

Actually there were 10 things I've been searching for ages now and of course they all pop up in 1 week. Life's cruel somedays!

[TimS]

You never bought any of those German eq's did you Tim? Saw a whole bunch go last week for about $150euro each, Telefunken pre's going for cheap too. I can't afford any at the moment....... well I did sneak in 1 pre the missus should'n t find out about. Should be here any day. :)

Actually there were 10 things I've been searching for ages now and of course they all pop up in 1 week. Life's cruel somedays!

No, but I still keep my eyes out for them.. :-)

[TimS]

decision = stuff the converters and WC - new mic pres coming instead!!
YEEHAA!!! ;-)