OT: An Audio I/O Drive Bay Option?

Grazie wrote on 1/16/2010, 1:28 PM

http://www.rolls.com/pdf/M_GCI404.pdfA bit more info . . . [/link]

Grazie

farss wrote on 1/16/2010, 2:51 PM

It's only a mixer, you connect it to the PC's existing sound card.
Pretty useless in my opinion, save your money and buy a decent firewire box like the Firewire 610.

I bought the original Firewire 410 years ago based on the recommendation of Spot and others here. It's still going strong, used regularly in home and away. All those inputs and outputs are more usefull than I thought at first.
Two headphone outputs are needed, one for the talent and one for you. Two mic inputs, one for the talent and one for you, saves no end of drama when the talent can hear you through their headphones. The extra line outputs are very handy too, feed one set to your regular monitors, one to a set of cheapies for comparison, another to my old audio cassette recorder plus I've got SPDIF I/O for my DAT machine. All the level controls are on the one panel on your screen. Just brilliant and it all works very nicely with Vegas.

Bob.

Grazie wrote on 1/16/2010, 3:20 PM

$500 ? O . . K . . .

You gonna buy me one - Bob?

Grazie

farss wrote on 1/16/2010, 3:39 PM

"You gonna buy me one - Bob?"

When I win the lottery YES, and a copy of After Effects.
Just to be sure, to be sure, I'll even deliver it in person.

I know, I know good gear isn't cheap and I thought long and hard about spending the dollars on the 410. I even emailed Sweetwater in the USA to try to get the delivery cost down. They called me back, on the phone, at $1 per minute. They checked and found they could save me USD100 sending it via DHL instead of UPS. Done deal.

So yes, it still cost me over AUD 500 but I've had nearly 10 years use out of it, I can see nothing on the horizon to cause me to replace it. So by my calculations it's cost me $1 per week. Just in the last couple of months though I've billed enough VO work just recorded in my living room to pay back the original $500 investment. Sure I could have sent the client off to a proper VO studio but a) I could loose the client and b) we get it done on the spot. So oftenly you've got to think the other way around i.e. what will it cost me if I don't have this.

Bob.

Former user wrote on 1/16/2010, 6:18 PM

I would agree with Bob on this one as far as the soundcard connection. You are going to be limited to the quality of the LINE input of your soundcard. I would look for a USB option before I would use this. There are plenty of USB sound in devices under $400.

Dave T2

musicvid10 wrote on 1/16/2010, 6:34 PM

Rolls has a rep for using substandard components, bad layout design, noisy outputs, and overly optimistic specs. I wouldn't touch 'em.

I bought a $90 mic preamp from them that went for $5 at my yard sale.

PeterWright wrote on 1/16/2010, 7:25 PM

Just to reinforce Bob's point - I've made several purchases where at the time I was dubious about going for the expensive option, and every single time I've soon come to appreciate the benefits of good quality gear, and this and the longevity of use makes such items very good value in the long run.

One example - 3-4 years ago, for an on-camera mic I went for the Sony ECM-678. Cost a fair bit, but has proved so good for sound quality I've never regretted the expense.

NickHope wrote on 1/16/2010, 7:37 PM

Grazie, I really like my Echo Gina 3G. It's a PCI board and break-out box. May be a little cheaper than the M-Audio.

Grazie wrote on 1/16/2010, 11:36 PM

Thanks for all the feedback.

Firstly I saw this "Rolls" thing and thought of just the ease of connecting to my humble card. I wasn't necessarily thinking of the greater value of doing V/O - just a simple and budget way of connecting to the pc. It was the XLR option that had turned my silly, little, window-shopping head and got me all a-quiver. Just your feedback that I should be looking at a more fundamental "reason" for a purchase as this, has been valuable.

Secondly, I honestly DO realise about investing for the long term. Working out the maths on ROI is a book I wrote eons ago. But seriously, I do take your comments (thanks Pete) in the polite way they were meant - Thank You!

The alternative Gina - thanks Nick - does come in at a tad below the M-Audio 610, is still a large lump of wonger for me at the present. I do have another source I can tickle for "a price".

Again, and as always, thanks Guys!

Grazie

ps: Bob, you really DO need to buy a &*%%%^" ticket first - y'know!!

pps: Bob?!? It wont just be M-Audio and AE! You visit me under those circumstances, you is just gonna have to throw in an EX-6 (by then!) with a tele lens too!