[Steve[_3_]]

Hey All;

I have one of these and I was wondering what the specs were on it. It's a
"Revision G" board inside. I have seen measurements from a Rev B and E Cow
board but not the G. Would they be much different? I haven't really used
it much but I was thinking of selling my Focusrite Twintrak (with A/D card)
and buying another FMR RNP and using it with the Flying Cow. Would there be
a drastic difference in A/D quality between the Focusrite's A/D converter
and the Cow's? I also have a Tascam FW1804, would the converters in that be
a better bet than the Cow's?

Thanks;
Steve

[Mike Rivers]

Steve wrote:

I was thinking of selling my Focusrite Twintrak (with A/D card)
and buying another FMR RNP and using it with the Flying Cow. Would there be
a drastic difference in A/D quality between the Focusrite's A/D converter
and the Cow's? I also have a Tascam FW1804, would the converters in that be
a better bet than the Cow's?

You have all this stuff. Why don't you compare them yourself? I don't
expect that there would be a significant difference between converters
of about the same price and generation. That's not to say that you
wouldn't hear a difference between them, but that there isn't likely to
be a clear winner. Trust what you hear, not what you read.

The RNP is nice, but what do you think it will give you that your
TwinTrak doesn't? There's a lot of useful stuff in that box, and cool
meters, too. Why not keep the TwinTrak and buy an RNP. You can
always use that instead of the Focusrite preamp if you want some variety.

--
If you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring and reach
me he
double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo -- I'm really Mike Rivers
)

[Steve[_3_]]

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
news:4tZzk.362$8v5.64@trnddc01...
Steve wrote:

I was thinking of selling my Focusrite Twintrak (with A/D card) and
buying another FMR RNP and using it with the Flying Cow. Would there be
a drastic difference in A/D quality between the Focusrite's A/D converter
and the Cow's? I also have a Tascam FW1804, would the converters in that
be a better bet than the Cow's?

You have all this stuff. Why don't you compare them yourself?

Guess I could?

I don't
expect that there would be a significant difference between converters of
about the same price and generation. That's not to say that you wouldn't
hear a difference between them, but that there isn't likely to be a clear
winner. Trust what you hear, not what you read.

The RNP is nice, but what do you think it will give you that your TwinTrak
doesn't? There's a lot of useful stuff in that box, and cool meters, too.


The TwinTrak has always had a place here and a special place in my heart.
Remember the first piece of gear you ever bought and thought "At this price
this must be REALLY GOOD"?? The Twintrak was it for me. I have never used
it for more than a stereo preamp (for my NT5 drum overheads)--SPDIF -- DAW
and DAW--SPDIF --monitoring. I have never used the mid scoop or
compressor. I am more of a DAW person for that kind of processing. Yes I
like the metering as well. :-)

I was considering selling the TwinTrak for a Mackie 800R as well but we'll
see. I am using a Behringer ADA8000 now as an expansion unit for my FW1804
and it does ok for those "extra channels" when needed. I am looking into
making some improvements to my gear in between projects but room treatment
seems to be the cloud over everything.

Thanks!
Steve

Why not keep the TwinTrak and buy an RNP. You can
always use that instead of the Focusrite preamp if you want some variety.

--
If you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring and reach me
he
double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo -- I'm really Mike Rivers
)

[Arny Krueger]

"Steve" wrote in message

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
news:4tZzk.362$8v5.64@trnddc01...
Steve wrote:

I was thinking of selling my Focusrite Twintrak (with
A/D card) and buying another FMR RNP and using it with
the Flying Cow. Would there be a drastic difference in
A/D quality between the Focusrite's A/D converter and
the Cow's?

No.

Might even be the same chips.

I also have a Tascam FW1804, would the
converters in that be a better bet than the Cow's?

You have all this stuff. Why don't you compare them
yourself?

Guess I could?

Sure - ever hear of the Audio Rightmark (freeware)?

I don't
expect that there would be a significant difference
between converters of about the same price and
generation. That's not to say that you wouldn't hear a
difference between them, but that there isn't likely to
be a clear winner. Trust what you hear, not what you
read.

Furthermore, if memory serves the advantage of the later Flying Cow versions
over the earlier one was not about converters. Same chips, regardless. A lot
of the improvement was due to a better implementation of a mixed-signal
circuit card and the supporting circuitry.

[hank alrich]

Steve wrote:

I am looking into making some improvements to my gear in between projects
but room treatment seems to be the cloud over everything.

Actually, the cloud is unfortunate listening circumstances, and room
treatment is the silver lining. Your ability to judge the performance of
your gear and the results of your practices will improve significantly
with proper room treatment.

--
ha
Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam

[Steve[_3_]]

Arny;

I downloaded Audio Rightmark and started playing. I have seen results from
it posted before but never bothered to look into what program was generating
them.

Thought you might be interested in my findings:

From the manufacturer's specs my Twintrak's D/A has the best dynamic range
at 111db so I decided to use it to test the Flying Cow and the A/D card in
the TwinTrak.

I tested the Cow First. M-Audio Lists the Dynamic range as 102db in the
docs. I connected it with balanced 3 foot 1/4" cables to the Twintrak and
came up with 106.1 and 106.0.

I then tested the AD card in the Twintrak which is 110 in the documentation
and it came up as 107.8 both times in my tests.

Makes one consider the "don't let the numbers fool you" advice we've all
once been told.

Cheers
Steve

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
. ..
"Steve" wrote in message

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
news:4tZzk.362$8v5.64@trnddc01...
Steve wrote:

I was thinking of selling my Focusrite Twintrak (with
A/D card) and buying another FMR RNP and using it with
the Flying Cow. Would there be a drastic difference in
A/D quality between the Focusrite's A/D converter and
the Cow's?

No.

Might even be the same chips.

I also have a Tascam FW1804, would the
converters in that be a better bet than the Cow's?

You have all this stuff. Why don't you compare them
yourself?

Guess I could?

Sure - ever hear of the Audio Rightmark (freeware)?

I don't
expect that there would be a significant difference
between converters of about the same price and
generation. That's not to say that you wouldn't hear a
difference between them, but that there isn't likely to
be a clear winner. Trust what you hear, not what you
read.

Furthermore, if memory serves the advantage of the later Flying Cow
versions over the earlier one was not about converters. Same chips,
regardless. A lot of the improvement was due to a better implementation of
a mixed-signal circuit card and the supporting circuitry.

[Arny Krueger]

"Steve" wrote in message

Arny;

I downloaded Audio Rightmark and started playing. I have
seen results from it posted before but never bothered to
look into what program was generating them.

Thought you might be interested in my findings:

I am.

From the manufacturer's specs my Twintrak's D/A has the
best dynamic range at 111db so I decided to use it to
test the Flying Cow and the A/D card in the TwinTrak.

I tested the Cow First. M-Audio Lists the Dynamic range
as 102db in the docs. I connected it with balanced 3
foot 1/4" cables to the Twintrak and came up with 106.1
and 106.0.

Not bad.

I then tested the AD card in the Twintrak which is 110 in
the documentation and it came up as 107.8 both times in
my tests.

Again, not bad.

Makes one consider the "don't let the numbers fool you"
advice we've all once been told.

Variations like this are meaningless, given that they are both better than
100 dB.

You get extra points for noticing signfiicant differences in the shapes of
the noise floors. There probably aren't any.

Remember, it is very rare to make a recording with more than 75 dB dynamic
range.

A converter with 100 dB dynamic range contributes far less than 1 dB to 75
dB dynamic range - probably a few tenths.

Bottom line, you've got more important things to worry about. ;-)