bananaman Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 Need something to record 32 channels. Theres not a lot of stuff out there any more. I know about the Presonus Firestudio Lightpipe and the M-audio firestudio. Neither are made anymore. Anyone know of anything new? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirkenstein Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 I know about the Presonus Firestudio Lightpipe and the M-audio firestudio. Profire Lightbridge? Seems discontinued at most places in the UK, too, but Thomann appear to still be expecting stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bananaman Posted April 26, 2012 Author Share Posted April 26, 2012 Woops. Yea I ment the profire lightbridge. It's great having no channel limits in protools unlike the old mpowered version. Not so great with no high channel count interfaces :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirkenstein Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 It's great having no channel limits in protools unlike the old mpowered version. Not so great with no high channel count interfaces :(It _needs_ to be firewire, for a laptop or other machine with limited expandability? Something like the RME Raydat (PCI/PCIe) won't work for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackerr Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 Need something to record 32 channels. Theres not a lot of stuff out there any more. I know about the Presonus Firestudio Lightpipe and the M-audio firestudio. Neither are made anymore. Anyone know of anything new? What is the source of the audio? Is there an alternative to ADAT? Mac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 I've had a Profire Lightbridge since 2009 and it's been fine. It's slightly fussy in terms of the order you switch on gear but, once it's going it's totally reliable. I'm using mine for live playback in a theatre setting over the next few weeks. If you can find one, I can recommend it. However, as Mac is saying, if there are alternatives to ADAT/Firewire, you may wish to consider them. The Lightbridge is either discontinued or about to be and Firewire itself seems to be a dying breed too. I've been pondering what to move to next time I have to upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peza2010 Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 I've been pondering what to move to next time I have to upgrade.Thunderbolt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 Well, it may be Thunderbolt...or it may be USB3. Rather than picking something for myself I'll have to see what the market chooses (says the guy who thought Betamax and HD-DVD were likely to be winners!). But I was also thinking about the audio hardware side. Frankly, I was wondering about dropping all this foolishness anyway and (for my Yamaha digital) moving to something like the Audinate Dante system (or similar if I move to some other brand of digital mixer). I can't afford any of that right now, but best be prepared! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alangeering Posted April 28, 2012 Share Posted April 28, 2012 Having used the Profire Lightbridge (32x32 + SPDIF over firewire) and the RME HDSP 9652 (24x24 + SPDIF/analog over PCI) I can give my impressions: The M-Audio Profire Lightbridge had more channels and was great to have racked up (1/2 width rack size) with my digital desk and preamps for recording at the different venues I was at. Very portable. I made a patch panel to bring the firewire connector out to the front for a laptop. The M-Audio drivers were a bit annoying at times - especially on a laptop that I used with a few M-audio interfaces - somehow it would try to keep all the drivers for all the interfaces running at the same time. I didn't have any reliability problems. The HDSP 9652 is an excellent card. Absolutely reliable and I never had to worry about it. Rackmounting the PC with the preamps and mixer made for a much heavier case though. Splitting the PC out into another case meant a loom of 6 ADAT cables to plug in - I don't like anything that slows get-in or get-out down. Having only 24 Ch (12 at 96kHz) was a restriction only sometimes. Oh - and having the harware mixer meant I could eliminate some other equipment in my rack (ADAT splits).If the new RAYDAT card is as reliable I'd recommend it. RME has never let me down. I know these two devices are old techology now - but they both do the job at 48 and 96 kHz. If this is all you need then get on ebay as they can be found for very little cash. Note: the RME digi 9652 is an older card and has to be selected MAC or PC (changable by eprom) so make sure you know what you're getting. The newer HDSP 9652 is what I use and recommend if you still have PCI solts! (HDSP can be used in MAC or PC) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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