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Good DI box - will it make a difference?
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25-03-2011 4:20pm#1hi,
I'm wondering, does the quality of a DI box make a huge difference to your sound? Lately I've been DI-ing my guitar directly into my interface (a UA25-ex which has a Hi-Z input) and using Overloud TH2 and Revalver (demo version) to get the sounds I want.
anyways, it was mentioned to me that a "proper"/dedicated DI box would yield a better tone from these programs, but to be honest, I'm finding it hard to see how as surely the DI box would still have to go through my interface so the signal would go through the same AD converters as directly hooking my guitar to the interface?
Personally I think that putting the money towards a new interface would be the better option, but since I dont have a dedicated DI box to compare I'm completely open to the idea that I could be (and I probably am!) wrong on this one.....
So I guess I'm asking if a dedicated DI box would make much of a difference? If so, any recommendations? Is it a "one-box-fits-all" for genres or what?
I was looking at a Sansamp Para Driver DI as I was told that it was excellent, but for E240 on Thomann it seems a bit pricey for a DI box....
thanks guys!
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it will make a difference for the better
, even better would be a good mic preamp with DI capability
but
i think a far better interface with a dedicated di built in will give you the best improvement all round .
I dont think the one you have is worth putting a top di in front of.
my setup has a great interface, with a dedicated DI ,
but , i actually use a di capable good mic preamp , then into the interface
you could also consider a gsp 1101 , as a second sound card , with full guitar processing capability , for guitars and bass.
Ha! Thanks mate, thats what I was afraid the responses would be! I know the interface I want, and am saving for it now. (MR816X - its amazing! 
)
Yeah the UA25-ex is great for getting quick ideas down / in the field recording, but I wouldn't try making anything to release on it! Can I ask what "di capable good mic preamp" you use, and would it be suitable for heavier music? I was looking at a Radial J48 which was recommended to me, but I figured no point driving a good signal into poor AD converters. New interface it is so... plus you can DI with the MR816X also...it has a hi-z port so it might tide me over.....
I probably should of mentioned that I'm looking to use the DI signal to run through Ampltude 3 or Overlouds TH2 amp modeller programs which IMO sound great.0 -
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About the Firewire/usb/adat comments. Are you talking about the connection to your interface or hard drive? Or external hard drive?
If its external hard drive than Firewire 400 is a minimum requirement IMO. Ive had issues with a cheap external over usb 2 with a 20 track project. I find a fast spindle speed (7200rpm) is a necessity also...
EDIT: Just saw....he meant converters. Well I dont know much about the difference to your interface, but surely data is data, and as long as the audio stream gets to your audio converters on time then it shouldnt matter what way its transferred??Nah, you're not going to hear any difference with converters until you're spending over €1000 on a stand alone device that is not USB or Firewire powered. Even then, the difference is very slight.
Sorry madtheory but I'm going to have to disagree with you slightly on this one.
I've used an Apogee Duet (about €450 online) and compared it against my interface when recording a simple acoustic guitar track. Apogee definitely sounded better IMO. More clearer and more high end to it....maybe its the infamous "Apogee sound" but it did sound great.
I'd imagine that with tracks building up in a bigger project this extra clarity would only become more apparent.
I will agree, Duet aside, that most interfaces around the €200 - €400 have little difference but you do find gems in the odd bit of hardware that make the recording that big better. And not every thing is price related. More expensive does not always mean better.
This is interesting actually. MR816X (about €630) vs Prism Orpheus (about €4000) "comparison" test.
As with most "comparison" tests, its to be taken with a pinch of salt of course...still its an interesting read. 0 -
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OK, I was being general, but that was to take into account that the OP does not appear to have a good monitoring setup, a good DI or even a good guitar? He's looking for a substantial improvement, don't forget the law of diminishing returns. My point about converters is that generally you have to spend a lot of money for an improvement. This is having done a couple of proper blind AB tests. The differences are so small that it's easy to be fooled. It's also too easy to end up wanting something posh- in my case, a Cranesong HEDD, yum!
Well, I agree it wont make as big a difference as a different mic pre or anything, but I find that in one vs one tracks, the difference is slight at best. However, when project expand with many tracks this slight difference builds up to a noticeable difference that IMO makes the difference between an average mix and a good mix.
Sometimes a one vs one difference is noticeable such as with the Duet vs the UA25-ex but it depends on what you're recording also.
As for my setup, true its not amazing. I'm looking to upgrade my guitar at the moment to something more suitable to the type of music I'm making. I DI directly into my budget interface and I mix on headphones as I dont have the opportunity to mix with monitors (volume issues, neighbours etc) by summer I will be using monitors though (building a little mix room for myself at the moment! ). Basically I'm practicing my music production skills and I've achieved some decent results via my headphone mixes. Not amazing, true, but with the right gear and scenario I intend to take full advantage of my "practice" sessions. 0 -
Well, I agree it wont make as big a difference as a different mic pre or anything, but I find that in one vs one tracks, the difference is slight at best. However, when project expand with many tracks this slight difference builds up to a noticeable difference that IMO makes the difference between an average mix and a good mix.
Sometimes a one vs one difference is noticeable such as with the Duet vs the UA25-ex but it depends on what you're recording also.
As for my setup, true its not amazing. I'm looking to upgrade my guitar at the moment to something more suitable to the type of music I'm making. I DI directly into my budget interface and I mix on headphones as I dont have the opportunity to mix with monitors (volume issues, neighbours etc) by summer I will be using monitors though (building a little mix room for myself at the moment! ). Basically I'm practicing my music production skills and I've achieved some decent results via my headphone mixes. Not amazing, true, but with the right gear and scenario I intend to take full advantage of my "practice" sessions.
I would recommend upgrading your guitar first and then worrying about the DI. You are right about small differences building up, but buying a DI before you are happy with your guitar is putting the horse before the cart.0 -
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Seziertisch wrote: »I would recommend upgrading your guitar first and then worrying about the DI. You are right about small differences building up, but buying a DI before you are happy with your guitar is putting the horse before the cart.
Oh completely man! +1!!
I've already sussed out what guitar I'm getting! Only problem is, I'm still waiting on the shop to get more of them in.... been waiting a few weeks so far....:(
IMO, getting a new guitar is not something you can do over the internet. You need to get the feel for it in the flesh. 0 -
+1, unless you're prepared to "flip" web purchases. The advantage of doing that is you have a much wider choice than any Irish shop, but it is not convenient and can get pricey.IMO, getting a new guitar is not something you can do over the internet. You need to get the feel for it in the flesh.
This doesn't make as big a difference as one might assume. You can hear this for yourself though, don't take my word for it. Over on gearslutz mastering there's a very good AB of posh converters, where an entire mix was looped from DA to AD (most boxes do ADDA in one). There's another one by the infamous Ethan Winer where an acoustic guitar performance was split at line level after the pre into IIRC an Apogee and a Sound blaster. Definitely different, but very slight. Personally I'd be happy to track with either, given a good performance, mic and mic pre. So IMO 99% of the time the converter is negligible compared to instrument, monitoring etc. etc. because modern converters are really very good, approaching "blameless". It's only slightly more important than what type of dither you use.Sometimes a one vs one difference is noticeable such as with the Duet vs the UA25-ex but it depends on what you're recording also.
Of course, the word "slight" is subjective.0 -
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