In this quiz you can hear the following signal paths at work:
Royer R121 > Presonus Firestudio
Shure SM57 > Presonus Firestudio
Royer R121 > Vintech 1272 > Mytek AD96
Shure SM57 > Vintech 1272 > Mytek AD96
Royer R121 > Vintech 1272 > Mytek AD96 > Distressor EL-8X
Royer R121 > Trident S20 > Mytek AD96
Shure SM57 > Trident S20 > Mytek AD96
Royer R121 > M-Audio Octane
Shure SM57 > M-Audio Octane

You get the idea. Check it out.

The Recording Gear Quiz

Several years ago I dumped $2400 into 4 channels of analog to digital conversion and 2 channels of digital to analog conversion (for monitoring). I purchased 2 Mytek AD96s and one Mytek DA96. This past December I purchased a Presonus Firestudio for $700.

Mytek AD96
I want to make it clear that the Mytek AD96 does not contain preamps and does not contain any form of an audio interface. It simply converters the output of my preamps (2 channels) into digital and spits that into the S/PDIF inputs of my audio interface. If memory serves me well, these converters cost about $1,000 per AD96 but I got a discount for purchasing in bulk.

Presonus Firestudio
On the other hand, the Presonus Firestudio costs $700, has 8 AD converters and 8 DA converters built in not counting the 8 preamps, routing matrix, audio interface to the computer, ADAT ins and outs, etc. In other words, they crammed a bunch of stuff in there for a price that is still 30% cheaper than purchasing just the 2 channels of AD conversion.

The Shootout
I have included two tiny little, unscientific tests. One is myself speaking in a Audio Technica AT4050. Just in case you are wondering, I had a member who wanted to terminate his membership because I made a joke about my home recording book in the voiceover shootout. The AT4050 is ran into my Vintech 1272 and then into either the Mytek AD96 or input 6 of the Presonus Firestudio with the preamp volume on the stock Presonus preamp turned all the way down.

The electric guitar is my Jackson Kelly with EMG 81s ran into my Rivera Knucklehead through a THD Hotplate and a custom 1x12' cabinet with a Celestion G12H30 speaker. I mic'd the cabinet with a Sennheiser MD421 and ran that into a Vintech 1272 into either a Mytek AD96 or the stock Presonus input with the preamp turned all the way down.

Member's Only
This analog to digital converter is for RecordingReview.com members only. Check out here: AD Converter Shootout: Mytek AD96 vs Presonus Firestudio If you are not a member, join today. It's free! If you are a member, login and head here.

Note: I'm not biased on this test. To be honest, I wanted to say “This $200 plugin replaces my entire amp collection”. I WANT to be able to make robo recordings with $2 in gear! Did it happen? I'll let you decide. I want to make it perfectly clear that this test was not a big deal. I probably should have played it tighter. I probably should have taken more time. I didn't really plan on making a shootout. Oh well, here goes.

Guitar – The guitar is an Agile Telecaster. Why Telecaster? Why not! I'm playing high gain rock stuff here. I realize a Telecaster is not the most obvious choice for this. Oh well. To make matters worse, these strings are robo old. To make matters even worse, you can hear just how poorly the intonation is out when I hit the higher chords. So what does this prove? Nothing! I'm not trying to prove anything. I was goofing around and not taking this too seriously. Maybe I should have restrung it. Maybe I'll do a better shootout with more direct guitar gadgets if people like this one.

Amp Simulator – Native Instruments Guitar Rig 2. Why only this one? Because it's the only one I have. Technically, I didn't really pursue this one anyway. It came with Komplete 3 which I purchased for the synths and samples. I normally am too busy pulling crap out of my highly raised nose to ever actually purchase a direct guitar product.

Amps – The amps in this contest were all my amps I own. Peavey 5150, Rivera Knucklehead, and my trusty '71 Marshall Superlead. I considered using my Fender Bronco also, but maybe I'll save that for the next one.

Cabinet – My trusty 1x12 former floor wedge on stage turned into Celestion G12H30 mega cabinet. I REALLY like this cabinet even though it looks like death. I don't use a grill! My Marshall JCM 800 4x12 cabinet has been collecting dust for some time now.

Mic – I used my Royer R121 with this. It's clear that if I wanted more fizz than this (for metal I definitely would) I would need to make some changes. With that said, I need to remember that my Mackie's tend to hype of electric guitars a little bit so guitars come out sounding a tad boring and a tad too smooth on computer speakers.

Preamp – I used my Trident S20 preamp. Not much to say there.

Converter - I used my Mytek AD96 converter on the mic'd signal. The direct guitars were tracked through the Hi-Z input in my Presonus Firestudio.

The Results: You'll have to head to the Member's Only forum here at RecordingReview.com for those! Guitar Rig 2 vs Real, Expensive Recording Rig