Audiobus: Use your music apps together.
What is Audiobus? — Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
Affordable mic preamp with a lot of gain?
I just had the good fortune of using a Sound Devices USB Pre2 for work, it's an unprepossessing little thing, looks like it might cost about £20 at Tandy, but blimey it's a revelation. It can deliver 70db of clean gain, which makes using any one of my condenser microphones a lot nicer. But sadly I have to give the thing back, and I'm not willing to drop £800 on a new one.
So now I'm looking askew at my Scarlett 2i4, which is a complete piece of crap in comparison: if I turn the gain knob past around 2 o clock it's awash with noise and hiss, so I have to record really quietly and then increase the gain afterwards in post - the results are clean enough that way but it does make monitoring a lot harder. Now that I've had the experience if using an actually good mic preamp I would quite like to find something affordable that can match what that little Sound Devices box can do. Looking around I'm not finding much.
Any suggestions? What do people who own SM7Bs use, other than CloudLifters? Is there a decent preamp or interface that can deliver clean gain at high levels under say £300-£400?
Comments
Focusrite ISA One comes to mind. Can be found for about £390.00 new or £250-275 used. Very good reviews from all the right sources. You couldn't get much better for the price really.......
https://pro.focusrite.com/category/mic-pres/item/isa-one
Just checked......it's only got +60db of gain, so maybe not suitable for your needs.
I don't know if you're going to get the results you seek, absent a cloud lifter for that price point. I have my EV RE-20 running through an Avalon VT-737 because even the Apogee Element preamp gains weren't enough for my wishes (which is narration and spoken word) but they are more than adequate for my condenser mics. Is there something about cloudlifters (I've never used one, but was planning on buying one) you don't like?
Something comparable to your 2i4 might be the Presonus Studio 26 with 70db of gain range -- https://www.presonus.com/products/Studio-26/tech-specs. Other than that, maybe look at the Zoom F4?
Anyone have experience with the iRigPre HD?
Yes I can't use a CloudLifter with a condenser. Most of my mics are condensers I have too many budget mics!
I have an Oktava mic that I'm particularly fond of, but in order to use it with the Scarlett I need to keep the gain at about 12 o'clock, which means it's really hard to effectively monitor a vocal without adding gain on the channel strip in Auria (for monitoring only, this doesn't affect the recording). The problem is that this hides all sorts of potential issues like interference noise etc... because the signal coming into my cans is so noisy - so I often miss cable noise, interference etc and this can really ruin otherwise great recordings.
With the Sound Devices preamps I can monitor clean, so all the little noises that might spoil the recording are perfectly audible. It's a lot better.
You can see for comparison, the top waveform is the Oktava going into the Scarlett, and the bottom one is the same mic going into the Sound Devices USB Pre - and that bottom signal is perfectly clean:
In terms of final quality if I boost the Scarlett waveform in Auria with the gain command the results are pretty close in terms of sound quality - as long as the preamp on the Scarlett isn't pushed too hard into noise territory.
I recently bought an Aston Stealth mic which is a dynamic mic with a CloudLifter type device built in - this actually works really well with the Scarlett because I can get a really loud signal with no noise. I'd just like a similar experience with my condenser mics (I have 3 of those: the Oktava MK319, an AT2035 and a Violet Atomic).
Thanks I'll check that out, can it work on iOS without needing to be configured on a PC/Mac?
All a cloudlifter Does is provide a couple of stages of clean gain with impedance loading. If you were careful with your gain staging, couldn’t you do something similar with a set of clean preamps?
If not, another one to consider is Triton Audio’s Fethead. It’s about half the price of a Cloudlifter. 🙂
Google is a friend 🙂 I just found a nice one for even cheaper: Cathedral Pipes’ The Durham. For $65, I may just pick one of these up for myself!
By the way, there are several other makes/models out there of this kind of technology. 🙂
I'm happy with the SE Electronics DM1 Dynamite.
https://www.seelectronics.com/dm1-dynamite-active-inline-preamp
Ahh, I just re-read and can see you want to stay with your condensers. Which brings me back full circle—how about a pair of properly gain-staged preamps?
The Cloudlifter input stages are quite different from the FetHead, a significant aspect being the measuring/selection process of the 4 Transistors.
The circuit is claimed to be the exact same that Cloud uses in their ribbon mics - and these are plain stunning for an active ribbon.
Oh I thought u were looking for a solution for your SM7B (a dynamic) due to this post:
Have you ever tried/considered an Apogee Duet 2 (the iPad compatible one)? I use it with my condensers when I'm iPad recording and it gives me plenty of gain, for my use. The A/D-D/A is also great and it charges the iPad while you use it.
Not sure. Think it's class compliant and don't see any reason it wouldn't work with your typical USB to lighting adapter configuration but can't find any confirmation of that on the interwebz. Maybe it draws too much power? Sometimes I wish I could just run around a local guitar center and plug an ipad into every interface just to see what actually works lol.
Get a small 500 series enclosure then start a new obsession...just kidding, but my 500 series rack was one of my best gear purchases. Then go to barthrk.com and get the 2 channel preamp, wonderfully clean, lots of gain, and a germanium transistor you can switch into the path for a very subtle saturation. Then build the rest of the rack later on as you need.
@richardyot seems you have more noise in your input circuitry than has to be.
I assume the Scarlet is powered by it's own supply, but these things aren't grounded on their own (2 pin PSU).
So if you connect only the interface, microphone and iPad, the noisefloor can be significant.
In my case I can't record a guitar that way (with an Audient ID22). If I connect one of the (unused) outputs to another device that has a 3 pin connector (grounded), the noisefloor drops down at least 15dB.
A low impedance mic is less affected, but the difference should at least be noticeable.
Thats the move! I think a iPad compatible enclosure was just shown at NAMM too
EDIT: HERE'S THE THREAD
My Scarlett is powered by a USB battery via a USB Y cable - the power supply is completely silent. It's just that the preamps on the Scarlett can't be pushed too hard before they become noisy. That's why I was really amazed when I used a better preamp (that unfortunately I have to give back) because the gain is much much cleaner so you can push it much further.
Sorry for the misunderstanding - I don't own an SM7B, but I do know they require a ton of gain, which is why I mentioned them. But yes, a CloudLifter or similar isn't what I'm looking for.
The Duet might be an option, but it's quite pricy.
I run mics into the Eventide Mixing Link when I have to use a noisy mixer. Then I take a line out from there.
It is a big purchase new, but they do have a great "handshake" with apple where it just works. And they seem to have priority in Apple's integration scenario. This is evidenced from Logic etc. You can almost guarantee Apogee products will survive every Apple update (reasonably) where others might fall off. Sometimes you can catch them used for $250-350 USD and at these prices its an absolute steal.
That looks cool - thx.
then the whole setup is still floating (relative to ground) and shields (like microphone housings) may not work to the full degree. But it's very location depending, each house circuitry is different with emissions from a wide variety of sources.
The 'better preamp' likely had special precaution if it was designed to provide 70dB or more of gain and isn't comparable to an interface preamp.
I'd put a mic into a big blanket (to hide all sound) and record 10 seconds of silence with the gain dial set to 75%.
The repeat the procedure with same gain, but the Scarlet's shield/ground line connected to a proper ground.
This way you can verify that it's not a ground/shield problem or read out how severe it is if both records vary significantly.
I'm certain it's not a ground problem - when I first got the Scarlett I used the supplied adapter and the mains hum was deafening. That's why I now use the USB battery to power it.
The problem is that the Scarlett just doesn't have that much clean gain - for example if you read accounts of people trying to power SM7Bs with them it just doesn't have the gain.
I've also been powering the Sound Devices Pre with the same battery and it just delivers a lot more gain than the Scarlett. The difference is not subtle.
For example this review says:
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2:
Not recommended for SM7B.
While the 2i2 sounded good… when paired with the SM7B it was simply too noisy. The Cloudlifter improved its performance a little, but not quite enough for my recommendation.
just checked the Scarlet's specs - 46dB is in fact low, didn't expect it to be that low
And it gets noisy once you go past about 60%, so probably only about 25db of actual clean gain
The ID22 is known for it's good (and low noise) preamp performance.
With a low output dynamic mic (AKG D224) I use a gain setting of about 57 dB with silent sources.
(interface gain can be up to 60 dB, but at a point just before maximum noise jumps up audibly, so I turn it back just below that point)
With that setting I can add 12-18 dB of software gain without problems.
The noisefloor is perfect white noise with no hum or brizzle sounds and it doesn't change much with gain dial position.
Even if this is a better interface (and 3x the Scarlett's price), what you wrote about your's is rather unusual. I'd check if the unit is (half) broken or whatever. Humming like hell with a PSU connected is highly suspective.
Btw the phantom power on my ID22 doesn't work properly (I measured 23.5 V) which also results in a noisy and too low output signal. I noticed this at some point in the past but ignored it as I only use dynamic mics anyway.
OK so here is a provisional list of devices that can supply at least 60db of mic gain:
Audio Interfaces:
Presonus Studio 26 - £145
Audient ID22 - £300
Arturia Audiofuse - £415
Apogee Duet 2 - £465
Sound Devices USBPre 2 - £960
Mic Preamps:
Golden Age Pre 73Jr. - £210
Eventide Mixing Link - £260
Golden Age Pre 73 - £280
Focusrite ISA One - £400
Sound Devices MP-1 - £540
Looking at the list so far I would say that a cheap but decent mic pre like the Golden Age 73 Jr. might be the most cost-effective solution.
There are less expensive Audient interfaces if they can give you the same
This may be of interest, according to a post in the link below, the 73jr has 10db less gain than the 73.
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/1065859-isa-two-x2-gap-pre73-jr.html