Adat or analog direct recording for synth?

[Hangee_77]

Hi,

I would like to record a sound from a synth which has the ADAT optical output onboard into computer (Nuendo & Pulsar2).

Which one is better to directly record the sound using the analog line-in or adat?

Thanks.

hc.

[bosone]

if you can, go for the digital!

[garyb]

it probably matters very little. one disadvantage to the digital connection is that Scope will likely have to slave to the clock in the synth, which probably only does 48k. it certainly won't make the difference between a good recording and a bad one either way.

[valis]

The ADAT connection is theoretically 'ideal' but a lot of the 'sound' of certain sought after vintage gear (synths and samplers) is the DA as much as anything else, especially with how things are calibrated in terms of headroom (clipping an Emu or Akai sampler's DA is quite distinctive for instance.) If you can't match samplerates to what you typically use in your DAW I probably wouldn't even bother.

The question also is which synth? Virus Ti2's have balanced outs that are powerful enough to get a full range signal into the XLR i/o that some Scope boards have, just hook the two up and go. For something with normal line-level outs though you might want to get a stereo Radial DI box and stick it between the synth and the XLR inputs.

If your scope card has the RCA i/o then it's reversed, a Virus will probably quickly overpower that input and need some padding (DI boxes again.) In fact properly chosen preamps or DI boxes can also color the signal enough to be a useful purchase regardless, with some research into what you think sounds good/prefer.

Might be overkill for a $300 korg (or similar) though...

[erminardi]

...a lot of the 'sound' of certain sought after vintage gear (synths and samplers) is the DA as much as anything else...

+1000

In fact, the difference between my Korg Wavestation EX and its software counterpart, it's huge! The hardware D/A converters are sometimes 50% of the character of the synth.