CraigsAudio wrote:SAC would do all of the things that I want but I do not want to spend the money. $3000 is a lot to invest for a small guy like myself. The 16.4.2 cost half of that. I did get the demo and it looks promising. If my needs grow in the future I would strongly consider going with SAC Another consideration for me is recording live performances. Saw Studio looks like it most likely is required and if so that puts it out if range for me. I need to ask this question on the SAC forum, does SAC support the use of another DAW (I use Reaper) for recording while mixing a live performance?
SAC doesn't care if you run another recording app as long as you have enough speed (to prevent slipped buffers) and your sound card's ASIO drivers support multiple clients. This is no problem with RME or MOTU.
And, if you're talking about a 16 channel system, the cost might not be as much as you think:
Software: $600 (SAC for $500 plus Levelizer for $100, best plug out there)
PC: $500 or less (you can get a perfectly good refurbed P4 machine for $150 lots of places, these will run 16 i/o with several monitor mixers)
MOTU 424/2408 combo on ebay: $350
2 Art TubeOpto B-stock off ebay (most are new, and sold as b-stock to get around MAP): $350 ea, $700
Cables & Connectors: $50
8 channel BCF2000 fader packs: $200 ea (or less on ebay), 2 for $400..
That's right at $3k... but if you shop around a bit you can get it closer to $2k... if you shave off $350 of the PC by getting a steal on it, or even more by using one you already have. You also might be able to get by with one fader pack... many do. That's $500 of savings together... and deals can be found on the MOTU stuff tooRemember that the faders in SAC "chase" the screen (if you want them to) so you can move them with one click. I mix with no faders at all... just the mouse. Works great... but I realize not everyone can work that way.
Anyway.. you could do it close to $2k... that makes it worth a second look, I think. For that price, with the MOTU gear, you have a 24 channel system too... 8 of them would be line level until you add a third preamp, but you can go up to 72 with the 424 card (techincally more, but SAC supports 72).