Koopdaddy wrote:The RME HDSPe RayDAT can support a maximum of 4 devices correct? so 32 i/o ? If I want more than 32 I would need to add a second card?
Or should I go with the RME HDSP 9652 PCI Card? 3 mic pres directly into the card instead of going through a profire or motu.
The 9652 has no preamps. It's an earlier 24 channel version of the RayDAT for all intents and purposes. You could get a pair of 9652's, but I'd lean away from older PCI interfaces. PCIe is where stuff is at now and PCI options will only become more limited down the road. That's a consideration if you ever need to replace a failed motherboard or find a need to upgrade the host.
RME vs MOTU for me comes down to a simple question. Do you need the rackspace or flexibility? MOTU eats 1U of rack space to feed in 24 channels of audio. A 48 channel system then carries 2U of overhead. The RME RayDAT is all internal and requiring ADAT output on a set of preamps instead of having analog options isn't as big a deal. Losing the analog outputs on the MOTU isn't as big a deal either since a RayDAT card isn't prohibitively expensive compared to new MOTU hardware. 64 channels of RayDAT runs about $1600, and you'd pay about that for a new 2408 mk3 core plus 2408 expansion which only gets 48 channels. You'd add another $600ish to bump up to 3 2408's to match and exceed the 2xRayDAT input capacity. For some it may be no big deal to eat up the rackspace with the MOTU gear, for others it may mean added cost and hassle in expanding rack space.
Many tend to buy preamps in those channel counts and the line i/o on the MOTU interfaces is an added bonus. Personally, I'd rather stay all optical for my inputs if I can manage it, but I really like the idea of MOTU building blocks in 24 channel sets to build the size system I need on a portable rig. The host and preamps can all live in separate racks with simple connections between them.
You'd accomplish similar things though with the ADAT extenders and you can even build smaller racks since the 64 channel version is essentially 2 of the 32 channel units in one rack space. So a pair of 16/16 racks with the 32 channel appsys units could feed into the singe 32/32 appsys unit in the host. If you needed more inputs than outputs you could go 24/8 in two stage racks and configure the host rack for 48/16 or any combination between. I've even looked at using the appsys boxes for distributing signal where necessary. You could put 8-16 outputs from an appsys mounted in the amp racks and just chain from one unit to the next. FOH could send a bundle of cat5 to the stage then and split signals off to wherever you need inputs and outputs.