M-Audio Octane Reviews

[brandondrury]

M-Audio Octane @ Musiciansfriend

M-Audio Octane Description
The M-Audio Octane 8-Channel Mic Preamp with ADAT Lightpipe adds connectivity and studio-quality preamps to your recording rig. Excellent for input-hungry miking applications. 2 mic/instrument channels provide input for guitars, basses, keyboards, and other instruments. Enables sophisticated stereo miking. Analog preamp direct outputs on every channel. ADAT lightpipe output. Word clock lets you sync multiple units.

[brandondrury]

Quality: 8
I make no qualms about the fact that I think that the level of emphasis on the preamp world is skyrocketingly high. It's a damn volume knob. If you don't agree with me, see how you do here:
Recording Gear Quiz - Vintech, Trident, Mytek, Royer, Shure, and Presonus

When I listen to guitar tracks done with the Octane compared to other tracks I hear a character that is somewhere in the middle of the Trident S20 and the Vintech 1272. I can't figure out if this is a “worst of all worlds” situation where we just kind of end up in the middle with less personality or if the personality is just a bit close to the middle of the two pres.

I'm of the opinion that the M-Audio Octane sounds very good and I like the fact that it's dramatically cheaper than my other pres. I feel like I can track an entire album with the M-Audio Octane and come out with a recording that is just as good as if I had used my Vintech or Trident. You know what that means! I need to either sell my high end pres and stick with this thing or sell my high end pres and try a ultra expensive pre to see if that gets me what I'm looking for.

Reliability: 10
I've only had the M-Audio Octane but the unit has performed flawlessly.

Overall Rating: 9
While I'm sure that others will disagree I think the preamps on this thing are just fine and the conversion sounds just fine. It's a nice product at a reasonable price.