DIY stereo mic pre with 48V phantom + digital spdif out?? suggestions

[ulysses]

hey guys

this is a bit off topic but i figure there may be some guys here that might have seen a project similar to what i am looking for.

im looking for a simple diy stereo (2x mono) mic pre with 48v phantom power that outputs via digital spdif.

it doesnt have to be great sounding, it has to work and it has to be cheap. i need it so i can use the additional stereo spdif input on the mbox2. this way i can record the drums with the band instead of having to do it separately.

as i said, its not about great sounding mic pre's. the mics are just going to be cheapie overheads so its really just about functionality.

alternately does anyone know of a cheap stereo AD converter unit, say $25 or so? or am i dreaming?

cheers
ulysses

[Salvatore]

Scratches behind my ear, ouch, I see a lot of work for low quality, and still plenty of money spend on this project.

The cheapest, and most simple solution that pops in my head is, find an old defect dat recorder for around 25 bugs, so you can use it's mic preamps and spdif out, and separately buy, ore build 48 volts phantom, ore just use dynamic mics, ore you're best headphone set into the mic inputs to avoid the phantom power.

I know, these are dirty solutions, but they work. 

[ulysses]

hey! thanks for that reply

yeah i thought of that.. i have an old mini-disc deck that you can press record-pause on then feed an rca in and it converts to spdif out.. a bit messy

then i realized i could use the second sound card in my pc to do the same thing..

so now all i need is a cheap dual-mono mic pre to rca out to feed into my second sound card

should be able to whip one of those up pretty easily i think..

anyone got any good cheap (small) diy mic preamp projects?

cheers
ulysses

[Mike Burgundy]

For an interesting mic project look at the PAIA tube mic pre. Also check out everything at Eloitt SOund Projects (ESP), great site.

I'm interested in just how you got *two* soundcards running correctly. Video no prob, but sound seems almost impossible (plus most software will only work with one at a time)

[Thomeeque]

 Hi!

I've been solving something little bit similar here: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=77703.0

Now I wonder, if that cheap USB interface I'm using (Behringer UCA202) wouldn't work for you (as an analog to S/PDIF convertor).. 

They say: "Additional S/PDIF optical output for direct digital conversion", but the question is if it means, that it converts even signal from on-board LINE IN and if it would work standalone, just powered via USB cable..

T.

[ulysses]

I'm interested in just how you got *two* soundcards running correctly. Video no prob, but sound seems almost impossible (plus most software will only work with one at a time)

i have an mbox2 for running PT and an old maudio audiophile2496 pci card for everything else. in the control panel software for the maudio audiophile 2496 you can select the routing for the spdif output- i set it to route the analog in to spdif out- i dont even have to have a software host running for it to to the AD conversion, it does it automatically on its own- then i ran a coax cable from the audiophile spdif out to the mbox spdif in- in PT i can set an input on an audio track to either 3 or 4 and it records what ever i am passing into the audiophiles analog inputs

cheers