Behringer ADA8200 Ultragain

For years I have been frustrated by only being able to record a maximum of two tracks in my DAW. Hardware I have the excellent RME Babyface and I use Cubase.

I have been totally blind to the ADAT interface on the Babyface until I started reading what you could do with this to expand analogue channels going into your DAW from the outside world utilising an A to D to A convertor such as the Behringer ADA8200 Ultragain.

The ADA8200 is by far the cheapest option on the market to give you 8 analogue channels, 8 in plus 8 out via the ADAT Lightpipe optical interface.

The hardware could not be easier to setup, the trick is making sure that you either slave your audio interface off of the ADA82000, or make your audio interface the master.

In my case, I configured the Babyface in Cubase to slave off of the ADA8200 and then added the ADAT buses in the Cubase Device menu. I was up and running very quickly. Being able to now simultaneously record up to 8 audio sources on separate tracks within Cubase is absolutely brilliant, I am overjoyed I now have this flexibility as I am a one-man musician with 16 external synths and love to jam...

Build quality of the Behringer seems to be really good, I can't believe they can produce equpment like this for the price....

I am not going to criticise the lack of features on this box, as that would be very unfair. If you want more features, then you are going to have to spend quite a lot more, simples....

Great product and great service once again from Thomann!

I ordered the ADA8200 to expand the I/O on my Motu 828 MkII as I have 5 synths that I like to use and don't want the hassle of plugging and unplugging them. Also it is a good way of future proofing my project studio as my needs change.

The unit itself is one rack unit high and seems sturdily made and looks good in the rack. Hooking it up to the Motu was easy, but the documentation supplied is a bit thin in content. I ended up following the setup done by the reviewer in Sound on Sound magazine, which is where I had read about the unit in the first place.

I am only using the line inputs so I can't comment on the Midas mic pre-amps but it's nice to have these for when/if I record some vox in the future. I would have preferred for there to be fewer mic inputs in order to make space round the back of the unit for the inputs. These are all located in the front with only the outputs located on the rear panel. This means I need to use a patch bay and cables in order to keep the clutter of leads at the back. I'm sure It couldn't push the cost up too far to move to a 2U unit and tuck everything away at the back, perhaps with a couple of inputs at the front as other manufacturers seems to do.

Since I've had the unit I have to confess that I have barely noticed it. I set the input levels of the analogue inputs and accessed the sound through the Motu software or as inputs 9-16 in my DAW. This is the highest recommendation I can give really - the ADA8200 just works without any fuss.