SM Pro Audio AO8

Happy 4th of July!
Ok, so I really didn't get to celebrate at all. In fact, I worked all day (big surprise) but when you've got deadlines, you do what you have to do. There aren't any good events around here anyway. For some reason towns in my area like to celebrate the 4th (and any other holiday) only on Saturdays so the activities will be on the 9th. Sounds pretty stupid to me.

Anyway, I'd like to share some thoughts on a little nearly invisible unit that I purchased about 6 months ago. It's the SM Pro Audio AO8 which is a simple A/D converter. When I was deciding whether or not to purchase this piece I did my usual Google check to read reviews and see what people think before I lay down my hard earned cash. This time I came up empty. I found no one with any experience, no pro reviews, nothing. But it's pretty inexpensive so I took a leap of faith (although all the reviews of SM Pro that I found were negative....eep!).
Before I get too far into this let me tell you why I bought it in the first place. For all you Pro Tools LE users out there, I was in the boat of having 8 simultaneous inputs which serve my purposes nicely for most of my projects, but now and then I'm working with a larger band that needs more. So I was looking for an economical way to utilize the digital inputs of my Digi 002 rack unit. It didn't have to necessarily be the highest quality as I didn't plan on using it all the time. After looking at my options, I found the SM Pro Audio AO8 for about $150 which is by far the cheapest I've seen, then or now.
It's a simple thing. Just 8 unbalanced 1/4" inputs on the front with a power switch. The back sports word clock I/O via BNC connectors, a sample rate button (44.1k or 48k) and an ADAT lightpipe out. Should be an easy setup right? WRONG!
To make a long story short, I had MAJOR problems getting this unit to work with my PTLE system but in the end the problem turned out to be something stupid (as it often does). PTLE could not find the unit and as I was using the AO8 as the clock source (that's the only way to get it to work with the 002R because the rack doesn't have word clock I/O), it simply wouldn't work. I tried different combinations for many frustrating hours and found no helpful info online. Then finally I tried something that shouldn't have worked. I set the session I was testing in to 44.1k and set the AO8 to 48k and voila! It worked. So the problem was/is that the AO8 has the sample rate button on the back mislabeled. Had this not been the case, it would have worked right out of the box. I notified SM Pro so they may have fixed it on subsequent releases.

Since then the thing has worked flawlessly and I don't even have to think about it (unless I'm changing sample rates). Does just what I wanted it to.
Definitely worth the money. It's not an Apogee or anything, but it does the job.

Listening to Paul Simon's new album Surprise right now. Very cool. Contemporary arrangements, even some samples and loops, but the songs are still rock solid in typical Simon fashion.

Enjoy the fireworks!

Rock on

Ben