Hi. Here is some rambling on the subject. If there is anything I've not covered feel free to ask.
My B800 has 16 mono channels, 8 mono groups and two stereo master busses.
I've only used mine on a few sessions, as the fan noise from the two power supplies and the heat the desk generates is a bit annoying. Mine has two supplies, one for the channel strips, and the other for the groups/master busses. The power supplies are connected together so that the desk will still operate if one fails. I asked Soundcraft if I could run my configuration of this desk on just one, but they did not recommend it for any length of time. I will probably eventually extend the cables on the PSUs, or try quieter fans or something.
The way I used it was to connect the insert sends of 14 mono of the channels to 14 inputs of two DELTA1010 sound cards. I used the insert sends rather than the channel direct outs as I have the insert sends in the pre-eq option position. This meant I could get the cleanest signal, and eq, set up monitoring and mix on the desk without affecting what was being recorded. The insert sends are always active, even if the insert button is not pressed.
The direct outs are post-eq, post fade, or from aux1 (internal jumper) I think. Using them would be kinda restricting. They also interact with the 'mix minus', talkback and other things in ways I do not understand.
I had just a stereo return from the computer coming back on channels 15+16.
BTW, the functions of the two EDAC connectors on my desk were swapped in contradiction to the manual. This lead to some fun while wiring up the auxes. (The aux outs are ONLY available on the EDACs!).
There are lots of clever routing and channel options that I have not explored, but this simple set up worked fine for what I wanted, which was tracking drums which were going to be mixed elsewhere.
I normally use a Presonus Firestudio 2626 with a Presonus DigimaxFS. I used the B800+Delta1010s instead for these sessions for two reasons. First, another engineer was to be working here who is more familiar setting up monitoring etc with a desk. Second, the sessions were at 96KHz, and my ****ing Presonus gear just will not work reliably at 96KHz.
The engineer later commented that the drums sounded better than when I'd tracked the same drummer for him in the same room with the same mics and drum kit with my Presonus preamps+cards. The mics were not in exactly the same positions of course, and it was different songs, but I had to agree. The Presonus recordings sounded a bit less solid, scooped in the lower mid, and had less 'eye blink' factor on snare hits. This is entirely subjective of course, different sample rate, difference converters, only on rock/jazz drum kit, and not a real double blind, but the difference was noticeable.
I'm afraid I don't have the recordings any more, as I deleted them after they had been taken away and backed up elsewhere. I can send you a private email with the artist and album the drums were tracked for, though it won't be available publicly for a little while.
What I really like about this desk is the metering, monitoring, with dim, mono, l/r, solo cancel, and a million other little bits and pieces that most desks don't do. You really get the feel of being in control and able to do things very quickly. Having little lights on every button, and really big lights on the mute/solos, is also ergonomically very nice compared to having to tilt your head and look sideways at the desk the way you have to on most mixers to see which buttons are pushed. (It also looks very pretty in dim lighting
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I had the 'stereo master one' channel repaired by Soundcraft as the headphone and Left out had died. They replaced some capacitors and some of the old opamps with burr-browns, and commented that my desk was a somewhat old model, and they use burr-brown as standard now. I imagine I could do the same with the opamp in the mic pre without problem.
I'm still indecisive about whether I want or need such a big desk, so it's kinda sitting at the back of the studio most of the time. I have the feeling the two master sections could do with a re-cap, as there are a couple of weird minor issues like bulging caps in the test tone making it sound very strange, so there could be loads of them on the way out. Also, there are about a million trimmers inside the thing, and issues like L/R levels not being spot on make me think a recalibration is needed. This would either require me to get some board extenders+service manual or probably be very expensive to get Soundcraft to do it. It's a lot of desk for the money though, and at least all the breakable parts are high quality (pots and switches) and work absolutely fine.
