Advice on Audio Interface/Computer

R

Redscot22

New member
Hi, having drummed in bands for years, I have decided to have a go at home recording.

I am a bit perplexed by all the choices out there and need a bit of advice getting it right.

I have a £700 budget to get started but already have a small collection of mics (enough to mic a full kit and a SM58).

I am considering the following to start:

Audio Interface:
Focus Saffire Pro 40 (£287)

Large Condenser Mic:
Audio-Technica AT 2035 (£114)

Software:
Reaper (£50)

Monitors:
???
I can buy these later as I have a pair of speakers that will suffice just now.

Computer/Laptop:

I have about £250 left by the time I buy cables etc for a computer/laptop

I am looking for advice/suggestions on a suitable PC/laptop with a FireWire port that would support the Focus Sapphire Pro 40.

Any idea if I can pick up a suitable PC/Laptop for this price and if so, what one/where do I get it?

Have I missed out anything obvious I will need?

Thanks for taking time to read this.
 
You will have great difficulty finding a PC or laptop with a Fire Wire port these days.
In fact, here in UK (you quote Sterling?) FW was never very common on low to middle grade PCs or lappies.

Then, there was the "FussyWire chipset SNAFU" This boiled down to the fact that unless, in most cases, the computer did NOT have a Texas Instruments FW chipset you could get all sorts of problems. This was compounded by the fact that SOME FW interfaces wanted another maker of chipset! Also, as FW use/provision has declined you might find W10 drivers hard to come by. OR! Ms in their infinite, might slam in another "helpful" update and screw what you have!

If you are dead set on the Pro 40 then I think a desktop PC is indicated with at least one PCIe slot to spare so you can fit a TI card*.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-Thi...18?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1481956777&sr=1-18

Found that ^ looks likely but check with the PROPER PC men here!

However, USB has come of age for recording. Folks like RME actually get BETTER performance from USB 2.0 than all other AI makers do/did from FW! The latest generation of Focusrite and Tascam USB AI's are also getting a very good rep.

*If you go this route, get a 2 or 4 port FW 400 card. NOT a combined FW 800/400 or FW 400+USB 2.0.

Dave.
 
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Thanks Dave, I never realised I would run into so many problems.

I chose the Pro 40 as I read it is good for recording drums.

I'd ideally like to record my drums using 8/9 mics that all go to separate channels on the DAW.

Do you know of an alternative Audio-Interface in my budget that would allow me to do this using USB?

Is there a Computer/Audio-Interface combination that you'd recommend?

As I said I'm brand new to this game so any advice is much appreciated!

Scott
 
The Pro 20 only had 8 mic inputs so unless you have an ADAT unit hiding somewhere you could go for the Tascam 18-08. The top of the range Tascam 20-20 (with ADAT) is about £100 over budget as I the F'rite ADAT AI.

Don't take my word for things! I am not doing this stuff but the older Tassy 16-08 had a very good rep in these pages and I have read nothing bad about the new stuff?

Another way to go is a mixer. They are not liked by some on the forum but mixers have come a long way in the last couple of years and you can now get multichannel units that record 24bits via USB or even to a USB drive/stick.

Dave.
 
Forgot to say Scott.
As a UK resident you are protected by the "Distance Trading Regulations". Make sure you understand these and take full advantage if needed. Plus of course the "over £100" credit card protection. I had need of the latter a few years ago. B'card were brilliant!

Dave.
 
Tascam 16X08 would work very well for your situation. Use as a point of reference at least for the specs. That should give you an idea of what you need to mic up your drum kit.

One thing to remember on USB, plug directly into the computer in the back for best performance. The desktop that Dave stated would be fully capable, HD is a little small, but as soon as you can save up enough money, get an SSD 480 and use it for your working recording, then eventually get a larger traditional drive for long term storage and keep your SSD empty. That setup will last for years.

If you can afford it, an i7 chip set or high end AMD would keep going for many years for sure, but if the funds are light, the i5 will serve you well.

Buying a PC for recording these days is not as much of an art as it use to be.
 
I have a number of firewire devices that worked fine 8 years or so ago, but none of my modern PCs will accept the devices while my mac still does.

On the computer front - you really need something powerful with plenty of memory, unless you can suffer the odd glitch. An older lower spec machine I use for portable location stuff constantly glitches now I have a modern OS on it - just cannot record audio solidly while it tries to do other things.
 
Oooo! looky that! Got it right about a PC! Cheers DM.

It seems these days that you do not need an expensive PC just to track 8 or so mics? This HP i3 lappy I am typing on could probably manage it. The serious grunt is needed when lots of tracks are run with lots of plugins in "real time".

One thing about that Lenovo? Check the speccs and make sure it has at least one USB 3.0 port. These are invaluable for the connection of an external drive for backup-backup purposes. You CAN use USB 2.0 of course but 1/2hr of 8 by 24bit drum files will take a freaking time to dump!

Dave.
 
There was a thread a couple of weeks back about buying reconditioned computers for sound and the consensus was that it's a good way to get a lot of computer for not too much money. Especially if you stick with a desktop rather than laptop your 250 quid might do it. What you want is a decent processor and a fair bit of RAM but you don't need to worry about fancy sound or video cards.

I will join the chorus suggesting you avoid Firewire (and I speak as a Firewire user). It's getting more and more difficult to find up to date drivers and hardware.

If you could live with 8 mic inputs for the time being, the Tascam US 16x08 offers a lot for the money...and you can add more inputs via TRS jacks if you add a mic pre amp or two.
 
Bobbsy said:
There was a thread a couple of weeks back about buying reconditioned computers for sound and the consensus was that it's a good way to get a lot of computer for not too much money. Especially if you stick with a desktop rather than laptop your 250 quid might do it. What you want is a decent processor and a fair bit of RAM but you don't need to worry about fancy sound or video cards.

I will join the chorus suggesting you avoid Firewire (and I speak as a Firewire user). It's getting more and more difficult to find up to date drivers and hardware.

If you could live with 8 mic inputs for the time being, the Tascam US 16x08 offers a lot for the money...and you can add more inputs via TRS jacks if you add a mic pre amp or two.
Click to expand...

Aha! I had forgotten about that thread Bobbs and with our DTRegs he can check the goods out for a few days and if they are not up to snuff, bounce them back at not cost.

"Add a pre amp or two" Or a small mixer!

Dave.
 
Personally i don't see all the fuss about firewire. I have a pro40 and it's a great interface. Never any trouble.

8 analog I/O is just fine for drums.
 
trusso11783 said:
You can buy an add on pci FireWire card for $10 so that problem is solved.
Click to expand...

That depends on the card, the firewire chipset, the drivers, and the computer bios.

I bought my UAD Apollo interface a few years ago and even with their tested and recommended firewire card, I had connectivity problems. Eventually got it sorted, but then I would get BSODs every time I powered up the computer. Subsequent reboots would work, but whatta PITA. My work around was to leave the computer running all the time.

6 months or so ago, I bought a refurbished Dell Workstation for cheap and now I don't have issues.

Moral: Avoid firewire.
 
Chili said:
That depends on the card, the firewire chipset, the drivers, and the computer bios.

I bought my UAD Apollo interface a few years ago and even with their tested and recommended firewire card, I had connectivity problems. Eventually got it sorted, but then I would get BSODs every time I powered up the computer. Subsequent reboots would work, but whatta PITA. My work around was to leave the computer running all the time.

6 months or so ago, I bought a refurbished Dell Workstation for cheap and now I don't have issues.

Moral: Avoid firewire.
Click to expand...

+1 I am but a computer numpty but I have been following the fortunes of AI connectivity for some 10 years. Fire Wire was always fraught with difficulties.

The chipset debacle has been mentioned but another issue was with laptops. Even when you could get them with Express slots people found the MOBO simply did not have the grunt/was not optimized for FW, at least not the sort of demands audio placed on it. Almost all laptops with FW ports were 4 pin so you HAD to lug a PSU even for a basic 2 in 2 out FW AI.

There was also an insidious ground loop problem that some desktops suffered from with FW and interfaces. If you were unlucky enough to have "caught" that? Game over.

The efforts people like RME (and MOTU to a degree) have made in perfecting USB surely tells us that THEY saw The Writing on The Wall years ago?

Dave.
 
I have been a Firewire user for about 11 years and had most of the problems people have mentioned but found ways around them until I got a stable system. I had to be careful to turn things on in a certain order which was a pain but I could live with it.

My big reason for not buying firewire products now is that it's a dying system. Already the number of firewire devices is diminishing and, even for those that still exist, drivers are going to become a problem as Operating Systems advance and upgrade.

I have no imminent upgrade planned but I'm already starting to think about what to buy next. Firewire does not appear on my shortlist.
 
Bobbsy said:
I have been a Firewire user for about 11 years and had most of the problems people have mentioned but found ways around them until I got a stable system. I had to be careful to turn things on in a certain order which was a pain but I could live with it.

My big reason for not buying firewire products now is that it's a dying system. Already the number of firewire devices is diminishing and, even for those that still exist, drivers are going to become a problem as Operating Systems advance and upgrade.

I have no imminent upgrade planned but I'm already starting to think about what to buy next. Firewire does not appear on my shortlist.
Click to expand...

I went from PCI input/interface to USB along the same lines of thinking.
 
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