RME Fireface 800 or Mackie Onyx 1200F

[msmales555]

Hi,

Which of these should I buy? Which sounds better? Which one will work better with Vista 32? I have problems with the Firestudio Tube in Vista 32 and I am not looking to have any more.....

I realize that the Fireface only has 4 mic preamps and can only have a maximum of 10 tracks recorded at once with out hooking up more devices via ADAT.

I also realize that the Onyx 1200Fhas 12 mic pres and can support more via ADAT, but I don't know much about the quality of its pre's compared to the Fireface 800 or its overall reliability with Vista.

Supposedly, the RME works well with VIsta and has great drivers. The Onyx would be my top choice based upon the number of mic pres but I'm not sure about the quality or its reliability.

Thank you for any help!

Mike

[therage!]

Maybe they have their problems all worked out now, but the Onyx 400F had a lot of driver problems. They took forever to release the 1200 so maybe things are good.

RME does rock solid drivers and they have a great reputation and their converters are highly praised. I'd go RME.

[Daveg62]

It's really a no-brainer if you ask me. If you want reliability, stability, and great converters go with RME. As far as the pres go , I'd say they are both comparable mid class pres. RME is just a rock solid system and that would be my choice. I'm sure there's plenty of happy Onyx users out there too, and they may be decent systems. Just not quite as good as RME.

[pipelineaudio]

According to Mackie, the 1200F is DICE-II

it looks like a very well thought I/O, like the firestudio did as well.

But, being DICE-II, I would skip it without question

Sucks that the RME only has 4 mic pres, but at least the RME works

[msmales555]

"but at least the RME works" - word to your mother

so has anyone tried the RME with VIsta 32? I know it soudns like it is going to work, but I was just wondering if anyone had experience with it in VIsta.

Also, what is Dice II? IT seems to be bad, but i haven't fiogured out why.

[pipelineaudio]

The RME HDSP32 and FF800 work as ok on vista as anything else does.

You probably arent going to get as low of latency or as high of track orplugin count as you will in XP, and whatever you get will be at a much higher CPU cost, but if ANYTHING is going to work itll be the RME's

There should be numerous threads around here about Dice-2. The short explanation is: Dice-2 is like asking a racing team that you are competing against build your engine. Then being surprised that they beat you. And on top of that watching them get lapped.

[Daveg62]

Honestly I'd consider buying a copy of XP if you're planning on this computer being your main DAW.

[Hard2Hear]

Ive done extensive testing with the FF800 on Vista 32 and 64 and it works fine. But what are your system specs?