hi. i am considering the mackie blackbird or the echo pre8 for my fist interface purchase. curently have a old pa going to PC through crapy sound card. want to step up to better sound. i have overload looking at specs and few reviews on both of these interfaces. can anyone give opinions on either of these...IE, why you like it or not, reliability ecc. i like both of these on the surface but here are a few things i read.
1. mackie has good pre's and sound, but i hear of a specific chip for firewire that isnt the best (just what i read, may be wrong). also read one review, and their arent many i find, that said a comm board went bad and mackie support was terrible and wanted to charge for replacement at a high price of $300. poster claims he went to board maker and purchased for $60.
i have always heard mackie is a good brand.
2. the echo, read has a different chipset for communication and has no problems. the few reviews sound good, good pre's, easy setup ecc. but there was a configuration with the headphone outs that reviewers didnt like. different mixes that can be sent was limited i believe is what i read. echo also does not come wath any software. just what makes the interface work. thats all i need i guess. it would be nice to try cakewalk, cuebase ecc....i do have reaper.
any advice or input from you guys is appreciated. just dont want to spend $500 and not have more input.
1. mackie has good pre's and sound, but i hear of a specific chip for firewire that isnt the best (just what i read, may be wrong). also read one review, and their arent many i find, that said a comm board went bad and mackie support was terrible and wanted to charge for replacement at a high price of $300. poster claims he went to board maker and purchased for $60.
i have always heard mackie is a good brand.
2. the echo, read has a different chipset for communication and has no problems. the few reviews sound good, good pre's, easy setup ecc. but there was a configuration with the headphone outs that reviewers didnt like. different mixes that can be sent was limited i believe is what i read. echo also does not come wath any software. just what makes the interface work. thats all i need i guess. it would be nice to try cakewalk, cuebase ecc....i do have reaper.
any advice or input from you guys is appreciated. just dont want to spend $500 and not have more input.