Interfaces that work well with macbook pro?

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devilsgirth

New member
I read the sticky about interfaces and Im currently researching but I was wondering if I could get specific opinions and advice from you guys about interfaces that really work well with macbook pro (13 inch)? Its got the usb 3 and firewire 800 ports on it. Im going to be recording with the DAW Reaper, as well as making tracks in Reason. I'm mainly going to be recording vocals, accoustic and electric guitar, and bass. I need phantom power for my mics, xrl input. Preferably 24 bit and a high sampling rate. It would also be nice to have two headphone jacks so that two people can record at the same time, although I dont know if many interfaces have this. I would also need a MIDI input. Any recommendations guys? Thanks
 
i was in the same boat man when i got my MBP 13inch at the start of the year and my top three were the Maudio Fast Track Ultra, the Focusrite Saffire Pro 40, and the Presonus Firestudio Mobile.

the fast track ultra is nice for the two headphones, small and portable, 4 preamps, and some basic DSP (reverb in headphones although it may do more)

the focusrite is 8 preamps, two headphones, firewire, and some useful free plugins. however, it is rack unit size

the presonus was what i went for in the end as i have a lot of external pre's so just needed as many in's as possible and it's 1/3 rack size so it's super portable, firewire (which i still trust more than usb), and 2 nice sounding pre's, and the cheapest of the three at £160!

ironically, after i bough the presonus, someone mentioned the Tascam US1800 which, for the price, has an amazing amount of in's and out's and, if i hadn't have needed something super portable/hadn't already bought one, then this would've been my top choice :)

when i was buying it, a friend was doing the same and he went for the fast track ultra that he's very happy with. tbh, any of these four would be more than good enough. they all support 24bit and up to a 96khz sample rate at least
 
Hey thanks for the reply man, I wil ldefinately look into these. I'm kind of curious too about thunderbolt for the mac, are there any interfaces that use it? Or is thunderbolt too new?
 
at the time i was looking (december 2011) there was only the UA Apollo that i saw with thunderbolt and for £1,600 it was a fair whack above my budget (although it does look awesome!). hopefully there will be more in time and hopefully the price of such units will come down but i think manufacturers are playing a waiting game to see if thunderbolt sticks.

strangely enough i was initially looking at the new macbook airs purely for the size and weight and the new SSD and i5 processors mean they should keep up with audio recording and, as such, i spent quite a lot of time looking at firewire to thunderbolt convertors as all the interfaces i work with are firewire and the air doesn't have a firewire port. again, there's not loads on the market yet but in the future it looks like there may be firewire to thunderbolt hubs that can handle three or so firewire connections at once meaning you won't have to daisy chain firewire devices together (which i've not had a problem with yet but still don't always trust it).
 
Although i've not personally used any of the RME stuff i've heard nothing but great things about them! however, they are fairly pricey, but apparently they are well worth it
 
i've only seen a handful of things on the pro fire 2626 but they all seem positive. tbh, the majority of audio interfaces will work with mac and windows now so, more than anything, it's worth just looking around for something that fits your needs, whether thats the number of inputs, outputs, DSP, size and portability, bundled software, compatibility/functionality with certain software, Line/mic/instrument in's.

in terms of having two headphone out's along with having plenty of in's and out's the profire 2626, fast track ultra, and saffire pro 40 all have them as given, but bare in mind if you had an audio interface with multiple outs you could easily attach a separate headphone amp to some spare outputs.
 
So are you saying that I dont need two headphone jacks if I want two people to be recording at the same time? Or did i totally misinterpret that lol? Cause one of the big factors for me is being able to have me and someone else both playing and recording at the same time, and both of us being able to hear what's going on.
 
yes and no. you don't need two headphone jacks if you end up with an audio interface with multiple outs and you buy a little headphone amp (even a dirt cheap one will do)

I'm in a similar boat to you where if i'm recording some one at home i need two sets of headphones; one for the artist and one for me to monitor. however, i ended up buying the presonus firestudio mobile because it was firewire, very compact, and a shed load of inputs for £160. the firestudio mobile has one headphone output and main outputs. when i record someone at home i plug a set of headphones in to the headphone output for the artist and i then plug a little fiio headphone amp (£12 and i had to buy a stereo mini jack to two mono 1/4 inch jack cable for about £5) into the main outputs for a set of headphones for me. thanks to the "universal control" software i can have two completely different output mixes so i can set up one for me and a different one for the artist.

If you're not to comfortable with software routing etc then i would suggest going for one with two headphone outputs, but my point is you don't have to get one with two headphone outputs to use two sets of headphone (and the software routing isn't actually that bad. it's daunting at first but most of the software controls with audio interfaces are fairly intuitive and after a while it's a doodle :) )
 
devilsgirth said:
So are you saying that I dont need two headphone jacks if I want two people to be recording at the same time? Or did i totally misinterpret that lol? Cause one of the big factors for me is being able to have me and someone else both playing and recording at the same time, and both of us being able to hear what's going on.
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As long as you have multiple outs on your interface, all you have to do is point your sequencer at an external headphone amp on a couple of the channels.
I've been using a $100 Behringer HA4700 (actually didn't cost me anything as it was an Xmas present) for years with zero problems and it gives 4 headphone jacks with adjustable volumes.
 
Damn thats cool, see I never wouldv figured that out by myself lol, thanks for the info guys, rlly appreciate taking the time to help a pitiful newbie such as myself. RIght now Im strongly considering the MOTU 828mk3, and the focusrite saffire pro 40. Although from what iv read the saffire pro seems to be a bit less user friendly than the MOTU, and MOTU's seem to go well with macs. Would you guys recommend one over the other in terms of audio quality, zero latency, and compatibility with the macbook pro? I know that justome recommended saffire along with others for mac, but just checking before I head over to the store. Again, Ill be using Reaper and Reason so I wanna make sure I get something that works well with these two programs. Im reading that some itnerfaces really arent all that great for certain DAWS, just depending.
 
My votes based on my experience with them would be either the Presonus Firestudio (not the mobile or project version, the main firestudio with 8 in's, 8 out's, 16 digital in's and out's) or the Focusrite Pro 40 (yeah, i've already said this but i do really like it :) )

we've got/had several motu units at work (8 pre, 828mkii, 2408, 24I/O) and the sound quality is excellent, they're all very versatile, and we've never had any problems with drivers etc. but, and this is just my opinion, the pre's on them sound very bland, the "cue mix" software isn't very user friendly, and with the quality of a lot of other interfaces getting better and better over the past 5 years i still think the prices for some of motu units are very expensive for what you get.

however, if you like the Motu route my suggestion would be the Motu 4pre. 4 in's (all with pre's), 4 out's, 2 headphones, and simple front panel controls.

The presonus units sound good and the "universal control" software is very very easy to use.

i can't remember if i've said it in this thread (although i've said it before), but we replaced a stolen Motu 8 pre with the Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 and we all prefer the sound of the sound and usability of it
 
Ok thanks, I decided to get the saffire pro, now I just need to embark on the long road of learning how to use it and Reaper and everything else....
 
I have worked with an Mbox 2 since July 2011. It has been a dream for Logic 9 since then. Fast set up, portable and matches sample and bit rate you require. Not the cheapest but these interfaces are going down in price and for something you want on the go I cannot fault the thing. I have recently purchased an M-Audio project mix I/O and again this interface has worked excellent on a Macbook Pro. This is incredible value for money if you buy without the Ableton kit (check ebay for 2nd hand sales). I cannot garuntee that the Project mix would work but I have tried Mbox 2 with Reaper and Reason, both work just fine! =]

Please note, the macbook pro I have was the most recent edition before the new Macbook Pro with High retina display.

Hope this helps you

Cheers, Mark
 
devilsgirth said:
Ok thanks, I decided to get the saffire pro, now I just need to embark on the long road of learning how to use it and Reaper and everything else....
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Cool, hope it goes well man. if you ever get stuck there's always plenty of people here willing to help :)
 
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