Out of these audio interfaces, which one?

I'd also expect the TASCAM to be decent. Avoid the M-Audio gear, IMHO. No opinion on the Native Instruments gear.
 
i've played with the Tascam and with XP 32bit it was great, I tried the newer 144 or something and it didnt sound any different than the 122, but the layouts were slightly different.

i had a older EMU 1820 (PCI card) and it lasted a long time and was on a good note...very stable once it was setup.

i dont know how they work with Cubase 5 though...that might be the main issue.

good luck.....there's so many to choose from. my biggest war was with Windows version it seems, in hindsight.
 
Emu is the only one I'd avoid. Thats based on the fact that they're owned by Creative (the junk gamer sound cards) and my old (possibly outdated) perception that they have shit drivers.
 
Focusrite just came out with a new preamp if you just need the preamp. MK II... it's AMAZING and really affordable to be Focusrite lol
 
Ah Jeff.
You're still mad?
I just ordered the Zoom R16.
I wouldn't consider buying an audio interface that performs just one task or has less than four XLR inputs.
Mind you, for beginners, two XLRs is often enough given that they often don't have a bunch of studio mics yet.
From your list...... nothing really.
Can you fork out for an M-Audio Fast Track Pro? (make sure it says "Pro")
 
Jim Lad said:
Ah Jeff.
You're still mad?
Click to expand...
ha, no. not mad. I still have my opinion though. :D


Jim Lad said:
I wouldn't consider buying an audio interface that performs just one task or has less than four XLR inputs.
Mind you, for beginners, two XLRs is often enough given that they often don't have a bunch of studio mics yet.
From your list...... nothing really.
Can you fork out for an M-Audio Fast Track Pro? (make sure it says "Pro")
Click to expand...
agreed.
 
That's the one.
See, that has everything except ADAT.
All of the features you will need.
By the time you outgrow it, you'll be moving on to something much bigger.
 
I did think about the Steinberg, but I heard there were a lot of issues with it. If it stabilises with some updates I might put it back on the list.
 
I can speak from personal experience with the M-Audio MobilePRE and the E-mu 0404|USB.

Personally, I don't tend to recommend any interface unless you're getting at least two input channels, and then really if you're getting 2 mic inputs and at least 1 Hi-Z input. When I originally was looking at small interfaces, I passed over the original Fast Track in favor of the MobilePre for that reason.

That being said, there are things I like about the MobilePre and things I don't like. For starters, at some point I found myself wishing I had MIDI I/O. For the sake of buying a little beyond your current needs, that's something I didn't realize would would happen at the time. The drivers are also somewhat primitive, but I also found them to be pretty stable. However, unless this changed in the latest generation of the device (I have the original MobilePre), it's limited to USB 1.1, so you're a little contrained in terms of high-end audio (wasn't a big deal to me). I also really like the fact that it is powered through the USB port on the computer.

As for the E-mu 0404, I ended up purchasing this for 2 reasons. The first being the desire to have a small device with MIDI capabilities. The second one being that it was a fairly inexpensive way to acquire both a "bigger" interface than the MobilePre (more options for inputs, including MIDI), and also that it comes with what was, at the time anyway, the best OEM software package I could find. I also was curious about Sonar at the time (I had Cubase already from another, larger interface) and the 0404 let me knock out both issues with one stone. The preamps have slightly more gain than the MobilePre, but sonically they're pretty similar. The E-mu is also physically much larger and requires an external power adapter, so sometimes I wish it was bus-powered. On the plus side, it's a USB 2.0 device, so it can handle larger data rates for better quality digital audio. The drivers are nothing to write home about in terms of improvement, but they work and are pretty stable based on my experience. The soft limiter may or may not work for what you want to do with it (I happen to think it sucks, but I can see it having applications for different types of music). E-mu also took advantage of the larger physical size with a better overall layout as well, in my opinion.
 
those do have good rep's for the most part.... $153 on Google Products search Music 123 (i think the coupon is needed).

i really like the mixer section, not only a mono button but also the a/b button on the front very nice to switch between outputs or 2 pair speakers.
 
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