RME Fireface bust... what to do now?

[RobinDe]

I really liked (got used to) my old Fireface 800. It was bought about 12 years ago! and has worked mostly ever since. OK... the headphone socket gave up (noisy) pretty quickly and when channel 1 gave up, well shrug, that drive control was an unused novelty anyway.

Having to switch the pre-amps on and off via software was a right old footer.

And TotalMix ... well, I got used to it. Eventually.

But now it's on the way out. The psu gave up in some way and will need soldering to put back together. So, not me. (If anyone wants it, and will pay the shipping, they can have it.)

But what to replace it with?

I'm thinking also of moving to Linux, that gets me a host of other issues, but I've had it with Windows.

I tried the Behringer US1820, and just before I send it back, does anyone know why channel 1 and 2 would produce no descernable output in any configuration of switches or setting, yet 3 and 4 would? I'm putting it down to build/quality control.

So I'm thinking of the Focusrite 18i20. Any thing else anyone can think off, say less euro 500? I'd settle for 8in 8out, preamps, usb, rack mount.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Xenon 6]

There are plenty of used FireFace 800 units on the market. I have 2 that were both purchased used after my original one was stolen.
The only disadvantage is the firewire interface is getting a bit dated but good PCIe cards with the TI chipset can be purchased on eBay easily. This works in the Windows PC world but you can't get Firewire interfaces in the Mac world any more.
I would consider something with a USB-C interface now as that looks like being around on Mac and PC for a long time. Have you looked at the MOTO range of interfaces?