SO Confused about interfaces

S

smealio

New member
Hi.

First time poster. Up until now i've only recorded the bands i've been in with a single radio shack mic hanging from the ceiling into a behringer 8-track mixer into my laptop's mic port....so i've decided to i want to bump up a little.

I'm shopping audio interfaces and i'm so lost. I am the type who probably over analyzes the purchase because i don't want to regret it (good and bad) so i need to just reach out and get some feedback and make sure i understand. The worst thing i've done in this process was go to guitar center where i've never had any luck with anything and asked them my question.

I have a budget of 500

i run OS X el capitan (so steinberg is out for now at least) with logic pro and garageband
i also run win 7 with adobe audition

1) get the prosumer AI's, they can come with decent pre's and a max I/O like the 2i2 or pro 24. Suppose i hooked up an 8ch pre via light pipe and also use the [n] inputs on the audio interface does that mean over USB (or fw/thunderbolt) i'm going to always be able to transfer [n]+8 ? I get confused by the stated number of outputs, i get that it's the analog outs that i counts but i'm not sure how the AI works with the DAW when expanding, does that output number even count when considering expanding via ADAT?

2) is there any merit in getting a digital recorder and an [n]ch preamp and just recording into that and pulling the tracks into my DAW of choice from the digital recorder?


I was looking at the saffire pro 24 bc it seemed to fit my bill with an optical expansion for when i add drums but i wasn't sure if i was still able to use the inputs on the ai when i was using the adat pre.

Does this make any sense? I'm such a no0b
 
Here is what I know, each interface is different, so you need to confirm, but as a general rule:

Each ADAT connection expands your interface channels by 8. Example, if it has two ADAT inputs, then you can expand the interface to handle 16 channels of input. The interface handles the connection between ADAT and the computer/DAW. Whether that be USB, FW or Thunderbolt. Check the drivers from the manufacturer to see what OS's it supports. I would make sure they have dedicated drivers and not the ASIO4ALL driver.

The pre-amps on the interface should work even with an ADAT interface. ADAT expand the interface.

There are some nice mobile recording units out there, but the really good ones tend to be in the higher price range. I suggest a laptop, DAW for tracking, then mix when you get to your home base.

Hope this starts to help.
 
Usually, if an interface has a combined total of 16 inputs, you can expect it to be able to send all 16 at the same time into your computer - most of the big brands work this way (focusrite, behringer, tascam etc) but not all, so make you do a thorough check one last time before you buy.

The Saffire interfaces are great, but they use Firewire and that's getting less and less common - USB would be a safter bet if you want to keep using the unit for a few years (or have to change computer for some reason).
 
I would also suggest you stick to USB unless you can afford/need a very heavyweight home system and a mobile unit.
Focusrite always seem to come up, rightly so but there ARE other AI makers! If ADAT is on the wish list, look at the Presonus 18x18 VSL. The Roland Capture range are getting some good rep'. A bit higher up the cost chain are MOTU and RME.

I wish TF Native Instruments would extract the digit and build a bigger, ADAT version of the KA6 keeping the super stable drivers and low latency. I have told them to you know!

Why do you say Steinberg is off the table?

Dave.
 
Jake_JW said:
Last I checked anyway...they're constantly 6 months behind OS upgrades :(
Click to expand...

This really does beggar belief. If Macs have retained any of their original cache it is surely their audio performance? For there to be such little co-operation between Apple and one of the big three or four DAW writers in the world is nothing short of astonishing.

I know there have been a few glitches with Win 10 and certain programs and hardware but I think most of those have been resolved and in any case Msoft have always not given a shit about MOOSIC!

BTW: Today I am going to install W10 on one of my desktops. It is running an M-A 2496 and there are NO W10 drivers for it. Sposed to work with the W7 jobbies....Will post in "Contributions".

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Oh ye of little faith! 15% downloaded atm.

Dave
Click to expand...

I've had pretty good luck so far with my Win10 upgrades. One glitch was one of my computers graphic cards did not have an updated driver. It was a pretty old card, so I just replaced it, no problem.
 
DM60 said:
I've had pretty good luck so far with my Win10 upgrades. One glitch was one of my computers graphic cards did not have an updated driver. It was a pretty old card, so I just replaced it, no problem.
Click to expand...

Hmm, this HP is using integrated graphics, ATI Radeon 5450 so I hope it will run ok! What did you buy?

Dave
 
ecc83 said:
Hmm, this HP is using integrated graphics, ATI Radeon 5450 so I hope it will run ok! What did you buy?

Dave
Click to expand...

I purchased a EVGA GeForce GT 730. I did not worry about performance so much, but I did a double check to make sure it had Win7/Win8 drivers. It did not show it was compatible with Win10, so I took a chance.

The card is not a screamer, but I didn't require it to be one. I used this in two computers, one is in an HP case (I can't remember if I replaced the MB or not) and then in another homegrown build. Works fine with Win10 an dual DVI monitor support. HDMI out as well.
 
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