G
gvdv
Member
Hi,
I'm in the final stages of driving myself crazy, so I was hoping that all of you could either tip me over the edge or pull me back from the brink.
Over the past few months (and interrupted by two family tragedies) I have almost fully assembled a powerful DAW which I will be using mostly for tracking at home with friends, but will also be using for editing video using Final Cut Pro.
Here's what I have:
1. New Mac Pro (not the Macbook Pro) 2.66
2. 5GB RAM (I added 4 to the 1 that came standard)
3. 2 hard drives (I added a 1TB Seagate Barraccuda to the 250GB standard drive, and will be adding a second 1TB S.B. soon)
Now I just need some kind of preamp/soundcard arrangement. In my research over the last few years I had thought that I would go for a firewire audio interface, and had settled on the RME Fireface 400, but that has too few mic inputs - I may need more than the four that it provides, and the unit's big brother - Fireface 800 - is a mite too expensive for me, given that I'm going to get a rode microphone and then will be eating bread and drinking water for the next few years in an attempt to pay back the bank.
So, my questions are:
1. Should I go for a cheaper audio interface than I had originally planned (Mackie Onyx 400F, Motu Traveler, Motu 828 MKII, Presonus Firestudio), or should I plump for something like one of the Helix mixer control surfaces?
I'm not thrilled about software mixing with an audio interface, but I could always buy an external fader such as the faderport if I went the audio interface route.
2. If I go for an audio interface in the $800 range, which one should I buy? Ideally, I'd like something that has the capability to go to 192Khz, and that has good pre's. The Mackie Onyx 400F - on paper - satisfies those requirements, but it doesn't have a lot of inputs in comparison to the others (I'd like to be able to record at least 5 mics live at times for tracking, and I've got a radio show idea which will involve combining several live mics with at least one or maybe 2 CD players - how does one do RCA inputs on these things? Get RCA to 1/4" converter plugs?).
And then there's the stability of the drivers to consider, which certainly seems to call the Presonus into question.
I would love to hear people's opionions about this.
Thanks,
GVDV
I'm in the final stages of driving myself crazy, so I was hoping that all of you could either tip me over the edge or pull me back from the brink.
Over the past few months (and interrupted by two family tragedies) I have almost fully assembled a powerful DAW which I will be using mostly for tracking at home with friends, but will also be using for editing video using Final Cut Pro.
Here's what I have:
1. New Mac Pro (not the Macbook Pro) 2.66
2. 5GB RAM (I added 4 to the 1 that came standard)
3. 2 hard drives (I added a 1TB Seagate Barraccuda to the 250GB standard drive, and will be adding a second 1TB S.B. soon)
Now I just need some kind of preamp/soundcard arrangement. In my research over the last few years I had thought that I would go for a firewire audio interface, and had settled on the RME Fireface 400, but that has too few mic inputs - I may need more than the four that it provides, and the unit's big brother - Fireface 800 - is a mite too expensive for me, given that I'm going to get a rode microphone and then will be eating bread and drinking water for the next few years in an attempt to pay back the bank.
So, my questions are:
1. Should I go for a cheaper audio interface than I had originally planned (Mackie Onyx 400F, Motu Traveler, Motu 828 MKII, Presonus Firestudio), or should I plump for something like one of the Helix mixer control surfaces?
I'm not thrilled about software mixing with an audio interface, but I could always buy an external fader such as the faderport if I went the audio interface route.
2. If I go for an audio interface in the $800 range, which one should I buy? Ideally, I'd like something that has the capability to go to 192Khz, and that has good pre's. The Mackie Onyx 400F - on paper - satisfies those requirements, but it doesn't have a lot of inputs in comparison to the others (I'd like to be able to record at least 5 mics live at times for tracking, and I've got a radio show idea which will involve combining several live mics with at least one or maybe 2 CD players - how does one do RCA inputs on these things? Get RCA to 1/4" converter plugs?).
And then there's the stability of the drivers to consider, which certainly seems to call the Presonus into question.
I would love to hear people's opionions about this.
Thanks,
GVDV