Audio interface...take two

  • Thread starter Thread starter indra
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indra

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Will soon be entering the computer recording fray. Find the audio interface issue confusing. If you could START OVER what audio interface/soundcard would you purchase and why?

Thanks in advance,
 
Thanks for your response manning1. I've already done alot of research. Tips, advice, ect...

I'm asking for hands on, real world experiences. It doesn't have to be long and involved. A brief description will do.

If you could START OVER what audio interface would you purchase and why? Come on guys. Help me out.

Thanks in advance,
 
indra - you need to give more detail on your objectives. ie,,,,
1. do you want a modest good sounding cheap daw (budget ?) or do you want to compete with world class studios. each will draw different recommendations.
2. how many sound card inputs do you need ?
the delta sound cards seem to be a staple with lots of folks.
for little money.
 
manning1,

Thanks but I don't want specific recommendations about specific interfaces. Price range isn't the point either.

I want to hear about those moments when someone purchased Interface A, used it for 60 days, and then realized they really needed (or wanted) Interface B. Once I get some feedback I'll draw my own conclusions.

Do you see what I mean?

Since you've been kind enough to respond I'll ask you - If you could START OVER what audio interface/soundcard would you purchase and why? Thanks in advance,

-----
Indra Club, 34 Grosse Freiheit, Hamburg Germany.
The club where the Beatles played their first 200 hours of music in Hamburg. August 17, 1960.
-----
 
Heh if i could START OVER with an UNLIMITED supply of money i'd go for a full blown Pro Tools rig.

But since I don't I'll keep working with my Emu 1212m and my US-428 if I can come across some more money I'd upgrade the Tascam to a FW-1884.
 
I'll chime in

I've got an audiophile 24/96, but as my ambition has grown so has my desire for more simultaneous inputs.

Not a big time 'if I knew 20 years ago what I know now' type of story, but I definitely would have tried to think a little further ahead and gone for expandablilty. A $80-or-so difference would have given me 8 more inputs/outputs (2496 to 1010lt). Now I'm looking at the Echo Layla3G - AlbertB turned me on to the ADAT 8-track interface, and with the Echo you get the best of both worlds... you can use the standard inputs to start and then stack an ADA8000 (supposedly crappy pre's but 8 more tracks) in front of that for just 1 more rack slot.

It can pay to be forward thinking when you're talking about the literally thousands of dollars most of us spend on gear, even the small-timers like me.

another 2¢ - guess I'm generous today - that's almost a whole dime so far...
 
I've been using Aardvark q10's for my rig. Honestly, they sound great, as long as you get good mic's to go with it. Keep in mind that no interface is going to sound good with bad mic's. This great things about the q10 is that it can be expanded. You can use up to 4 at the same time, which gives you the capability of recording 32 tracks at once. I currently use 2, because i will never record more than 16 tracks. The preamps sound great, in my opinion. It's also very user friendly. I love it and would not change it. I believe that it can't be beaten for the money. One thing I would encourage you to do is stay away from the Pro Tools LE series. If you go for pro tools, go full blown for the full system. The LE systems only allow you to record limited tracks and you can only use digidesign software with it. Just my opinion. Good luck.
 
Burden of Proof said:
...as my ambition has grown so has my desire for more simultaneous inputs.
Click to expand...

Not the first time you have said that.
 
Echelon said:
...and you can only use digidesign software with it. Just my opinion.
Click to expand...

WRONNNNNNNNG
Digi hardware also works with:
Ableton LIVE Digidesign Edition
Applied Acoustics Systems Lounge Lizard v1.0 and v2.0
Applied Acoustics Systems Tassman v3.02
Arturia Moog Modular V v1.1
Emagic Logic Audio 5.01
Image Line Fruity Loops 3
Native Instruments Absynth v2.01
Native Instruments B4 v1.1.1
Native Instruments Battery v1.1
Native Instruments FM7 v1.1
Native Instruments Kontakt v1.2.1
Native Instruments Pro-52 v2.5
Native Instruments Pro-53 v1.0
Native Instruments Reaktor v3.0
Propellerhead Reason 2.0
Propellerhead Reason Adapted
Sonic Foundry Acid Pro 4.0
Sonic Foundry Vegas 4.0
Steinberg Cubase SX 1.06
Steinberg Nuendo 1.5.2 and 2.01
Steinberg Wavelab 4.0
Microsoft Media Player 8.x and 9
Musicmatch Jukebox 8.0
Nullsoft Winamp 2.91 and 3.0
Propellerhead Rebirth 2.01
Sonic Foundry CD Architect 5.0
Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 4.x and 6.0

to name a few. and you're complaing about the 32 voice limit, but say you never record more than 16??
 
I said that I don't record more than 16 tracks at a time, i've had projects go up to 40 tracks or more. I mispoke (typed) when I said Digidesign software, i meant hardware... and I'm not saying pro tools is bad, I just think there are better units out there. This could just be my opinion because I had very poor results using pro tools. All in all, pro tools is not a bad option... it's just not for me.
 
Echelon said:
I said that I don't record more than 16 tracks at a time, i've had projects go up to 40 tracks or more. I mispoke (typed) when I said Digidesign software, i meant hardware... and I'm not saying pro tools is bad, I just think there are better units out there. This could just be my opinion because I had very poor results using pro tools. All in all, pro tools is not a bad option... it's just not for me.
Click to expand...

ahh, gotcha. :cool:
 
Thanks bigwillz24, Burden of Proof, and Echelon. Very helpful. I would still like to hear more. More feedback please.

Epiphany - a flash of insight.
 
I've used an Audiophile up until now but I recently splurged and got myself an RME Fireface 800.
It's a lot(!) of money but I did it because:

- I need more inputs (it has 10 analog i/o).
- I need something that I can use with my laptop -> firewire
- Something that I can expand in the future when I need even more inputs (2 adat i/o)
- Something that wouldn't make me crave for something with even more i/o and better converters (waste of energy. I'll probably never outgrow the quality of this thing so that gives some piece of mind)
- It will still be of use to me when firewire is something of the past because then I'll still have a high quality 8 channel/96kHz stand-alone converter.
 
well indra as your in where the beatles played their first music. heres a set up that is more powerfull by a wide margin than they had.
an athlon pc with rme sound sound solution.
(put 512 ram in the athlon and 2 fast hard drives).
add what i use..powertracks from pgmusic.com. does 48 tracks of audio and
midi. the beatles had 3 tracks to work with in the early days if i remember. cheap great sounding solution.
just add mics,mixer,and monitors, and headphones.
peace.
 
Thanks christiaan, excellent information. Exactly what I asked for.

So, my general impression at this point is:
Minimal inputs/outputs - BAD!
Maximum inputs/outputs - GOOD!

(Re: Tonto, Tarzan, Frankenstein - a favorite SNL bit)
----------

An Inquiry Reconsidered

In moments of digital despair I cry out, "Why can I not do what fate requires all within the confines of the beige box, or must I forever be plugging here, unplugging there, as the undusted shelf doth become ever more dusty and the vile wall wart clutters my troubled soul? And anyway - it's hot in here."

In other words, have any of you (bigwillz24, Burden of Proof, Echelon, christiaan) considered trying to do everything inside the computer? Would this render the input/output issue moot?

It can't possibly be as simple as I think. There must be numerous gotcha's to the scenario. I seek the voices of experience.

Thanks in advance,
 
I'm not quite sure what your asking, but there are numerious "soft synths" such as Reason 2.5 that you could use to produce all sorts of music, but if you want to input mic's or other instruments, you would need a soundcard/interface to plug in to. Other than that, you could theoretically do all of your mixing within the software on the computer. Sorry if this doesn't answer your question. Maybe re-phrase it if i'm off, I'll do what i can to help.
 
If I could start over I'd buy something like an Aardvark Q10 because I want something like that now.

But if I started over as a complete n00b again, I'd probably want something like an Audiophile and a dmp3.
 
Echelon - yes, that's what I'm asking. If all sound sources existed inside the box I assume you would only need microphone inputs - but is it really that simple? Are there unanticipated drawbacks to such a setup?

mattamatta - please elaborate on why you would like to use an Aardvark Q10.

Thanks in advance to one and all,
 
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