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To me, heres what makes the Delta 1010 great.
10 ins/outs including the s/pdif, for $500.
Lets look deeper here. I need, ummm, about 10 ins and outs.
The Motu 2408 doesnt sound as good as the Delta 1010, and is more expensive, but has 8 ins/outs. The Motu 1224, now it sounds BETTER than the 1010, but is $1200. One of the best "more than 8 ins" cards I know of is
the Motu 1296, which is $2000. Heres how I look at all this.
For the same price as the slightly better sounding 1224, I can have the Delta 1010 and a Lucid AD converter. Kick and snare or overheads on the the Lucid, and everything else though the 1010 converters. Since most of my stuff will be overdubs, the Lucid would come in very handy. A good pre through the Lucid and its ON, baby, nice as it gets, really.
So far, with this configuration, you're out about $1100 or so. M-audio makes a card with s/pdif ins for like $120. Add that and another Lucid, and you have 12 inputs, 4 of which are very high grade. Thats pretty hard to top, and it comes in around or under the price of the 1296.
The 1296 sure is pretty though, all those lights... sexy. Hmmm, maybe I'll reconsider

P