Echo or Delta1010?

[Cult_Status02]

I'm debating between 2 or 3 Delta 1010s, or 1 or 2 Echo AudioFire 12's.

Now if I decide I want 24 channels, I'll need 3 Deltas and 2 AudioFires. I realize that the Deltas would be cheaper so I am wondering what other people think.

For quality purposes and ease-of-use, would the AudioFire be worth the extra $200? Also I was thinking perhaps pig-tailing two AudioFires together may be better than tying up almost all of my PCI inputs for the Deltas

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks to anyone that can help me decide
Oh yeah, and if you have something else that would work good, let me know. I haven't decided on anything yet so I'm all ears.

 

[lomky]

Well, I'm looking at upgrading my 1010 to an Audiofire 12 so my vote is...

 

[therage!]

I know there are people running two 1010's in the same machine, but are there people running three?

 

[Cult_Status02]

I know there are people running two 1010's in the same machine, but are there people running three?

That's another thing I was worried about, system resources. But I think I may run into the same problem using 2 Echos. They both just seem like they would take up all my ram.

 

[eh91311]

I have a put-together Athlon XP PC running 2 Delta 1010's with no problems at all. I used most of the suggestions at musicxp.com and if I turn off the serial and parallel ports, perhaps onboard USB as well, in the bios, I should be able to free up one more PCI slot to have an unused interrupt (IRQ) and run 3 units.

I don't have any experience with the Echo Audiofire gear, would probably work well for you. PCI card data transmission is faster than FW400 firewire, though.

Buy 3 used 1010's and save $.

 

[B52]

Audiofires are sick. I just "downgraded" from different monitors and I found the D/A's in particular nicer on the audiofires.

 

[LemonTree]

I know there are people running two 1010's in the same machine, but are there people running three?

Yes, I'm doing it and have been doing for a while. Depends a lot on the make and layout of your motherboard. I use an Asus P4P800-E Deluxe with the 5 PCI slots.

I can throw 24 tracks back outof Cubase to the mixer full of plugins and my 3.0GHz PIV never goes much above 50% on mixdowns.

Have an look in my link for the full spec of my PC and some bands I've recorded with this setup

 

[Ears]

I think you can conceivably do 4 as per MAudio.
I've been using 2 for years. Not much can go wrong with these units.
I may be selling mine soon though, because I am hardwiring my studio to a utility room that I built to quiet down the PC's and I want the connections near me.

 

[chessrock]

If you went the Audiofire12 route, then you wouldn't have any SPDIF inputs. Which probably doesn't matter a whole lot unless you find yourself wanting to use a dedicated A/D converter at some point.

Other than that, I think you'd get a little better sound quality out of the Audiofire, but the 1010 is certainly acceptable. I'm not one of those guys who dogs on the 1010; it was one of my first interfaces and I made some good recordings with one.
.

 

[warble2]

PCI is done, finished, over, it will be gone before you can blink again, don't bother with it...or so I've read in these parts. I will agree with what I've read in regards to "future proofing", and would say Firewire would be a better way to go (maybe), but I simply experience better latency with my Layla 3G PCI.

Anyway, I'm happily using a Layla 3G (PCI...I know, I'm screwed) and love it's performance. Great converters IMO which will be the same converters you'd find on the AudioFire interfaces you're interested in. I've no experience with the Delta's, so I really can't comment on them. I can wholeheartedly recommend Echo Audio interfaces though - great price, great interfaces.

 

[B52]

PCI is done, finished, over, it will be gone before you can blink again, don't bother with it...or so I've read in these parts. I will agree with what I've read in regards to "future proofing", and would say Firewire would be a better way to go (maybe), but I simply experience better latency with my Layla 3G PCI.

Anyway, I'm happily using a Layla 3G (PCI...I know, I'm screwed) and love it's performance. Great converters IMO which will be the same converters you'd find on the AudioFire interfaces you're interested in. I've no experience with the Delta's, so I really can't comment on them. I can wholeheartedly recommend Echo Audio interfaces though - great price, great interfaces.

I believe there are some PCI to PCI-E adapters out there...pricey...but if someone were to invest heavily in PCI stuff they could conceivably keep their old gear. Sorry i went off topic but it's worth researching, possibly.

 

[gcapel]

RME Multiface

 

[warble2]

I believe there are some PCI to PCI-E adapters out there...pricey...but if someone were to invest heavily in PCI stuff they could conceivably keep their old gear. Sorry i went off topic but it's worth researching, possibly.

I'm not really worried about it. My post was part intended as a precursor to what I thought might be more posting of diatribes on the downfall of PCI.

 

[dgatwood]

I believe there are some PCI to PCI-E adapters out there...pricey...but if someone were to invest heavily in PCI stuff they could conceivably keep their old gear. Sorry i went off topic but it's worth researching, possibly.

Yes, for about $1500, you can buy a PCI breakout box that plugs into a PCI Express slot. Of course, it's usually cheaper to just replace the PCI gear entirely unless you're the proud owner of $20k worth of Digi gear or something.

 

[dgatwood]

I'm not really worried about it. My post was part intended as a precursor to what I thought might be more posting of diatribes on the downfall of PCI.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. PCI is dead.

There. Now I can move on and do something more useful with my life.

 

[warble2]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. PCI is dead.

There. Now I can move on and do something more useful with my life.

There you are...

 

[Mindset]

PCI is NOT dead. It won't be for another 5-8 years... before PCI is even off motherboards. Give me a board that has no PCI slots in there... I know a LOT of people who seem to think "future proofing" works, but I ALWAYS see them purchasing another item to replace it in the future, before the 'future' even gets here... So you got a PCI card NOW, in 5 years if they stop making PCI stuff, does that mean your computer is going to crash and die because it said pci life line just went flat?

 

[warble2]

Now I can move on and do something more useful with my life.

I'm sure some people find the PCI rants useful....I'm just not one of them.

 

[Cult_Status02]

Hrm, I wasn't aware there was a problem with PCI...As Mindset said, my comp's not just gonna blow up because PCI becomes un-used. If it works tomorrow, it works for me. Thanks for the input guys.

 

[dgatwood]

PCI is NOT dead. It won't be for another 5-8 years... before PCI is even off motherboards. Give me a board that has no PCI slots in there...

I listed several in another thread. Do a search. The initial target date for completion of phasing out parallel PCI by several major vendors has already come and gone. The only reason you can buy PCI motherboards today is that card vendors didn't adopt the new standard as quickly as expected.

In any case, by EOY 2007 (best guess), you will have to pay a premium for parallel PCI slots. That doesn't mean they won't be available, just that they will cost more than otherwise equivalent boards that don't have PCI. Those costs add up, though. Thus, any cost savings you get from buying a PCI interface today will be severely overshadowed during that interface's lifetime by the extra money you spend on motherboards to keep it working.

Also, not all PCI slots are equal. Bridged PCI slots (those that are hanging off of a PCI Express controller) have too high a latency to be used for most audio cards. The folks at Creative found that out the hard way when they tried to use bridge silicon to build a PCIe SoundBlaster card.

Most PCI slots will be bridged in the very near future, as I don't expect any of the chipset manufacturers to design any future chipsets with parallel PCI. At that point in the near future, you won't be able to buy a PCI card that's suitable for anything more demanding than a NIC....