Firewire Interface Selection

G

guitardude

New member
!!!!

So i'm pretty much a noob when it comes to these things. I used an audio buddy (which i hear is a joke) to record before and i thought it sounded pretty good.

My choices are right now:

Presonus Firebox
Konnectk 8
Focusrite Sapphire LE

- I hear so many great things about the firebox....
- The Konnectks are heard is supposed to be amazing sounding.
- Not to sure bout the focusrite. I heard good and bad things.

so i need some help with making a decisions. And i know this is probably like the 465 post bout "interfaces which one to choose"

thanks.
 
hmmmm...

let's start with the basics:
how many ins do u need?
do u need pres on the ins?
how many outs do u need?
what is you budget?
computer specs?

i have heard good things about all of them, and i have heard bad things about all of them also. i can not comment on them because i have never used any of them. i own the io26 and the us-122. been happy with both. but it all depends on your application.

-Lee
 
Well, I HAVE used all of those. For me, it would be between the Konnect8 and the SafffireLE. If youre really a newb, the SaffireLE gives you a neat little package of software with it (Ableton Live 5 Lite, BFD Ultralite, Lopomasters) that you could get alot of use out of. The K8 gives you CubaseLE, which is fairly useless. I think the pres on the Konnect8 sound nicer, but the Saffire is a more stable unit all around. I'd give the edge to the SaffireLE for ease of setup and better compatability.
 
mystasynasta said:
hmmmm...

let's start with the basics:
how many ins do u need?
do u need pres on the ins?
how many outs do u need?
what is you budget?
computer specs?

i have heard good things about all of them, and i have heard bad things about all of them also. i can not comment on them because i have never used any of them. i own the io26 and the us-122. been happy with both. but it all depends on your application.

-Lee
Click to expand...


Lets see....

This is what im doing pretty much...recording acoustic music. Vocals and guitar. So i guess two inputs, outs im not to sure really. My budget is 300$

Computer specs:

AMD ANTHLON
1.53GHZ
512 MB OF RAM

Just need the best bang formy buck. I did notice how the saffire comes with some need effects and stuff.
 
Well, I have a presonus Firepod, and have had it for about 2 months now. It's a good piece of equipment... but every once in a while it has this irritating static that overruns the entire system... I don't know if it's the firepod or Cubase... but... it's been annoying.

I realize you're discussing the Firebox. And, though I've never used the firebox... it's still by Presonus, and I don't know if the problem would exist on that unit as well... if it is even on the unit.

But I have not used any of the items you are talking about. I only reply because you asked for them.
 
I record my small three-piece acoustic group. Two, sometimes three guitar parts, sometimes an elec. keyboard, sometimes add an acoustic bass from a sampler, three part vocals. Doing it all with a Presonus Inspire 1394, Firewire. $180 street price.
 
guitardude said:
!!!!

So i'm pretty much a noob when it comes to these things. I used an audio buddy (which i hear is a joke) to record before and i thought it sounded pretty good.

My choices are right now:

Presonus Firebox
Konnectk 8
Focusrite Sapphire LE

- I hear so many great things about the firebox....
- The Konnectks are heard is supposed to be amazing sounding.
- Not to sure bout the focusrite. I heard good and bad things.

so i need some help with making a decisions. And i know this is probably like the 465 post bout "interfaces which one to choose"

thanks.
Click to expand...



they all suck, get a reel to reel, start the new analog revolution
 
Still wondering what i should buy...i have pushed my research a little longer and im getting anxious to try out my new mic. This sucks. I really like the appeal of the Konnekt8 and the Saffire LE. Now im hearing there are some issued with the latency for the Saffire LE. Then i hear the konnekt 8-24 could be unstable. AH decisions!

I'm still thinking presonus however the preamps seems to less qualty vs those other twol. But the best with the hassle free set up...plug in and go!

help!
 
guitardude said:
Lets see....

This is what im doing pretty much...recording acoustic music. Vocals and guitar. So i guess two inputs, outs im not to sure really. My budget is 300$
Click to expand...

I seriously think that the Alesis io26 is a great option for you. I don't own it, but it seems like a gimme with all of the components. You get 8 ins, 8 outs, 2 Headphone mixes, 16 in ADAT, 8 preamps, 8 "combo" (1/4"/XLR) inputs, midi in & out, on firewire interface.

I'm sure the pres are comparable or better to the pres on cheap mixing boards, and you get 8 of them, so you can mic an entire drumset. It also works as a 2 channel Direct IN for your instruments, come on. So this thing replaces a DI Box, headphone amp, and mixing board. For $400, it's over your budget, but well worth the investment. You would not have to upgrade for a LONG time, especially with your needs. It is a pretty little package.
 
If all you need is two inputs go with the firebox my buddy uses it at his house for the same application. Acoustic guitar and vocals through an NT-1. Sounds good and he has had no problems with the drivers.

Whatever decision you make, get what you will suit your needs best. At the 300 dollar price range there isn't any that are leaps and bounds above the rest, if you stick to the usual suspects (presonus,focusrite,mackie,m-audio).
 
aldoushett said:
If all you need is two inputs go with the firebox my buddy uses it at his house for the same application. Acoustic guitar and vocals through an NT-1. Sounds good and he has had no problems with the drivers.

Whatever decision you make, get what you will suit your needs best. At the 300 dollar price range there isn't any that are leaps and bounds above the rest, if you stick to the usual suspects (presonus,focusrite,mackie,m-audio).
Click to expand...


Hey thanks for the advice. Yeah im still figuring it out. I'm def leaning towards the firebox. I like Sapphire LE alot to ...but i hvae to order it i guess. So that might be a pain to return...so that may lead me to the Firebox or the Sapphire.
 
mark my words, the firewire standard will die a horrible death before it fully becomes a standard...I have a grave feeling about this.
 
Mackie Satellite

Take a look at Mackie Onyx Satellites. They're going for $199 and, if you can live with the max 2 simultaneous inputs - and certain issues with Macs, are somthing to consider.

2 inputs is plenty for me, as I am basically using this to write and record ideas and solo projects - not for ensemble work (or drumset).

I just bought one today actually and am using it for the first time tonight. Its built like a tank (you need to feel this thing in your hands) and has some pretty cool features. The preamps sound great. Nice being able to plug all your instruments, effects, and monitors into the base unit at home...and without unplugging anything jack out the autonomous pod and go to a friends house to lay down some tracks.

It also has 2 headphone jacks, and a talkback feature....so for example if my girlfriend is in the closet (for isolation of course, I don't keep her chained there...really) recording a voice track, and I'm monitoring her from the DAW, I can communicate with her by just pressing a button.

The software it is bundled with seems pretty useful and logically presented. I've recorded some test tracks with it and like it quite a bit.

Worth checking out.
 
pacman9000 said:
mark my words, the firewire standard will die a horrible death before it fully becomes a standard...I have a grave feeling about this.
Click to expand...

It has been fully a standard (IEEE 1394) for more than a decade. What rock have you been living under?

Eleven years later, USB 2.0 still can't match FW400 performance reliably, while FireWire is at 800. There's a FireWire 1600 and 3200 in the spec.... :)

Mark my words, the USB audio class specification will die a horrible death before it works correctly. :D
 
dgatwood said:
It has been fully a standard (IEEE 1394) for more than a decade. What rock have you been living under?

Eleven years later, USB 2.0 still can't match FW400 performance reliably, while FireWire is at 800. There's a FireWire 1600 and 3200 in the spec.... :)

Mark my words, the USB audio class specification will die a horrible death before it works correctly. :D
Click to expand...


they both suck and create bottlenecks.
 
pacman9000 said:
they both suck and create bottlenecks.
Click to expand...

No. USB sucks and creates a bottleneck. It causes high CPU load because it doesn't support true DMA in hardware (among other things), relying on the CPU to do all the heavy lifting. This makes it a very poor choice for... pretty much any high speed devices, particularly when CPU overhead is at a premium.

By contrast, while I can think of a good number of FireWire cards and devices that suck, that's not FireWire's fault. That's the fault of people not designing/manufacturing the devices correctly.

FireWire (when implemented correctly) doesn't create much more of a bottleneck than PCI except in terms of raw bandwidth (and FW800 doesn't create much of a bottleneck compared to standard PCI even in terms of bandwidth...). If you're really shoving more than 800 Mbps, then yeah, you should be using something else. For the other 99.99999% of people in the audio world, it is more than sufficient.

If you'd like to point out specific flaws in FireWire, go for it, but I'm guessing you can't. I can---things like taking two computers with heavily loaded FireWire busses and plugging them into each other causing the possibility of a failed bus bandwidth reservation, thus causing an audio glitch... or horribly complex networks with circular paths built into the topology causing additional bus bandwidth constraints due to the overhead of the spanning tree protocol---but I can also say with confidence that they're all things that nobody on this board is likely to ever encounter....

Of couse, with any current standard other than FireWire (that I'm aware of), you can't even do the things that cause FireWire to fall over, so if you think FireWire sucks, you're truly clueless. It is an amazing bus even by modern standards, and when you consider how old it is, it is positively breathtaking.
 
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