firewire or usb replacement for delta 44?

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jonathangeiger

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I'm switching to OSX, not necessarily for the music production side, but because i am a designer who just happens to enjoy making music. Nothing professional really; it's just for fun on the side.

Anyway, it seems my Delta 44, which has served me quite well over the past few years, will not fit into a mac, seeing as they do not have PCI slots anymore (i believe it stopped with G5s). It's pretty dumb, i think.

Can anyone suggest a decent external soundcard that doesn't necessarily include preamps (as i would guess they would be of lesser quality than my DMP3). Mind you, I have searched but it seems the pickings are rather slim. The PCIe sounds cards are too expensive for my taste and most of the external soundcards come with pres.

Do they even make external sound cards of this nature (without pres)? Would it be a step up if I were just to buy an M-audio Firewire 410 or a Yamaha GO46 (which I've heard good things about). Or is it more worth it to just keep the PC i am replacing and use it with the setup i currently have as just an audio workstation, mac be damned.

What would everyone suggest?

edit: obviously, as i am using a dmp3 i really only need 2 inputs and a left and right output. MIDI would be nice, but not necessary.

THANKS!
 
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hey thanks for the recommendation. something like that is exactly what i am looking for! i find it strange, however, that it doesn't have any XLR inputs (and phantom power). am i missing something?
 
I have an M-Audio firewire audiophile and I guess it's just what you need. FW connection, 2 inputs without preamps, 4 outs, midi in/out, S-PDIF and good converters.
 
jonathangeiger said:
hey thanks for the recommendation. something like that is exactly what i am looking for! i find it strange, however, that it doesn't have any XLR inputs (and phantom power). am i missing something?
Click to expand...

There's no preamps in the audiofire2 so no need for phantom power. You've already got a dmp3 so you only need line level inputs
 
bulls hit: oh yeah......what was i thinking! :o hey thanks for the recommendation. i will read more into that.

carlosguardia: another excellent recommendation. again, thank you! any comment on stability with 10.4 or 10.5? or are you a PC user?

thanks.
 
I agree about that Audiofire2. Also take a look at the Presonus Firebox if you want preamps on the unit itself.

For USB, I've recently been using the Tascam US-144 and it has been clean and reliable.
 
I've looked at the us-144 before. does it have preamps on it? sure looks like it with all those knobs...but i can't really tell what they say from the images.

have you any direct experience with the audiofire2?
 
I am a PC user (WIN XP) and haven't used the audiophile too much lately, but I haven't had any issues with the interface at all. It's a great interface for the price! I don't think that it would be easy to get a new one since it has been discontinued, but you can pick one up from ebay for about $100 which is not bad. Good luck!
 
The US-144 has preamps, although I haven't used the preamps on mine. I use my US-144 to play back softsynths from my iBook.

I also own an Audiofire2 and it sounds excellent. It's also very compact, which is nice if you are planning to use it in a portable situation.
 
hey everyone, thanks for the help. i think i will have to go with the audiofire2 based on the unanimous recommendations for it.

:)
 
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