Help choosing a good firewire audio interface

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dm303102

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Ok, I am going crazy trying to scour the internet reading reviews for all the different combinations of firewire/usb audio interfaces, mic preamps and software. Everything I find brags about portability; I don't care about quality/price. I will be recording one track at a time(option with 2 would be nice), no midi, and am willing to spend up to $1000 on box and preamp alone. I heard a separate pre-amp is better than onboard. Also, that firewire is the way to go. So, could someone please suggest a good firewire box without preamps, a good stand-alone preamp and good software compatible with the audio box?

System specs:
XPS 400 (Windows XP)
Intel 2 Ghz
1Gb Ram
 
In the 'budget' end of the market, all the pres, convertors, chipsets etc are going to be of roughly similar quality. I'm speaking in general terms obviously. What separates the wheat from the chaff down here is drivers. Good, stable, solid drivers that just do what they do quietly and without fuss are what you need.

With that in mind for a grand your best bet would be an RME Fireface 400.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/RME-Fireface-400-Firewire-Audio-Interface?sku=240318

It has a couple of built in pres that are very usable.

For software, check out Reaper. Don't let the $40 price tag fool you. It is highly capable and does a lot of things that its competitors costing 5 - 10 times as much simply can't match
 
From what I gather, the quality of the recording lays heavily on the mic and the preamp. Aside from interface features and a stable hardware driver, is there any difference between one firewire interface to another as long as they have 24bit/96khz processing? Pandamonk suggested the Behringer FCA202. It is simple enough, but the price throws me off($76) and I have read mixed reviews on its stability. But it seems to get good remarks for quality. Could someone please give me advice on a good quality interface without all the built in features(mulitple in/out, digital in/out, preamps). Quality is my biggest concern. Thanks.
 
If you are willing to spend up to $1,000, then a $79 interface will most likely not do it for you.

I owned an FCA202 briefly and unfortunately I couldn't get it to work properly, so I sent it back to the dealer. I was looking for a dirt cheap and small firewire interface and the FCA202 fit that bill. If you are interested in quality you should look elsewhere.

RME has a great reputation, but I haven't used their interfaces. Another brand you might want to check out is the Echo Audiofire series. The Audiofire 4 or Audiofire8 might suits your needs.
 
Thanks for the reply. I take the $1000 remark back. I am looking for an interface around $300-$400. Does anyone know of any with minimul feature(2 inputs, no preamps) but good sound quality and stability? Then I would probably get a mic preamp around $300-$400. Any suggestion? Thanks.
 
If you can find a used one, the Yamaha i88x is a unit to consider. Generally about $400, but they have pretty good preamps and converters.
 
mrbowes said:
If you can find a used one, the Yamaha i88x is a unit to consider. Generally about $400, but they have pretty good preamps and converters.
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Thanks for the suggestion. The reviews for this are very good. And $400 is not bad. However, I think I will be doing all my recording on my laptop(Dell Vosto 1500 - same hardware specs as above.) Do you think there would be any performance issue with that? It just a standard firewire port.
 
I've had generally good luck with MOTU interfaces, though they don't build anything smaller than eight channels. Might be a little overkill. Solid drivers, though, and well built hardware.

I'm not too impressed with RME. Too much custom silicon. I'd rather have something where the chipset is supported by a major chipset vendor (and NOT the DICE II chipset, either).
 
SonicAlbert said:
Echo Audiofire2.
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Yup.

My own research leads me to believe that RME and Echo have the most stable firewire implementations. If I can't get my firepod going, my next purchase will be one of these.
 
Bulls Hit said:
Yup.

My own research leads me to believe that RME and Echo have the most stable firewire implementations. If I can't get my firepod going, my next purchase will be one of these.
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+2
echo and rme in that price range are probably about the best you can do.
 
i was acctually thinking of buying a firebox from presonus...and they seem to have good driver support and preamps ect.....

please tell me why all these other suggestions are better than the firebox??
 
I owned a firebox and it is a great little device. However. the MOTU drivers are better (less latency) and the MOTU Traveler sounds better. I also own an Echo Audiofire2 and it sounds better as well, and is more compact. If you don't need the preamps (which the Firebox has) then the AudioFire2 is probably the best sounding unit in that very low price range--it doesn't sound budget at all. If you need preamps then the Audiofire4 is one to compare to the Firebox.

But don't get me wrong, I really liked the Firebox. It has a nearly perfect feature set and I/O setup, and was very stable. You can do good work with one.
 
....i will check those options out.....but do they have drivers for the xp64 platform...i know presonus do have those...if you do not know im sure i can find this out online..many thanks!!.
 
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