Interfaces and Reliability Madness

  • Thread starter Thread starter Harold Boring
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Harold Boring

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Hello. I was sent here via Mr. Winer when I corresponded with him regarding my interface confusion.

I've been recording for ten years now, with a Korg D1600. I'm ready for a DAW. My trouble is that, I've been doing a lot of research to find the best interface for my needs and I've completely stalled due to conflicting opinions regarding the stability of certain units. I was wondering if anyone here, with obviously more experience could help me purchase the most stable unit(s) for my needs. Here's an edited version of what I wrote Mr. Winer:

I typically record local rock bands. I am now preferring to record almost all aspects of the band live off the floor. Here are my needs:

- ability to record 16 tracks simultaneously, using 16 preamps
- ability to record all tracks at 24/96
- ability to be able to route tracks to separate headphone mixes for each player

Here's my thinking/plan so far:

I assume I'm going to have to use two separate interfaces, daisy chained to get to use 16 preamps/inputs simultaneously
I am planning on using a JamHub Green Room as a headphone amp/mixer for each players phones while tracking. I have spoken to a representative who assured me that this was easily accomplished, at least with a Presonus unit(which I am now weary of).
The drums will be miked to my liking and the guitars and bass will go direct into the interfaces using DIs in order for the musicians to play in the same room as the drummer, then reamped later. I may even mic the amps live, but out in another room to prevent bleed.

I prefer to record this way because it's been my experience that the bands I know feel most comfortable recording this way, which enables me to get the most compelling performances.

Anyway, I've been looking at used Presonus interfaces, as well as competitors. What has stalled me is that many people seem to have mixed results when it comes to the stability of the interfaces, as well as which is the most future-minded option - USB or Firewire. I am sure you've heard these arguments.

I am looking to spend about $1000 - $1500 on the preamps/interfaces. What I need help with is deciding which brand would best suit my needs as far as reliability and available inputs. I'm not big on bells and whistles. I'll be recording into/mixing with Reaper, most likely, but I'm open to others. If you don't mind - which interfaces do you prefer? I understand your needs may differ.

So, that's all I can think of. I'm a little overwhelmed by info. I was hoping someone could say, "based on what you wanna do, I would suggest such and such interface because it's been working for me, etc." I imagine there must be more than a few of you who are recording things in a similar manner.

Anyway, any help is appreciated.
Take care.
 
Your wish list is one that is going to cut a hole in the bottom of your wallet and suck the money out for a long time.

In particular, I'm not convinced that the Jamhub is the right tool for what you want. It's designed mainly for musicians to plug their stuff directly into, rather than for taking various and separate feeds from an interface. It could be done if the interface provides direct outs . . . which is why the rep said Presonus . . . presumably talking about Presonus StudioLive. This can do 16 channels via firewire, 24/96 and has direct outs.
 
16 tracks of A/D...16 preamps....24/96 capability....multiple headphone mixes....

...ain't gonna happen for $1000-$1500.
 
Well, I was basing that figure on what I saw on Ebay, used. But then, I started reading about how some units were unstable for some people, so now I'm not sure about what is the best path to take. Anyone have any suggestions on units? I'm looking at the JamHub in order to keep costs down. I'm assuming I'll be daisy-chaining a couple of units.

Does anyone have any Interfaces they prefer in order to get sixteen simulataneous tracks happening?
 
couldn't you just get two of something like saffire pro 40 for 16 channels, it records at 24/96, and you can make as many mixes as needed (through the provided mix software) and send them to separate outs (each unit has 2 for monitors, and 8 others). Each unit comes with 2 headphone jacks, but i'm sure there's some kind of inexpensive headphone amp that could be hooked up to some of the regular outputs.

Also, if you're using Reaper you can make headphone mixes in there.

Seems relatively simple to me, and should cost $1000-1500 unless I'm totally missing something. I do all of the things you wanted with 8 channels and 1 saffire pro 40, you should be able to do it with 16 channels and 2 units...i think...right?
 
aaronmcoleman said:
couldn't you just get two of something like saffire pro 40 for 16 channels, it records at 24/96, and you can make as many mixes as needed (through the provided mix software) and send them to separate outs (each unit has 2 for monitors, and 8 others). Each unit comes with 2 headphone jacks, but i'm sure there's some kind of inexpensive headphone amp that could be hooked up to some of the regular outputs.

Also, if you're using Reaper you can make headphone mixes in there.

Seems relatively simple to me, and should cost $1000-1500 unless I'm totally missing something. I do all of the things you wanted with 8 channels and 1 saffire pro 40, you should be able to do it with 16 channels and 2 units...i think...right?
Click to expand...

When chained, those Focusrite units are limited to 48 KHz and below. To make it worse, at 96 khz, you can only use 4 channels over a single ADAT pipe (true on all devices) - so it's just not gonna happen with a unit with 8 analog ins plus one adat.

8 analog ins plus 2 adat ins (Saffire 56 comes to mind) would work, and then you'd need 2 sets of 4 channels to pipe into it. The Octopre can do that within it's single unit. So... sticking with the Focusrite suggestions - a Saffire 56 and an Octopre would get you 16 channels at 24/96, and a very quick glance at Ebay looks like about $1200 for the pair. Going that route would give you two headphone outs on the Saffire 56, and assuming you only use one set of monitors, you could also have 3 other stereo out busses for 3 more independent headphone mixes.

@aaronmcoleman: Can you have independent mixes for the headphone outs on these Saffire units? Or are they tied to a pair of the 8 outputs?
@OP: If the answer to the above is yes, you could have 5 independent headphone mixes, if not - you might only be able to get 3, and thus you'd need to add on more outputs using the ADAT out on the Saffire 56.

...I think you could do it for $1500 taking this route - Hope that helps
 
^^^ With all that said - is there a real reason you want to record "local rock bands" at 96khz? Are they all making BlueRays for local distribution or what? If you tracked at 44.1 like everybody else does, you would have a whole lot more flexibility with your budget.
 
Just speaking for myself.....

I've owned two Presonus Firepods, a Presonus Digimax, and a Presonus Firestudio (which I still have and use regularly) and I've never had a single problem with any of them.
 
Lol @ 96KHz. You recording a Stradivarius to be played back through $10K waldorf or bose speakers in a critical listening environment ? No ?

Then 44KHz is fine.
 
Well that was my point...if 24/96 is important...then I don't think a pair of 8 or a 16 channel interface with as many built in preamps is really going to hit a very high quality bar....all for under $1500.

If it's a question of just making something work....then yeah, there may be some inexpensive multi-pre/multi-interface options...but then why bother with 96kHz?
 
With the focusrite route (which is all I know because it's what I use), stereo headphone mixes would take 2 of the outs each...so you have a total of 10 outs on each unit x two units = 20 outs. Two would be used for the monitors leaving 18 outs, or 9 stereo pairs. Each could have their own independent mix (either through reaper or through the saffire mix control software). If you sent summed mono mixes, you could have up to 18 headphone mixes.

but, you are right chained they max at 48K which is perfectly fine for almost all of us.
 
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