looking for a new firewire interface

[mitchmolson]

ive never recorded any music before. i bought home recording for musicians for dummies and have learned a lot. i have a brand new intel powered Imac with logic express. i figured going with a firewire computer interface would be best for my needs. now i just need to find one thats not too expensive but sounds well. a few that grabbed my attention are...
focusrite saffire
edirol fa-101
edirol fa-66
presonus firebox
echo audiofire4

does anyone have any information on any of these interfaces?

 

[dgatwood]

*shrugs*

They're all BeBoB, so they would tend to be pretty reliable.

One caveat, the FireBox won't power up on bus power from many recent Macs because Presonus screwed up their power supply design and it draws too much inrush current. With that one, you'll have to use the external power supply, and you should probably use a 6-to-4 cable and a 4-to-6 adapter so the computer doesn't try to power it, too. I'd probably recommend going with one of the others on your list just to avoid the hassle....

 

[tojo]

haha i have nearly the same setup that you have suggested. I have a macbook (white 2.1 ghz 1 gig or ram) with logic express. and I have an fa-101. I'll tell you as much as I can...

-firstly it's bus powered, which is nice I can take it around without an adapter.
-it's got 10 inputs at once! 8 are analog and 2 are digital
-of the 8 analog inputs there are 2 that take mics on the front.
- the quality seems pretty good of the mic pre's but I know very little when it comes to them as I've only had a crappy behringer mixer to compare to.
-one thing i dislike about the pres is that it seems you really have to pump them to get some good sound, like almost all the way up. On top of that when using it with logic express I sometimes have a hard time hearing myself over my mix.
-there are lots of line outs on the fa-101, but I don't really know what to use them for because I haven't got outboard gear nor monitors. I have been able to plug some headphones into one of the outs to receive a signal... so I guess you could do "headphone mixes" or whatever they are called.
-the mic preamps are neutrik combo jacks (or whatever they are called) so you can plug either a mic or a 1/4 jack. ON the 2nd inpt you can select "hi'z" so that you can record better specifically for guitars and basses.
- here's a big one, the fa-101 doesn't come with a software mixer... it integrates right away with core-audio. So that means you control it with the logic express mixer I believe. I've messed around (when recording my friend on drums) by sending tracks to different outputs and bussing the tracks around so that he wouldn't hear himself while playing (he doesn't like hearing the drums) but he wanted to hear the click. So I had to make it so I could hear the drums and the click, and he would just hear the click. Long story short, I figured it out but it takes some time.
- The fa-101 also has the ability to record at higher sample rates like 88.1 or 96 and even higher. But if you go to the highest one you can only use the first 6 analog inputs. You also have to power down the unit then switch the knob to change the sample rate and then turn it back on. Anyways, hopefully that's enough info?