Mobile Pre? Audiophile? M-box?

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ThreefoldChord

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Hey guys,
I am looking into purchasing a Audio interface for my laptop to record your basics, acoustic and electric guitar and vocals. I have been comparing several different interface devices and am not sure what to get. I have a firewire port, but is it worth the extra money to get the audiophile firewire over the USB version? are the M-audio devices even worth getting or should spend more for the more expensive M-box?
 
hardware works with software

The firewire probably is well worth paying for over USB 1.1. And if possible, forsake your laptop and work with a desktop PCI interface.

Next, you'll probably find greater compatibility with your software using M-Audio products, as a general rule. NOTE, general rule.

Lastly, you need to learn to post more information when asking these types of questions because computer specs AND your recording software are going to determine much of what we can tell you.
 
ThreefoldChord said:
I have a firewire port, but is it worth the extra money to get the audiophile firewire over the USB version?
Click to expand...

You don't need to go the firewire route if you're just starting, despite what you may hear from others. On this very board, no less...

I have a laptop with a firewire port that I may get around to using someday, but for right now USB suits me just fine. The advantages of an economical USB interface far outweigh the disadvantages IMHO. Here's the one I use:

http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--TASUS122

For software, try downloading the Tracktion demo:

http://www.mackie.com/products/tracktion/

If you like it as much as I do it's only $80 to buy it...
 
Toddskins said:
The firewire probably is well worth paying for over USB 1.1. And if possible, forsake your laptop and work with a desktop PCI interface.

Next, you'll probably find greater compatibility with your software using M-Audio products, as a general rule. NOTE, general rule.

Lastly, you need to learn to post more information when asking these types of questions because computer specs AND your recording software are going to determine much of what we can tell you.
Click to expand...

Okay, my laptop is 3.2 gigahertz, 80 gig HD, 512 mb ram, has firewire 1394 and plenty of usb ports, and is made by dell. As far as recordingsoftware goes, I have none. Right now I have no recording equipment or software of any kind. However I was planning to buy Music creator pro but I am not sure about that yet. as far as what I am going to record with I am planning to buy a MXL 990 and 991, a Large and small diapraghm mic respectivly.

Now is the Tascam 122 the equivalent of the M-audio Audiophile or FIrewire 410? I am worried about buying M-Audio because of the large amount of negative reviews I have read on placces like ZZounds.

Also, does bus or adaptor powered noticably affect sound fidelity?

Is music creator pro a good program, or is all that really just a matter of preference?

Thanks
 
m-audio gets some great reviews here amongst us. they make some pretty good consumer and semipro stuff. but you shouldn't be thinking that m-audio and mbox is such a huge jump. you can get the mbox for much cheaper than some of the m-audio devices. PLUS you get Pro Tools LE which is hella awesome.
 
What I meant by a jump up was that I thought the m-audio audiophile would be comprable in features ot the Mbox in which case it is a 200 price jump, which for a tight budget college student is big.
 
no i understand tight college student budget. but i'd say if you got the money and are serious about it all, you should go with the mbox. For about 400 dollars you really are getting a nice packaged deal. Two focusrite preamps, portable, and of course good ol' Pro Tools LE. But if you need to save money, then M-audio stuff would not at all be a mistake in buying. Of course, you'll still need a software program to plug all this into, but you can find some decent ones for cheap enough.
 
So lets say I get the Maudio Audiophile, is there a noticible difference between Firewire and USB?

Also as far as the software goes, I was looking at music Creator Pro which is made by cake walk and costs $70. Can anyone vouch for this software or reccomend something similar?

Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it!
 
no, not really any difference. just different bandwidths which can limit how many simultaneous tracks you can record at once. i know some people who have had reliability issues with USB, but i've never experienced any problems with any USB device that was related to the cable.

no experience with that software, sorry. although N-Track Studio is like $40 and is pretty decent. a lot of people here like it.
 
new & cheap

ThreefoldChord said:
Hey guys,
I am looking into purchasing a Audio interface for my laptop to record your basics, acoustic and electric guitar and vocals. I have been comparing several different interface devices and am not sure what to get. I have a firewire port, but is it worth the extra money to get the audiophile firewire over the USB version? are the M-audio devices even worth getting or should spend more for the more expensive M-box?
Click to expand...
There's a new product out that i'm going to try Behringer bca 2000 with usb 2.0 only $ 219.00 / US
 
Great computer

Your choice in DELL is great, and it has tons of horsepower (3.2 GHtz) and 512 MB Ram is very good too, but mind you.. unless you paid a big upgrade price (i'd wager you did not), your hard drive speed is probably 5400 rpm rather than 7000 (as is typical now for desktops). The 5400 rpm can be a problem for audio recording, I think. But let's suppose that is not a problem at all and move on to the issues you are facing next:

What I wrote earlier remains true (Firewire would be better recommended than the USB 1.1) which it's always better to go with greater speed and throughput, when you can.

Your new DELL will have USB 2.0 ports on it, but unless you get a USB device that was made explicitly for USB 2.0 (such as the Mackie Spike sound card), it will only go as fast as the USB 1.1 standard of a maximum of 10Mbs.

Firewire is 400Mbs.

USB 2.0 is 480Mbs.

PCI is like, I don't remember, but like 10x greater than USB 2.0


So.. your computer hardware is great (except for maybe the Hard drive's rotation speed and seek time). Now, you need to match up your recording software with a sound card. At this point, it's best to find out from the software manufacturer (before you buy), which sound cards they support. For example, you can check www.cakewalk.com to see all the sound cards they have personally tested and recommend for Sonar (there's a bunch).

Personally, i think the prices on inexpensive USB and Firewire units are almost identical. A brand new USB Audiophile can be had for $190 including shipping (on Ebay) and so can the Firewire Audiophile. Like no difference at all.

Another thing you may wish to consider is that the M-Audio products usually include some free lite versions of recording software that you may be able to use instead of buying something, and you are guaranteed that the free software (i.e. Ableton Live audio recording, and Reason Adapted) will work with the product you bought.
 
question: can softsynths be used in pro tools LE? Can pro tools do midi at all? I won't bash pro tools as i have little to no experience with it but... as a collage student myself, i found going the sonar route gave me a lot more than pro tools. Living on campus, you can't always be loud and you don't always have the room to set up a drumkit and a band to record. Using softsynths and midi is a huge plus for me. Getting an interface other than digidesign allows you to use (almost) any software you want. Maybe you can use the Mbox with other software but i don't know for sure. Just something to keep in mind.

Not trying to pump up sonar either. Cubase will dothe same thing for you. And thanks to ssscientist, i have traction a try by mackie and that is a capable program as well.
 
minofifa said:
question: can softsynths be used in pro tools LE? Can pro tools do midi at all? I won't bash pro tools as i have little to no experience with it but... as a collage student myself, i found going the sonar route gave me a lot more than pro tools. Living on campus, you can't always be loud and you don't always have the room to set up a drumkit and a band to record. Using softsynths and midi is a huge plus for me. Getting an interface other than digidesign allows you to use (almost) any software you want. Maybe you can use the Mbox with other software but i don't know for sure. Just something to keep in mind.

Not trying to pump up sonar either. Cubase will dothe same thing for you. And thanks to ssscientist, i have traction a try by mackie and that is a capable program as well.
Click to expand...

yeah, minofifa, LE does both midi and soft synths. it actually even includes several softsynths as well. Reason also comes with it. of course, Pro Tools is fairly new to midi since originally when they came out they were strictly audio. but they're coming along. I know a lot of people who like to do midi in logic and then put it down to audio and bring it in to pro tools to edit. so yeah, pro tools does midi...but some MIDI gurus don't think it has enough features for them. it all depends on how extensively you want to work with MIDI.

Also, digidesign's interfaces DO work with a number of programs. It comes with ASIO drivers, so pretty much anything that uses ASIO will work with it (in theory of course...i haven't tested all of them). I know Nuendo, Logic, Reason and Cubase all have been tested with their hardware.

PS. Firewire 1394b supports up to 800Mbps
 
Also, digidesign's interfaces DO work with a number of programs. It comes with ASIO drivers, so pretty much anything that uses ASIO will work with it (in theory of course...i haven't tested all of them). I know Nuendo, Logic, Reason and Cubase all have been tested with their hardware.
Click to expand...

That is good to hear. Although i would be silly to buy a piece of digidesign hardware if you were not using pro tools since a lot of the cost of the hardware is the software. There probaby are certain circumsatnces though.

Are the softsynths that come with Pro Tools VSTi's or does pro tools use its own type of softsynths?
 
three fold chord. before spending a lot there are many laptop musicians running powertracks that i use. its only 29 bucks and you get a boatload of features. just this weekend i recorded a young group of rappers with never a hiccup. talk to the users at the forum at pgmusic.com if you dont believe me.
its a totally integrated midi and audio sequencer with 48 tracks, built in audio fx so you dont have to spend a fortune on plug ins and includes
the TC helicon for harmonies which a lot of users are finding a lot of fun. the midi sequencer alone is worth the price imho with just too many features for me to list here and includes notation/note editing etc etc.
if you think i'm lying try the free demo on your laptop and you will see what i mean. another i bought and use daily is magix music studio for 80 bucks (in reality samplitude that a lot of big studios use minus some features i dont need). superbly rock solid like powertracks on my amd system. have a gander at the mixer screen sometime. i love the mixer screen in music studio.
also includes a boatload of effects as well as midi studio which i dont use much as i use powertracks for midi. also try band in a box sometime from pg music. a great songwriters sketchpad tool imho.
all the best.
 
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