F
FiveMiles
New member
Hi folks,
I've been doing research for the past couple of weeks on firewire interfaces for a mobile studio. The goal is to be able to make high quality demos and spend as little money as possible. I'm working within the following constraints:
1. My band plays into a single condenser mic. We are attempting to duplicate the sound of string bands from the 20's and 30's. We are a three piece band with fiddle, banjo, guitar and three part harmony.
2. I need the interface to be both MAC and PC compatible. I have a G4 iBook for mobile recording, and I'll use a homebuilt PC for home recording.
3. I want the best possible sound from the preamps. I really would like this aspect of the interface to be very high quality.
4. I need the interface to be rugged, portable, reliable and easy to use.
The units I've got my eye on are:
Edirol FA-66: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FA66/
The Edirol looks good because it has zero-latency monitoring, is small, cross-platform compatible and with the special I can get Sonar LE. I don't have any recording software other than Audacity.
MOTU UltraLite: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/UltraLite/
I've heard great things about the quality of MOTU products. I like the ability to monitor levels right on the interface display. I am concerned about PC compatibility as I know MOTU is a MAC focused company.
So, are there any other firewire interfaces that I should be considering? At the 350-550 dollar range, am I going to get a unit with a high quality sound? Is zero latency monitoring a big deal if I'm only really using one to two mic inputs with no overdubs? Would either of these units be good to expand on when I eventually put together a real home recording studio?
Also, is there a setup that would allow me to use just an interface and a portable firewire harddrive to record the raw sound? Then I could download it to my PC at home (which has a ridiculous ammount of processing power and tones of RAM) and do the final mixing there.
Finally, I'm lacking software as I mentioned above. I use Audacity and a simply Sony stereo mic for my current recordings (found on www.newhottimes.com). Is Audacity sufficient, or should I really be using a different software package (like the Sonar LE that comes with the FA-66).
Thanks in advance for your knowledge and wisdom! It's a bit of a maze out there for the traditional acoustic musician who wants to capture his music digitally.
I've been doing research for the past couple of weeks on firewire interfaces for a mobile studio. The goal is to be able to make high quality demos and spend as little money as possible. I'm working within the following constraints:
1. My band plays into a single condenser mic. We are attempting to duplicate the sound of string bands from the 20's and 30's. We are a three piece band with fiddle, banjo, guitar and three part harmony.
2. I need the interface to be both MAC and PC compatible. I have a G4 iBook for mobile recording, and I'll use a homebuilt PC for home recording.
3. I want the best possible sound from the preamps. I really would like this aspect of the interface to be very high quality.
4. I need the interface to be rugged, portable, reliable and easy to use.
The units I've got my eye on are:
Edirol FA-66: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FA66/
The Edirol looks good because it has zero-latency monitoring, is small, cross-platform compatible and with the special I can get Sonar LE. I don't have any recording software other than Audacity.
MOTU UltraLite: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/UltraLite/
I've heard great things about the quality of MOTU products. I like the ability to monitor levels right on the interface display. I am concerned about PC compatibility as I know MOTU is a MAC focused company.
So, are there any other firewire interfaces that I should be considering? At the 350-550 dollar range, am I going to get a unit with a high quality sound? Is zero latency monitoring a big deal if I'm only really using one to two mic inputs with no overdubs? Would either of these units be good to expand on when I eventually put together a real home recording studio?
Also, is there a setup that would allow me to use just an interface and a portable firewire harddrive to record the raw sound? Then I could download it to my PC at home (which has a ridiculous ammount of processing power and tones of RAM) and do the final mixing there.
Finally, I'm lacking software as I mentioned above. I use Audacity and a simply Sony stereo mic for my current recordings (found on www.newhottimes.com). Is Audacity sufficient, or should I really be using a different software package (like the Sonar LE that comes with the FA-66).
Thanks in advance for your knowledge and wisdom! It's a bit of a maze out there for the traditional acoustic musician who wants to capture his music digitally.
