Presonus Inspire or M-Audio Fw Solo?

[zolee]

Hi guys,

I just registered here and hope that i`ll be a frequent visitor. After years of trying to record with cheap integrated cards, I finally decided to invest in an audio interface. After much research, I found two, that are at the same price:

1.Presonus Inspire
2.M-Audio Firewire solo

I am a guitar player, but mainly wanna record guitar with my amps miced. I also would like to record vocals and drums on occasion. I think I`m gonna go with the Inspire, as it has more channels (I`m hoping that with four channels I could decently record drums.) i also like that it`s daisy-chainable, so if I need more channels in the future, I can simply buy another one.

The Solo on the other hand seems to have slightly better recording quality, according to the specs.

Or maybe I should take a third path and buy a used firebox off ebay for the same price the new inspire sells for. Is that pretty much the same as the Inspire, only with more ins/outs?

I am using a Dell laptop (1.7GHz M processor, 1 GB
RAM) and Audition to record.

Thanks for any input

 

[Loyct]

If you want to record drums, get a firepod. With the 4 Line ins on the firebox (2 pres'd), you'd still need 2 more mic pres, which is a couple of hundreds of dollars.

If you record guitar only, the inspire should be a good way to start.

 

[zolee]

Hi Loyct,

thanks for youe answer. I only wanna record drums on occasion, and I would be able to borrow a friends mixer or preamp. I mainly need it for guitar and vocals.

I also looked at line6`s toneport, which seems to be a nice deal, however I`m a bit affraid of going USB. It is not possible to bypass the digital models either. Do you agree these things should be avoided?

 

[Loyct]

If you're only recording elec guitars, line6 will be a good choice for ease of use.

But if you're needing mics to mic up the cabs and DI basses, you'd be better off getting a Audio interface.