Upgrade Advice

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guitar zero

guitar zero

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I know this question gets asked a lot, but everyone's specific situation is different, so here goes...

I've decided to upgrade from garage band to Logic. Sound files transfer directly, and using a Mac, so it seems the best choice for me. My M-Audio just crapped out, so I need a new firewire interface.

I'm looking at the Apogee Duet, since currently we are not recording any more than two channels at a time, and the Apogee is disigned for easy use with logic, and the pre's are supposed to be decent.

Here's the conundrum: At some point, I'm thinking I want enough channels to record drums, and the Apogee won't do for that. So I'm also looking at possibly the M-Audio 1814 or MOTU 8pre.

I've got two preamp channels of ART MPA Gold, and am getting two pre-amps from the GB.

So, should I just go with the APogee and upgrade later, or is there another great unit I should get now, and forget the Apogee.

I'd like to stay in the $500 to $700 range.

Thanks
 
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$500 range... AudioFire 8 or 12. I got my 12 on Ebay for $500 and it's blowing me away. Echo makes some serious shit and I can't begin to express what a good value it is getting this level of quality for under a grand.
 
+1 for Echo!! Top notch converters and rock solid drivers!!

Another interface that looks interesting is the new M-Audio Profire 2626.
It also has excellent converters (better than the 1814 and Motu) and has 8 decent pres based on the M-Audio Octane but with increased gain of 75dB!!

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.main&ID=cf7885739abca27619342a0b303d7346

The Presonus Firestudio Project also looks like a good interface. This has slightly improved converters over the original Firestudio and has 8 XMAX preamps.

http://www.presonus.com/products/Detail.aspx?ProductId=43
 
Thanks guys, of the three, ECHO 8, presonus studio project, and M-Audio 2626, any driver issues with a Mac?
 
Didn't he just say he's not going to be doing more than two channels at a time?
 
Since you know you will be using 8 channels later, I recommend buying that now instead of a two channel unit. In the long run it will cost you less money.

An 8 channel Echo unit or the MOTU 8pre would be great choices. You are using a Mac, and both those units have good Mac drivers and run well on Macs.
 
as someone who has/had both
the duet is great
the echo audiofire units are great too

the duet's easy integration with logic is nice, but i can't imagine that the echo's are that much more difficult to get working. the duet has a nice encoder knob on it which is very handy. another cool thing about the duet ironically comes from a design compromise for getting to the $500 price point-- it has unbalanced outs. one of the output options is a setting for "instrument amp" presumably for using logic or other software instruments, or amp modeling live, but one thing you can do is record di guitar or bass tracks then reamp them later w/o a reamp box. i haven't actually done this yet, but i posed the question on another messageboard and numerous other duet users tried it as a result and reported that it worked with excellent results.

the duet has good pres from casual observation ime, but i use outboard pres (langevin, osa, avedis).

the echo units are also great-- especially when you factor in the price. the audiofire series have great converters, echo updates their drivers and firmware frequently and echo has great customer support.

i think you'd do well with either. the fw-1814 doesn't have a great reputation fwiw.
 
Thank you all very much. I very much appreciate the experts on this board willing to help newbies like myself make good decisions that we won't regret later. I'm thinking the ECHO seems the consensus favorite on this board. Anyone have anything bad to say about it?
 
Just spoke to my son who got impatient and is on his way home with a Presonus Firestudio Project. I had actually decided that the ECHO unit would be the better of the two. Today I've been reading about a lot of problems with the drivers in the Presonus Unit and people running Mac powerbooks, which is what we have (something to do with the DICEII chip not playing well with MACs?).

So, should I turn him around before the box gets opened, or just go with his youthful exuberance and try recording with the Presonus?
 
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