What interface for my first DAW?

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Outlaws

Outlaws

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I am trying to set up another home recording studio after ditching everything I own. This time I want it to be a DAW, the last was a Roland...which I had few, if any, serious gripes with outside of not having a line in without a trim knob.

So I know nothing about DAWs, I don't need massive amounts of IN/OUTs, but I would like a few. I would like at least a couple (or all) to be free of any mic pres. I am not big on MIDI, infact I have never used it.

I am trying to keep this in the $500 area.

I don't know what software is compatible with what, or which is most user friendly. I had a 2in/2out EMU a few years ago that I sold because Sonar confused the hell out of me and I was more in tune with routing things on with physical connections. I never did get sound into my computer with that thing....anyways....

Here is what I am looking at becasue I think it is what I need.

Edirol FA-101 or UA-101
Delta1010
ECHO Audio Fire 8.

I am not set on any of these, I just don't know how certain things are going to be accomplished with the various devices.

-Namely, my monitoring. Like I said, I sold everything. I have my nice Sennheiser headphones and that is it....for the moment. Reading things makes it sound like the Edirols have poor monitoring for some reason I don't understand, but then the Delta looks like I need to buy a outboard mixer, which if I buy a mixer I would rather it be a controller and not actually routing everything to it and then back into the computer.

I still need to buy mic pres and some mics, but I understand those.
 
In that price range, I'd be a strong proponent of the MOTU 8Pre. It has preamps on all eight inputs, but you can bypass them all by plugging into the 1/4" jack....
 
Thanks. I read the website for that and the way they describe it, you can monitor all 16 of the inputs live, including the ADAT, and have 4 different mixes, but they never mention if that CueMix monitors already laid down tracks.

I guess this software verses hardware monitoring is getting me. Once I have tracks laid down, am I forced into software monitor and I just don't use the hardware monitoring anymore?

Also, I don't see how I would be able to send a track to something like an outboard compressor.
 
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Outlaws said:
I guess this software verses hardware monitoring is getting me. Once I have tracks laid down, am I forced into software monitor and I just don't use the hardware monitoring anymore?
Click to expand...

Shrugs. I've never seen much point in hardware monitoring, but I know it bothers some people.


Outlaws said:
Also, I don't see many how I would be able to send a track to something like an outboard compressor.
Click to expand...

True. If you like to use outboard gear, you'd be better off with something like an 828MKIII or a Traveler that has more than two outputs.
 
you might try the tascam 1641... ive got the big brother 1884... not realy comparable as it's a hardware controller as well... there's several guys around here that have the 1641 and seems they been liking it... comes with the knocked down version of cubase...
 
My question(assuming I did not miss it) is what are you planing on doing? Recording full bands? Just yourself? How many tracks at a time do you need?
 
can someone explain the difference between software and hardware monitoring? I'll try my best at it let me know if I'm right, if not hopefully someone can explain:

Hardware monitoring : Plugging into the headphones jack on audio interface (in my case a mixer) And listening to whats going into the hardware and that is all. Not listening to applied effects from the software. The sound comes back from the computer to the interface via usb or firewire (whatever) so you can hear the tracks as you record on top of it.

Software monitoring: Still plugged into the headphone jack of your audio interface? However you turn on monitoring in your software so that you can add efx like reverb or distortion so you can hear what it sounds like before you record it and as you record it.

here's what I do. Mic>mixer>line out into macbook line in. then headphone jack on computer> tape in> to my headphones! THat way I can hear the signal with no latency. Is this hardware monitoring?

sorry to hi-jack the thread, I didn't want to start a new one and need this clarified.

thank you.
 
Software/hardware monitoring...? hum. Well I would say if you totally work in the box,no external mixer that would to me seem to be software monitoring.If, as I do,run stereo out of my console to my headphone amp and monitor all inputs, inputs like a band playing and at the same time if needed monitor listen to) prior recorded tracks such as with an overdub situation...thaty would be hardware monitoring. But someone correct me if I'm wrong......but dats wut I tink!:p
 
This will be mostly me, playing, so two inputs are required, but if I have anyone else sit down with me it would be nice to have a couple extra inputs. I figure 6-10 would be nice to have on hand, incase I need to do drums. I won't really be doing full bands.

The S/PDIF would be nice but it doesn't really matter since I don't have anything yet that used them, and half the gear seems to be optical S/PDIF, and the other half is coaxial S/PDIF...so unless it has both, I am SOL on one or the other anyways.
 
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Echo Layla3G

So what is the opinion of this? Looks the same as the AudioFire8, just a PCI instead.

Here is what I see as pros, based on my less than total understanding of what I need from a DAW:

-2 mic pres (so I don't have to shell out for them right off the bat, but I will soon enough, and then I will still have these two which can't hurt

-6 more line ins without any gain stage tainting my future mic pres.

-Both types of S/PDIF ins/outs (I like that)

-World Clock connections in case I ever get one.

-headphone out for simplicity

-8 outputs so I can run monitors AND use outboard gear like compressors, etc.

-PCI card

-A review on MusiciansFriend says it works on his Linux system. This is not really a selling point as I realize I will more than likely use XP for my DAW, but I use Linux for everything else, and would love it if by some chance I can use it. Its like icing on the cake.



Now here is what I am unsure of:

-Build quality?

-Converter quality?

-Am I going to have issues with keeping my SoundBlaster or should I yank it?

-Is Tracktion really that easy to use? I would rather not by software at the moment if I can help it, and I don't need the professional depth some of this software provides, I want to track stuff and copy/paste, maybe a click track.


I am sure the MOTU is great, but it just seems lacking a few features I want to use.

Anymore thoughts?
 
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As much as Im not a Protools fan an mbox for 300-500 buck depending on plugins would be a good choice. 2 micpreamps,s/pdif I believe.Its your sound card so get an mbox and your off and running. If your ever want to dump it the resale should decent as so many people use them. Might be your cheapiest way,plus compatable with other studios.
 
Outlaws said:
Echo Layla3G

So what is the opinion of this? Looks the same as the AudioFire8, just a PCI instead.
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I don't recommend buying legacy PCI gear. The writing is on the wall for PCI. The PC industry is gradually phasing out parallel PCI in favor of PCI Express, which is not compatible with existing PCI cards. Newer machines have fewer PCI slots and more PCIe slots every year (on average). Eventually, this will be a problem for you. For this reason, the only PCI gear I would consider over about the $50 level would be things like the MOTU 2496 or HD192 for which you can buy a PCI Express version of the card when you eventually find yourself faced with a machine that lacks any legacy parallel PCI slots.


Outlaws said:
-World Clock connections in case I ever get one.
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Word clock really doesn't buy you anything unless you are planning to use a large number of devices and need to sync them together. It's mostly a gimmick, IMHO. Realistically, your clock stability is affected more by the PLL stability in the interface itself than by the clock coming in. You can have the crappiest source clock, and if the PLL in the interface is designed correctly, the converters should see a stable clock. You can have the most stable source clock, and if the PLL sucks, the converters will still see a lousy clock.


Outlaws said:
-A review on MusiciansFriend says it works on his Linux system. This is not really a selling point as I realize I will more than likely use XP for my DAW, but I use Linux for everything else, and would love it if by some chance I can use it. Its like icing on the cake.
Click to expand...

Well, some of the MOTU FireWire gear works. No idea about their PCI gear.
 
dgatwood,
not sure id were yalking about the same thing but I've used my motu 2408mk3 for years, pci card,firewire windows xp. Has worked flawlesssly. I myself have had trouble trying to buy pc with xp that has enough pci slots.I support your statement very much. I use 2 uad-1 cards and HAVE to have pci slots.Let see, (2) slots for uad-1. (1) for motu pci 424 card. That kills 3 slots.My present computer has like 6. My mac g5 has the pcie slots and like you said it's going that way.Now I can but new uad-1le I think is their name that are pci-e cards. But......gotta buy again. I just might for my mac as it really seems to be a more stable machine than pc. I cant run Sonar 5 on it and that really suck......might have to go mbox full time.
 
I went ahead and ordered the Echo AudioFire4 from zZounds. I wanted the extra channels, but I think I am going to keep it simple for the time being as I don't NEED them at the moment. But from what I understand, I can use the digital ins with the analog, so I do have access to 6 ins if I need them in the future.

I am still unsure if this one comes with Tracktion, as I see no mention in any of the literature, yet a user review or two said it does. Either way, I will download some demo software to see which suites me best.
 
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I got the AudioFire in the mail today. Already hooked it up and managed to record a two piece guitar track with Tracktion 3. I can download Tracktion 2 for free with my purchase, which I will do. I might try Cubase though after I fumble around with this a bit more. But this is an excellent interface for anyone new to DAWs. The instructions it comes with are simple, and they even tell you how to get going in Tracktion so you don't have to spend hours messing around to at least get sound coming in.

And as a BONUS, and this big IMO, I believe I read the instructional PDF to read that the 2 MIC INs are actually LINE INs without the trim knob unless you use an XLR. I will have to test that at some point, but IMO that is a major plus.
 
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