What interface to buy?

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Mosan

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I am looking for a new firewire interface to buy. The most important thing to me is that the mic pre amps are reasonably good and there have to be at least two of those on there. And another thing is that I want it to work well on both PC and MAC, cause Im planning to transfer to another system within the year.

My spending budget isnt that big and I have a max at about 700 dollars.
Options Im considering are the maudio 2626, presonus firepod/studio and maybe a motu machine.

Any recommendations??

Thanks.
 
I'm putting the Cart before the Horse.... but you might want to buy something that can later be modded by Black Lion audio.

Here is a list of products you could buy, and then have modded:

http://www.blacklionaudio.com/products.html

They take what is already pretty good.... and push it even farther.
 
Im not from the US, so that will probably be a bit difficult :)
 
a used MOTU mkII might be nice. it's got two decent pres, PC & Mac compatible, 8 other inputs and outputs, and it can be modded by BLA if you'd like to take it up a notch.

and the Echo AudioFire converters are nice. the AudioFire4 has two built in pres, and it's only $300.

how many total inputs are you looking for?
 
The amount of inputs dont really matter to me. Im not planning on recording many instruments at the same time with my set up. Much more important to me is the quality of the 2 or 3 tracks that Im recording instead the amount of stuff I can record at once.

I pretty much had made up my mind about the maudio 2626, but I keep reading bad stuff on that one.
And the motu machines are all being praised, so that might turn out to be a better option?
 
If you're transfering to a mac in a year... MOTU, hands down
 
Yep, I am. I want to use the latest logic versions, so thats reason enough for me to go with mac later on.

Are the pres on the Motu 828 MK III any good? All I find on the net is software/driver related problems and stuff, not much being said about the pre amps.

Also, is there anyone with some presonus-gear experience?
 
Most of the MOTU driver issues are on PCs, but MOTU tends to be rock solid on a mac...

And the preamps are what you'd expect from and upper level multi-input device... nothing to write home about, but nothing to prevent a quality recording... as good or better than anything else in the same format and price range.

If you only record one or two channels at a time you may get a better quality / value pricepoint on a stand alone two channel preamp with your existing sound card.
 
MOFO Pro said:
Most of the MOTU driver issues are on PCs, but MOTU tends to be rock solid on a mac...

And the preamps are what you'd expect from and upper level multi-input device... nothing to write home about, but nothing to prevent a quality recording... as good or better than anything else in the same format and price range.

If you only record one or two channels at a time you may get a better quality / value pricepoint on a stand alone two channel preamp with your existing sound card.
Click to expand...

Fact is that I dont have a soundcard (well, a soundbalster audigy, but thats pretty much the same), so an interface with some good pre amps would be ideal.
 
Mosan said:
Fact is that I dont have a soundcard (well, a soundbalster audigy, but thats pretty much the same), so an interface with some good pre amps would be ideal.
Click to expand...

then yeah, the MOTU 828 is a solid option. but it may be overkill since it's got 10 ins and outs. check out the Echo AudioFire4 if you want to save some cash. i compared the AudioFire2 to the MOTU 828, and i thought the AudioFire converters sounded better (didn't compare the pres since the AudioFire2 doesn't have pres).

(DMP3 giveaway...vote for me here: https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=271855)
 
Mosan said:
My spending budget isnt that big and I have a max at about 700 dollars.
Options Im considering are the maudio 2626, presonus firepod/studio and maybe a motu machine.
Any recommendations??

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Check out the firestudio tube. Those "special" channels are pretty cool. Also, while inputs might not be so important to you, OUTPUTS might be. Say you want to send a prerecorded track out to an external effect box and monitor it in real time going into a physical input. No way you can do that without multiple outs. I like my Alesis IO 26 for home recording.
 
What is the difference between all those types of firestudios?

Edit: I know what the difference is in specs, but why should I consider the 'tube' over the 'project'?
 
Mosan said:
What is the difference between all those types of firestudios?

Edit: I know what the difference is in specs, but why should I consider the 'tube' over the 'project'?
Click to expand...

More inputs on the Tube. A pair of limiters with tube pres on the front supposed to sound really fucking good.
 
How long till you shift over to a Mac? If that will happen fairly soon, you might want to just wait and get an Apogee Duet. Great conversion (of course) and great preamps. Designed to integrate with Logic. A used one would run you @$400.
 
pohaku said:
How long till you shift over to a Mac? If that will happen fairly soon, you might want to just wait and get an Apogee Duet. Great conversion (of course) and great preamps. Designed to integrate with Logic. A used one would run you @$400.
Click to expand...

Yes I know, it did cross my mind. But I have one big project left to finish on my old pc before I can consider buying a mac, so it has to be an interface compatible with both pc as mac, unfortunately.
 
Anyone you can borrow or rent an interface from for the project? It would be a shame to buy something just to do the project that you then have to live with later that isn't as good as the Duet. I run PC myself, but I've used the Duet (bought one for my secretary to do voice over work) and it's real slick. If wasn't already so committed to a PC platform, I'd be looking at Mac and an Ensemble.

Alternatively maybe a used Yamaha N8? Whoa, I just looked and new ones are now down to $799! At that price or something close to it, I'd look at a new one to get the warranty as well.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/n8/
 
Well another slight problem with the apogee are the 2 mic pres, its very minimal and I would prefer at least 4 mic pres.

Over here in the Netherlands a Yamaha N8 is still pretty expensive and noone is stupid enough to sell their yamaha :).

At the moment Im pretty much down to three options :

motu 828 mkIII,
presonus firestudio project or tube
or a mackie onyx 400f.

The last one is supposed to have some really good pre amps as well, but its hard to find good info on that one.
 
Mosan said:
Well another slight problem with the apogee are the 2 mic pres, its very minimal and I would prefer at least 4 mic pres.

Over here in the Netherlands a Yamaha N8 is still pretty expensive and noone is stupid enough to sell their yamaha :).

At the moment Im pretty much down to three options :

motu 828 mkIII,
presonus firestudio project or tube
or a mackie onyx 400f.

The last one is supposed to have some really good pre amps as well, but its hard to find good info on that one.
Click to expand...

OK, I thought you said you only needed 2 mic pres. If those are your choices, I'd take the MOTU. A tried and proven bit of kit.
 
No one seems to have mentioned the Focusrite Saffire Pro. Even the 10 would probably be enough for you and that's only 600 I think. I've been looking at the 26 for a while now, and I'll probably eventually upgrade my Firepod to it, but I don't have much reason to right now. The pres should be good, they're supposed to be based on the Green series. Not sure how the conversion holds up to a MOTU though. Anyone have anything to say about this unit?

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SaffirePro10/
 
Hmm yeah, now that you mention it.. what about that focusrite stuff?
 
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