Interface Q

Yo Whats good

Please, i searched the forum got no real solid answer, so im asking it here, if its been asked a million times great, should be easier to answer.

Those of you still reading, i salute you.

What i want to do, is track my mpc1000 / synth (Korg Tr Rack) / other (guitar, cab, mic etc) at once, into my DAW (Reaper) without stop starting, so ideally, multi track record into my DAW, so i want to be able to track say at least 16 channels of CODEC into my PC on different tracks.

I need at least 8 inputs (balanced line L and R) and possibly 2 XLR inputs, digitial in and out is a must, MIDI is a must, optical is a must and i will need 4 outputs (one set of monitors, one send to mpc.) Usb or firewire does not matter as im upgrading my setup (Hence the interface thread).

Do any of you use a similar method?

What do you use?

What do you reccommend?


Cheese if you reply,

caught a post showing the RME stuff, the UFX, UCX?, 800 and 400 RME models.

like them but feel they may be out of my price range. whereas the mk3 Motu 828 seems like it may do what i want it to and although it has limited i/o could be coupled with a decent pre (8 input pre-amp or similar) to complete my required i/o

any one have a motu piece of gear?

Do these run out of PCI cards?

**** confusing shit!

I think the 828 runs with firewire... and there is a chance the latest one might have usb and firewire like the ultralite hybrid.

They sound alright...

mr_debauch wrote:I think the 828 runs with firewire... and there is a chance the latest one might have usb and firewire like the ultralite hybrid.

They sound alright...

yeh right. whats the kind of CODEC limit on the usb2.0 and usb 3.0?

I know the odler usb (1.0 i think) is only two channel CODEC which is basically Left and Right

if i can get away with a firewire or usb without the extra PCI card thats great, i was more thinking i needed the PCI for a firewire port with texas chipsets, as i have read standard Firewire ports are no good?

**** man, really, im using a Belkin tunestudio i borrowed off a mate to track to PC. i have an Alto Desk im using for routing my TT, synth, bass etc into my MPC but tracking out is a monster task (12 tracks of MPC, 4 tracks of synth)
As i sequence in the MPC, i track out a whole beat. 16 x 3.0 minutes isnt fun for a beat

peeping tom wrote: 16 x 3.0 minutes isnt fun for a beat

**** that.. hahaha... yeah usb1 allows for stereo only it seems on those older interfaces... however firewire and usb 2 is not restricted like that. you can do I think... 10 in at once on the 828 if I am not mistaken (all of the 828 models can as they never had the old usb1.0) .. I think 8 analog mono.. plus the spdif stereo.

it should be able to do the same back out as well... check just to be sure.

yeah you could look on their website just to make sure your chipset is compatible, but worst case scenario you get a pci firewire 400 card for 15 bucks.

If you don't mind going used, I'd recommend echo audio.

Rock solid & excellent sound quality. And I forgot to mention top notch tech support too. Had a out of warranty 20 bit interface that was sent to them because it had power on issues. They fixed it free of charge and took care of the return shipping as well.

Since they recently upgraded their website I had to go to outside resources for pictoral purposes.



I use two of these layla24's for 32 channels of audio I/O (which I haven't had the need to use all at one time). The dynamic range & snr on these babies are second to none. The drivers are solid too with < 3 ms average on the latency.

Their current model Layla3 has most of the features you may be looking for. Might want to give them a look while you're shopping around.

Cheers guys, thanks for replying and posting some info.

Much appreciate that


so im guessing everyone else on this site either doesnt use a interface, doenst multi track or aint helpfull

peeping tom wrote:so im guessing everyone else on this site either doesnt use a interface, doenst multi track or aint helpfull

I've had quite a few, and lots of ones I had to return immediately usually due to a lack of a TI chipset as you mentioned. (JMicron firewire controllers are the devil).

There are a few I would mention in the $400-$800 range but some don't have the right number of inputs or outputs you mentioned. M-Audio Profire 610 is a good $400 interface with surprisingly good low latency for your VST's but it only has 6 ins. The next one up Profire 2626 has a ton of inputs but is in that $700-$800 range where you're better off with Echo and MOTU or even something like RME's Babyface.

For doing it somewhat on the cheap the Presonus Firestudio is a good deal at around $400USD. Here's a latency shootout chart from Gearslutz -

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-co ... -base.html

It's actually the $300 mobile Firestudio on test here with the Profire and RME, and a Focusrite. The numbers on the larger version may be better but they won't be worse than what the mobile charted. Considering the price gulf between the RME and these other interfaces the cheaper offerings are relatively speaking holding their own.

I use an RME Multiface II/HDSPe PCIe myself. I went with PCIe solely because it was cheaper than a USB, FW or combo RME, and it's about 1ms better latency than the external units. (I'm way too OCD about latency I'll admit )
I'm glad I made the investment but I feel you man it's a lot of dough. But there are some great options in the mid tier price range fortunately.

after massive amounts of thinking and trying to work this shit out, think i settled on getting a Motu 424 card, and using (if i need to) 2 of the 828 mk3's , or a 828 and a 2408 to complete the i/o i require.

Shit is a headache.

i want the RME gear but cannot justify spending that much dosh on it when i dont even make that money off selling beats, nah mean? i gotta explain this shit to wifey haha.

i can almost get a motu pci card and 2 828's for the price of the RME soundcard and UFC / UFC box - dayuum.

Thanks to averyone who replied, upgrading is a headache, and with so many options its nice to get some feedback from dudes who actually track out beats.

Peace

Lampdog wrote:What did you end up getting?

nothing yet, saving pennies at the moment.

Think i'll go the motu road, cop the pci card and grab a 896 and or a 24 or 2408 to keep my i/o possibilities open.

I WANT a RME UFX but the 2k is harsh.

I miss this thread when you first posted it. For what you want I would suggest (and what i've used heavily) is the Firestudio Project. It can be had for 3-4 hundred, never had a problem with it, sounds great, never a latency issue. I like more than a lot of the higher end ones on the market truthfully.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/PreSonus-Fi ... agpspn=pla

I'm running a 003R, with the black lion mod. When I need more channels, I will buy a behringer ada8000 and send it to black lion or mod it myself. You can find premodded 002's on eBay once in a while and a brand new behringer is like $200. Don't sleep!


Edit:I would not plug digidesign/avid ever, they are a scrotum dangling on the pelvis of the musical instrument industry. However, if you buy used, they don't see your $, and black lion mod makes the shit extremely usable (kinda like jjos2xl vs. akai is on the 1000).