I’m looking into getting a new audio interface. I would like to hook up the following components in a flexible way:
Octatrack
A4
Rytm
Microkorg
Pulse2
PC / Mac with Ableton
Ipad
Strymon Timeline
Strymon Big Sky
I’d like to be able to sample Ableton’s output, the Pulse 2 and the Microkorg and also record the devices into individual tracks in Ableton. The Strymons I’d like to configure as sends.
I would like to get something that leaves a little headway in terms of connecting additional devices and ideally, the interface should be usable without a computer. One recommendation I got was TC Electronics Studio Konnect 48, which I could get for around €450,- but I’d have to add a Firewire card to my PC and it seems like it’s near the end of it’s life cycle. The alternative my local dealer showed me was the Motu 828x. What would you recommend?
Thanks for your feedback so far. I was afraid the recommendation would be RME, as budget wise I’d like to stay under 1k if possible at all. Looking at Focusrite right now, 18i20 appeals to me. I’m wondering whether I should buy into Firewire/Thunderbolt. There seem to be a lot of interfaces with plenty of analog I/O at attractive prices. Do you guys see any disadvantages with something like a Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 that would cause major pain? What’s the state of Firewire under Windows 8.1?
[quote=““Hans Olo””]
Thanks for your feedback so far. I was afraid the recommendation would be RME, as budget wise I’d like to stay under 1k if possible at all. Looking at Focusrite right now, 18i20 appeals to me. I’m wondering whether I should buy into Firewire/Thunderbolt. There seem to be a lot of interfaces with plenty of analog I/O at attractive prices. Do you guys see any disadvantages with something like a Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 that would cause major pain? What’s the state of Firewire under Windows 8.1?
Thanks,
Hans
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The issue with a lot of the Firewire interfaces (especially the cheaper ones) is that their Driver support cycle is maybe coming to an end.
At least remember to make sure they have driver support for your current operating system.
My friend has a Presonus Audiobox 1818 VSL. These are in your price range. I have been continually impressed by the quality of his recordings. Nice reverb and delays built in and more user friendly than the RME too. If I was in the market for a second interface I would almost certainly get one.
if i didn’t need to record all of those simultaneously i’d go for higher quality but lower number of channels and then get a cheap patch bay to reconfigure the setup easily. whichever 10+ channels of conversion you get for under a grand isn’t likely to be that great sounding or reliable.
…the best thing i ever invested in, was my metric halo 2882…
forget about all these uad plug ins and the next modeled super charme compressor…
get a mh interface with a 2d card and you have a timeless system with one sample latency in and one sample latency out, no matter what…
it’s as tight as a protools hd system…but sounds better…
the converters are beyond everything and the 80 bit console on this card is nothing but a real desk end of the day…
and hell yeah, i got timeline and big sky as sends hanging onto it…
ps…forget about this fw discussion…the protocoll will stay forever, no matter what plug you got to use for it…metric halo works with all that shit…the got the most rock solid and fastest drivers on the planet…
I brought this interface up a few times here and it does deserve some love - consider a Roland Octacapture. Excellent sound quality, very low latency and can do the multitracking in/out of Live fairly easily.
I picked one up second hand for about £250 on Ebay but they usually go for more. There are of course better sounding options out there but on a budget and looking for multi in/outs then this should be considered.
I would spend the extra and go for a metric halo 2882. metric halo channel strip is also very very powerful and much better than anything RME, focusrite, or motu has to offer in the DSP realm.
you will need a mac to set it up though, and its firewire only
for the price of a brand new UFX I would go for the Antelope Audio Zen Studio instead. Pricey but would be my number one choice as an all in one interface.
With thunderbolt, usb and network connection for easy access to your mac.
i would definitly give these a try, cause it’s cool to choose which model acts as your starting point in the avb range and you can easily expand it with some other motu avb gear.
As I’m using both a Windows PC and a MBP, I’d like something that works reliably in both worlds. Motu seem to be somewhat notorious for their less than ideal Windows driver quality.
Seems like 8 analog I/O is pretty much the top end for interfaces in my price range. I’m thinking about starting with a Focusrite 18i20 and extending it with an additional AD converter via ADAT. As I’ve never used this before - would that enable me to record additional tracks in my DAW?
[quote=““Hans Olo””]
Seems like 8 analog I/O is pretty much the top end for interfaces in my price range. I’m thinking about starting with a Focusrite 18i20 and extending it with an additional AD converter via ADAT. As I’ve never used this before - would that enable me to record additional tracks in my DAW?
Thanks,
Hans
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As far as Motu goes, I dont remember having any problems with the ultralite years ago but my midi express is a PITA on windows.
The 18i20 can support 4 adat channels at 96khz. This probably doubles to 8 channels at 48khz.
The extra ADAT channels would appear in the 18i20 software mixer and be available to your DAW as separate channels for recording.
18i20 is probably a good choice. The focusrite preamps are among the best you will find on a large interface in this price range.
I’d honestly just get a Behringer UMC1820. Or two.
The RME stuff is excellent, but I highly doubt that anyone will be able to hear the difference when you’re using a line-level signal.
These newer Behringer interfaces are very solidly built, seem to be reliable, and use high-quality components. They’re also fully class-compliant, so you won’t even need to install any drivers assuming you’re on OS X.
this looks really good actually. and motu finally posted their full specs on the converters! 123 db out and 117-118 in ad/da on all those channels is very impressive on paper
There is no getting around it