Another interface choice thread...

[Jaymz]

Next year sometime I think I might be in the market for a replacement for my Saffire Pro 10 I/O. I can't track live drums, but what I do track is guitars both mic'd and DI, bass, vocals and thats about it, so 8 pre's arent the be all and end all for me, id rather pay more for less that are higher quality.

The intefaces that have caught my eye so far are:

Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 - It may be ugly too some but priced decently, pre's are highly regarded, good number of features besides not having great ADAT options.

Mackie Onyx 400f -Pres are even more highly regarded, pretty much top of my cash limit, no ADAT but if the 4 pre's are excellent thats what matters too me.

M-Audio Profire 2626 -I don't use protools but this name has been flying round a fair bit, a contender or not?

Not a firewire inteface but...

Focusrite Twintrak Pro - Had this idea earlier, since been doubtful of the sound quality in comparison to the above.

Im leaning toward the Mackie, just hearing how amazing that whole series sounds, despite lacking the ADAT which I don't currently have nor need *yet*

Which would be the best quality sound/reliability wise?

 

[006]

With the TwinTrak you would still need an interface, it's just a stereo/dual mono preamp with compressors, basically. The Onyx will have the best pres out of the choices listed, no doubt. The ProFire 2626 is what I'm looking at to replace my Saffire 26i/o so I can stop turning projects down because of PT. But the 2626 has some really great features too...

~006

 

[Jaymz]

With the TwinTrak you would still need an interface, it's just a stereo preamp basically. The Onyx will have the best pres out of the choices listed, no doubt. The ProFire 2626 is what I'm looking at to replace my Saffire 26i/o so I can stop turning projects down because of PT. But the 2626 has some really great features too...

~006

Yeah your right with the TT, I just whacked that at the end for some overall opinions really but I think id prefer just to give a bit more money to the firewire side of things for the quality.

Yeah I noticed your after a 2626, any other factors besides needing it for your PT work?

 

[006]

Nope. Don't want to sell the 26i/o. But the 2626 offers the same features somewhat, dual ADAT in, line outs, but is has PADS ON EVERY CHANNEL! Can still use my 8Pre into via ADAT and my Behringer ADA8000 (triggers only) as well. So I'm not losing any i/o really, but I think I'm taking a hit on the pre quality...other than that, no biggie. I just lost a bunch of great paying projects because I don't have PT. So, rather than bitch, I'll just remedy the problem. Only going to use PT to get the stems and import them into Cubase to edit/mix, that is it's only purpose for me Still getting a 1200F though later on. Will just have to swap the FW connections for when I need to use PT I suppose.

Haha, I bet you are tired of hearing from me on the subject, hopefully others join in. I think you will find most will say the 400 has the best pres out of the bunch, though. After that it comes down to connectivity options, which I think it has the least.

~006

 

[Jaymz]

Haha, I bet you are tired of hearing from me on the subject, hopefully others join in. I think you will find most will say the 400 has the best pres out of the bunch, though. After that it comes down to connectivity options, which I think it has the least.

~006

Not at all dude, its all good

Yeah its a very "simple" interface and I like simple Id use the MIDI I/O for keyboards and the likes and the line outs but thats pretty much it for now. With the Saffy 10 I/O ive not been "stopped" doing anything and that has less features than the Oynx :Smokin:

 

[Metaltastic]

Onyx is definitely the best bet in terms of quality, I love the preamps on my Satellite, and the converters on the 400 are great - if the lack of ADAT inputs is workable for you (you'll only have a max 10 inputs; 8 analog, 2 SPDIF), then go for that totally!

 

[Jaymz]

Onyx is definitely the best bet in terms of quality, I love the preamps on my Satellite, and the converters on the 400 are great - if the lack of ADAT inputs is workable for you (you'll only have a max 10 inputs; 8 analog, 2 SPDIF), then go for that totally!

Yeah I think that may be next on my wish list then

 

[Temps]

I just got my 400F in. Love it, sounds great.. kinda wish I had gotten a 1200F now since it sounds like we'll be recording drums ourselves, but it is a nice solid unit with good bang for your buck.

 

[Jaymz]

I just got my 400F in. Love it, sounds great.. kinda wish I had gotten a 1200F now since it sounds like we'll be recording drums ourselves, but it is a nice solid unit with good bang for your buck.

Awesome, hows the software? Stable drivers/low latency etc?

1200f looks really nice but the amount of features it has would be kinda wasted on me at this moment in time, considering the price different of near £1k im not suprised its that good lol!

 

[Temps]

Awesome, hows the software? Stable drivers/low latency etc?

1200f looks really nice but the amount of features it has would be kinda wasted on me at this moment in time, considering the price different of near £1k im not suprised its that good lol!

So far so good. I'll check my latency this afternoon, I haven't poked around with buffer sizes or anything yet so it is a little slower than my USB Edirol was at the moment

 

[Temps]

Just poked around with it, it is rock solid at buffer size 128 with 2.7ms latency in a project with S2, two synths, and eight audio channels..
It is worth noting I have to use a PCI firewire card and also use a PCI Wireless N card. I can't have both going at the same time - as soon as I turn on my wireless, the Mackie becomes unusable at anything less than about buffer size 2,000 with retarded latency. No big deal, I guess, but it is a bit less convenient than my USB interface.. I might just upgrade my motherboard to something with firewire on board and see if that solves this problem.

edit: just tested it out, I had only one hitch when I went to 32 and no problems at 64 either, 1.5ms latency. All of this with the wireless card off.. when the card is on, the problems aren't the Mackie's fault. It is the crap Wireless N standard that is poorly tested, supported and is only about half developed.. when somebody comes out with a good implementation of it, I doubt I'd still have this problem.

On the plus side, this thing sounds phenomenal. I thought the Edirol was pretty good and transparent but the Mackie has it beat.. very nice sound.

 

[Jaymz]

Just poked around with it, it is rock solid at buffer size 128 with 2.7ms latency in a project with S2, two synths, and eight audio channels..
It is worth noting I have to use a PCI firewire card and also use a PCI Wireless N card. I can't have both going at the same time - as soon as I turn on my wireless, the Mackie becomes unusable at anything less than about buffer size 2,000 with retarded latency. No big deal, I guess, but it is a bit less convenient than my USB interface.. I might just upgrade my motherboard to something with firewire on board and see if that solves this problem.

edit: just tested it out, I had only one hitch when I went to 32 and no problems at 64 either, 1.5ms latency. All of this with the wireless card off.. when the card is on, the problems aren't the Mackie's fault. It is the crap Wireless N standard that is poorly tested, supported and is only about half developed.. when somebody comes out with a good implementation of it, I doubt I'd still have this problem.

On the plus side, this thing sounds phenomenal. I thought the Edirol was pretty good and transparent but the Mackie has it beat.. very nice sound.

Thanks for the info man! Sounds like a lush unit, time to save the pennies me thinks! :Smokin:

 

[Metaltastic]

On my old laptop I always had to disable wireless networking/unplug the wired ethernet cable when using either my MBOX2 or Podxt, but on my new computer with my Onyx Satellite it's not a problem - getting a TI chipset PCI card would probably help (or PCMCIA if your on a laptop, James)

 

[Temps]

On my old laptop I always had to disable wireless networking/unplug the wired ethernet cable when using either my MBOX2 or Podxt, but on my new computer with my Onyx Satellite it's not a problem - getting a TI chipset PCI card would probably help (or PCMCIA if your on a laptop, James)

It is a TI chipset PCI card.

Wireless N blows - it is a problem with any wireless N device. They cause periodic hitching problems with the vast majority of computers. I've tried USB antennas and this PCI one.. with the original drivers, the whole system would freeze up from time to time. With the new drivers that problem went away until now.. With the card enabled, you can watch the CPU usage meter in Cubase fluctuate and the red overload box light up in time with the wireless activity indicator on the task bar, and the only thing that is affected is anything input from or output to the Mackie.

 

[Jaymz]

Is there any chance you have tried out using the instrument inputs yet? I wouldn't mind seeing if its clean enough to get away without a DI box for guitar re-amping takes etc

 

[Metaltastic]

They're probably the same as on my Mackie Onyx Satellite (same preamps after all), and those are good, but using my Redeye as a DI sounds subtly but noticeably better (more detailed and open)

 

[Jaymz]

They're probably the same as on my Mackie Onyx Satellite (same preamps after all), and those are good, but using my Redeye as a DI sounds subtly but noticeably better (more detailed and open)

Yeah I think they should be around the same quality, if I was going to buy a DI id just be going for an affordable one anyway, so as long as the quality of the Onyx isnt going to cause issues then thats fine by me

 

[Nebulous]

Does anyone know the difference between the Onyx 400 F and R?

https://www.billyhydemusic.com.au/s...s&search=mackie+onyx+400&action=results&go=Go

 

[Metaltastic]

Hmm, AFAIK that's a web error; there's no Onyx 400R, just the Onyx 800R, which is an 8-channel preamp with built-in A/D and an ADAT output, but no firewire

 

[Nebulous]

Bugger. It seems they stuffed up the description then too.

I just thought it might have been an older model with some lesser features or something.