Midrange quality interface for overdub recording?

[Ermz]

Hey guys,

I've always got clients asking me which interface to buy for their bass, guitar & vocal tracking at home. Basically just something with nice converters, and as a bonus maybe some usable pres would be great.

Think a budget in the realms of $600 to $1,000.

Any suggestions? Converter quality is paramount, above all.

 

[xTomx]

One of the older Firewire Apogee Duet's has impeccable pre's.

 

[Williamn]

In that range maybe a RME fireface 400 (or the new ucx) would be a good option ?

If im not mistaken the converters is the same as in their high end line.

 

[tempe]

Absolutely nothing wrong with a used fireface 400. The drivers are rock solid, the converters are of a good standard and the pres whilst a bit boring are usable.

 

[ze kink]

I'd say Duet 2, but yeah, Mac only. So the Fireface UC/UCX is probably the way to go, although more expensive. The Babyface sadly seems doesn't cut it, I've read quite a bit of reviews on it as I was debating between that and the Duet 2 myself, and there have been so many units with huge problems in them that it just isn't reasonable IMO. The biggest dealbreaker for me is that the headphone amp is apparently very weak; when I get a mobile interface I'll pretty much be using it for mobile tracking/songwriting with headphones only, and the HD-650 need juice.

 

[Ermz]

The Duet is an option because this particular band are on a Mac. Is it a particular era of the Duet only, or are any of the ones on the market fair game?

I've already suggested the Fireface UC.

How's the Mbox 3? An actual candidate, or too toylike to be useful?

 

[Uros]

I'll say it again - Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP. 1M Ohm instrument input, clean pre's, DSP enables you to use compression, reverb, etc. effects (really useful, zero latency monitoring for tracking). 400$ or something like that, worth a try.
Oh, and I've heard some really bad stuff about mbox3 pre.

 

[Scott C.]

I wouldn't use the mbox3 pre's myself ,but the converters are supposed to be on par with the digi192's

 

[LeSedna]

I have a duet (previous version, not the 2), the difference in the output converters even with my profire 2626 is huge, I haven't recorded with it yet but I've heard the same good things as for the output anyway, so no doub't they are pretty clean as well.

If they are on mac, it's almost a no brainer for me, since the duet uses core-audio, which makes it just easier. It's plug and play and it's well integrated in the OS. Unless they consider it a bit too expensive, then other solutions are probably well worth the try.

 

[Empathy]

I'd suggest a BLA Auter/Sparrow route for something like that... but since we're talking about musicians, not engineers, I'd have to give a +1 to the Apogee. It's a fucking shame they're mac-only, I'd be interested in a lot more of their products if they opened up to PC users.

 

[LeSedna]

I myself found that too bad it's mac only, I would have loved the apogee even earlier. It's indeed simple, so for simple problems it's worth it. A FF400 is possibly more complete.

 

[IanM]

I have a Duet and i've managed to avoid upgrading converters because they are so great in the Apogee (at least so far). I have grabbed some preamps-API lunchbox, UA and Golden Age because the Pres in the Duet are so lacking in character though but they are still pretty good....

 

[marcoeatsbrains]

I'd suggest the Mbox3 cutting edge converters i don't know about the pre's... you just have to be careful because many units were released with a critical hardware bug that only lets you record at 44.1 if you go higher all your stuff change its pitch... acording to them that issue was resolved now.