so i got about £400

jesterroot4

jesterroot4

Member
Jul 5, 2007
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16
Croydon (south london) UK
what should i get? i need to be able to record a full kit.
and needs to be good for when i'm micing up and shizz.

everyones going on about differant pre's and shizz but i dunno whats best for me.

should i get...

26 i/o Saffire Pro with midi in and out. £400

but i'm not sure on how good it is?

i dunno, what interface would you get with £400???
i'v been looking for months, and used the search a million times but people what differant things lol so i dunno..

help please?
 
its basicaly the fact that i wanna finish my pack of essentials for a studio i shall be slowly building. i got my comp, my monitors, and now i need an interface worthy of enough inputs for a kit and fukin good quality
 
MOTU 8 Pre or focusrite octopre le. I prefer the 8 pre due to the simplicity and the option for the phantom power on each input, and not grouped over a band of 4 inputs, like on the octopre. but thats just due to my personal needs and preferences.

The MOTUs about £370 and octopre is around the £250 mark, making the octopre alot better value for money, so could be better for yourself, giving you a few quid for extra kit. Dont know what the aftersales service of focusrite stuff is though, ive had a few motu issues and they've always been top notch!
 
cheers man! this is probs the most stupid question ever, but whats with the need to the pre-amps to boost the signals. i mean the saffire had 26 inputs (8 of which have pre-amps) and is like £400,
and i'm sure if i could plug anything into the other inputs i'd get a decent signal. help me with this noob thought please.
 
all it means is you have the 8 preamps (xlrs for microphones) if they are jack inputs then they will be line level instrument inputs, such as keyboards and other audio kit. The adat option is for if you have say an external set of ad-da pres on another device, say a Yamaha 01V digital desk, the saffire can support 16 chanels of adats, just meaning its more powerful and you have the option of simultaneously tracking more instrument ins than you could with just a standard set of 8 mic pres youd get on lower costing units. I think the motu 8 pre has the 8 mic pres, plus the option of 8 ins from an external adat source. and thats cheaper than the saffire, but you lose the option of those extra 8 adat ins
 
With the Focusrite 26 i/o it looks like you need either pre's with spif for 2 extra channels or pre's with adat out for the other 2 8's, something like the behringer ad800 gets used alot for people recording drums on a budget. Like they put triggers and toms and use the better quality focusrite's in built pre's for overheads, snare, room and kicks. Not the best in the world but better than having just the 8 pre's alone. it's quite above your budget though if you get both but you'll have 16 channels to play with
 
Considering that you just posted a big thread talking about how you're going to switch over to Pro Tools, maybe you should get a Digi002 rack or something?
 
Considering that you just posted a big thread talking about how you're going to switch over to Pro Tools, maybe you should get a Digi002 rack or something?
Click to expand...

i know but i think its all abit to expensive for me atm. i think i'll get some cheap little m-audio interface purely for the fact of learning Pro-tools as the program.
using a studios Digi002 interface cant be that hard to work out lol

so i think i want to get a kinda big but good interface for my cubase shizz at home

i think i may get this motu 8 pre interface then, cheap and looks fukin simple as shit to use lol
 
M-Audio Profire 2626 is your best bet for an interface + Protools compatibility in your price range. Should be out in March.

The Focusrite Saffire Pro has 8 preamps, 16 ADAT ins and 2 S/PDIF... You can't just plug extra line signals into it, you only have 8 analog inputs, everything else is digital and requires another piece of gear. The 8 line inputs are the same inputs as the mic pre's, they are shared inputs, you can only use one or the other, like with every other 8 pre interface out there... The only bummer about the Saffire is no pads on the preamps, that's why I returned mine.

Your best options depending on what things actually cost over there are the M-Audio Profire 2626 (what I would get, has pads, 16 ADAT channels, ProTools M-Powered compatible and 2 headphone outputs), Presonus Firepod (No ADAT, one headphone out, no pads I don't think but has a gain range of 0-60 instead of 13-60 like the Saffire so you might be okay), Presonus Firestudio (more expensive than Firepod but has ADAT), Focusrite Saffire Pro 26 i/o (sucks because of no pads, but everything else about it is awesome), or the MOTU 8 Pre, which also sort of sucks because it only has 2 analog outs, but it is very affordable and looks pretty cool otherwise.
 
Last edited:
jesterroot4 said:
i guessed that, but cant afford it. read my 5th post down lol
Click to expand...

Sorry i don't know the exchange rate on your money to ours. But i was just following up on what Arron suggested. You can always wait and save more money also. Yea you might want something with pads though cause i regret not getting something with them the first time around.
 
jesterroot4 said:
pads??
i obviously know fuk all about interfaces. i didnt think there was so much to them.
what do you own now?
Click to expand...

The Saffire Pro preamps have a gain range of +13db to +60db. So even with the gain knob on zero, it's still boosting the mic signal by 13db. A lot of other preamps have a -20db pad switch or button that when engaged reduces the gain by -20db. With the Saffire Pro, I found that even with the gain set to zero, my OHs, snare and toms were ALL peaking in my DAW at above 0db which means they are clipping. I couldn't HEAR any clipping, but knowing it was happening even at 0 was scary. The Presonus stuff is 0db to +60db so you won't have quite as much trouble as you would with the Saffire, but personally I'd still want the -20db pads just to be 100% safe.

I ordered a Mackie Onyx 1200F and am waiting on that to replace my Saffire, but it's pretty expensive at about $1600 so it's way out of your price range...
 
ahhh i get yah!
yah i know what pads are lol never realy new the right term for them tho lol
umm.. well yah, thats put me off the saffire lol

i think i may just get the motu 8 pre, i mean atm i only realy need 8 good audio inputs, MIDI in/out and two main outs.

so i think its will be kewl.. and if i need more inputs i can just get like a berhinger 8 mic pre.

cheers for all your help though guys!!!!!

really appreciated
 
You can absolutely afford a used Digi002... There's one on eBay right now for $500 Buy It Now, which is like 250 pounds.

You can even get the mixer version used in your price range nowadays, they sell for $700-$750 all day long...
Click to expand...


ooOOOoo i shall have a look!

cheers man!
 
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