what are the alternatives to saffire pro24 dsp?

[16S]

ok, my soundcard has died and i think it is time to buy a decent entry level interface. I have been looking at the Saffire Pro24 with dsp which looks like it would fit my amateur needs. I like the idea of the comp and eq on input hence the DSP version. Although it is £50 more expensive than the non-dsp version.
what do you think, should i go for this or are there other alternatives (eg. i saw the old Saffire as B stock for £121!)

Your advice and help here would be appreciated guys. cheers!

sorry Lasse - guess i could have posted this in the Getting an audiointerface FAQ Sticky!

 

[bibz]

I'm looking at that guy at the moment too. Basically thats up against the maudio profire 610. Theres a tc electronics one, edirol stuff, presonus stuff etc. But the focusrite ticks the boxes for me.

 

[updog]

I have had no problems whatsoever with my Saffire Pro 40, I think it's great. I don't know why Focusrite interfaces aren't too popular and never really discussed anywhere, but based on my experiences I can only recommend Focusrite.

 

[16S]

i'm just wondering whether i need the dsp (well actually i need it but do i want to pay for it?). I think i would defo. benefit from having "outboard" effects. I really miss not having any hard comp when i record vox for example.
However the older, prev model of the Saffire (vert standing one)also has hard effects so i reckon it might be just as good to pick one of those up and save some money

 

[ballstix]

The old one is cheaper and from what I assume it's basically the same minus the Virtual Reference Monitoring thing. Alternatives: Edirol FA-101, Echo AudioFire 4 or 8, M-Audio ProFire 610, Mackie Onyx Satellite (discontinued, but still widely available, plus it's cheap).

I don't have one, but from what I hear, I'd just go with one of those the Saffire models. They sound like really solid pieces of hardware.

 

[16S]

cheers. Today i ordered the older white Saffire box with hardware dsp for £199. Figured it wasn't worth paying another 100 quid for the newer design with VRM. Will let you know how easy it installs and will post some clips if i get it working...Looking fwd to those focusrite pre's

 

[kramer1309]

congrats .. looking forward to hearing a review on the interface, preamps and instrument input!

 

[16S]

So i took delivery of the Saffire and a belkin firewire card. Then i realised that all my pci slots were dead on my mobo. Fuck! So i bought a new mobo. Brought my PC back to life without reinstalling xp thank god. The new board has on board TI chipset Firewire so i don't need the Firewire pci card now (shit..may be i can send it back to Amazon).
Installation of the Saffire was pretty easy. I loaded the latest drivers and updated the firmware and downloaded the latest windows driver and it is up and running. Cubase is playing back and it sounds so much better thru the focusrite card. Obviously haven't had a chance to record anything yet but i will....