Which FW interface?

[Torniojaws]

Alright, my summerjob is fairly certain, so I'm about upgrade my ghetto Behringer MX602A and M-Audio Audiophile 2496 into something more worthwhile

After some searching and spying, I've laid my eyes upon these:

RME Fireface 400
Presonus Firestudio
Focusrite Saffire PRO 26 I/O

In that order. Which one would you recommend? The majority of stuff I record is guitar and bass (DI). I'm fairly locked into the RME, but just making sure

And while at it, does anyone make half-unit racks (for the RME)? I can only seem to find full sized ones, which is more than I need.

 

[::XeS::]

RME 400 have only 4 input....
I've heard good things about the focusrite!
I would go with focusrite.
My choice in order:
Focusrite
Presonus
Rme

 

[sparkyness]

Actually the Fireface 400 has 8 inputs.....4 on the front, 4 on the back.

Love mine.

 

[::XeS::]

Ops, I'm sorry...I remember wrong!
It has 8 input but only 2 preamps...presonus has 8 pre

 

[JeffTD]

I was actually just deciding between all these, and decided to go with the Focusrite.

The FireStudio has shit conversion, and is actually a step down from the FirePod.

Between the FF400 and Focusrite, the RME probably has slightly better converters, but the pres on the Focusrite are supposed to be better, and you could get another external pre with the cash saved by getting it. That, and it has another entire ADAT I/O, and two headphone outputs.

 

[Torniojaws]

Like I said, I only record guitar and bass (separately), so I don't need more than 2 inputs. It's just hard to find smaller FW interfaces that are as good than the bigger ones in quality.

How are Focusrite's Windows drivers? Apparently RME has very good drivers.

 

[Pman]

http://www.tascam.com/Products/fw1804.html
Tascam FW-1804
Its a bit excessive for what your after but, its still worth checking out

 

[musickey]

The FireStudio has shit conversion, and is actually a step down from the FirePod.

Damn i wasnt aware of that, figured they would have improved the converters from the Firepod. Were did you get your info, not saying i dont believe you its just if the converters on the Firestudio are shit then the only thing they added was light pipe?

 

[elmuchoescadawg]

Ive been using the metric halo mobile I/0 recently. Half U, buss powered and has 8 ins with pre amps and 8 outs also has word clock in and out and light pipe in and out. Definately worth a look.

 

[JeffTD]

Damn i wasnt aware of that, figured they would have improved the converters from the Firepod. Were did you get your info, not saying i dont believe you its just if the converters on the Firestudio are shit then the only thing they added was light pipe?

That's according to Dave Otero and everyone else I've spoken with about it, who has used both.

 

[AmirH]

fuck seriously? I just put one on layaway yesterday. Think maybe I should go for the focusrite instead?

 

[Melodeath]

Have you checked out the Alesis io|26?

 

[R-Stuur]

fuck seriously? I just put one on layaway yesterday. Think maybe I should go for the focusrite instead?

Yeah me too. Chained toa Joemeek twinQ for two sexy channels of lush sexynessness

 

[JeffTD]

fuck seriously? I just put one on layaway yesterday. Think maybe I should go for the focusrite instead?

After further investigating after our convo, yes, I'd go with the Saffire... that's what I'm doing.

 

[Torniojaws]

Oh yeah, and PC only. So no Metric Halo stuff

http://www.tascam.com/Products/fw1804.html
Tascam FW-1804
Its a bit excessive for what your after but, its still worth checking out

Have you checked out the Alesis io|26?

Are you sure these are better than the RME, because they are only half the price of the RME while they have a lot more inputs?

 

[Melodeath]

I've never used the RME. But you might check out this thread at HC
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1562285

On page 4, 5, or 6, or so, it explains how the Alesis has not seemed to have cut any corners in their product quality, depsite the extremely low cost of the unit.

I'm not saying the unit is right for you, I'm just asking if you checked it out.

The first 2 inputs have guitar switches for DI recording basses and guitars.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

If you're PC based, go with the RME. You won't find more rock-solid drivers.

-0z-

 

[trym^^]

would mixing through a external interface cause any disadvantages
like bufferissues or lower latency? prior to upgrading to the ff400
from my trusty delta 192, i wanna make sure theres no drawbacks.

 

[sparkyness]

If you're PC based, go with the RME. You won't find more rock-solid drivers.

-0z-

+1......this puppy is rock-solid. Not a single problem in a year. Dropouts, latency issues and glitches are a thing of the past for yours truly.

 

[Pman]

Oh yeah, and PC only. So no Metric Halo stuff




Are you sure these are better than the RME, because they are only half the price of the RME while they have a lot more inputs?

hmm i didnt notice your on PC
this works with both but...
its pc compatibility is awful, useable but annoying, so much that it caused me to change to Mac
for me anyway, it never started up properly with the PC,
i.e. if i switched it off while the pc was on, i would have to restart the pc