Audio Interface Choice [Help]

[125]

hello,

my audio interface needs a serious upgrade and im keeping an eye on for these three particular products.

Presonus FirePod
Motu 8 Pre
Alesis i|o 14 or 24

they are in no particular order, but if someone could guide me in making the smarter choice it would help me out a lot.

i know i dont need all of these inputs and outputs, considering i work with hiphop/rnb/techno/rock (without drums), but i know i want "enough" for the "just incase" factor and future expansions. also, i dont like having a box laid on the table and getting tugged accidentally, so a rack mount is preferable.

ive never purchased anything from these companies and id like to get some insight on these products, if you ever used them.

i dont use ADAT.

thanks,

dice.



p.s

If someone can tell me if there is a drastic difference on the Dynaudio BM5As and the BM6As that would help me out too. i was looking to getting the BM6 but if it doesnt make a drastic difference, then ill rather save money and get the BM5s although i know i shouldnt take this route when picking up monitors :P.

[wfhscoyotes]

I need help with this exact same choice, but my prospects also include the Saffire Pro 10 from Focusrite and POSSIBLY the FireStudio. Very similar products.

My initial instinct told me to go with the most popular, the FirePod, and just trust that its good for me, but all people have different needs 90% of the time. The 8 pre really attracts me for its individual 48v switches. I only need them in banks of two, but the Saffire/FirePod/Studio still bank in 4.

The Alesis io|24 looks like it has it going on, but for so cheap, its almost scary. How does NOT having an ADAT out affect your signal? What can you NOT do without an adat out? Doesn't that eliminate your ability to synch the two devices? I may have a need for ADAT in the future.

EDIT: Im not trying to hijack the thread, I'll just be a spectator. I hope my observations on the products above help you some.

[Rad]

I would put the MOTU interface a bit above the FirePod in terms of quality based on the reseach I did when purchasing my own interface 1 yr. ago. I've had mixed experience with PreSonus gear, although some on this forum say very good things of it.
In general, I am noticing that the FirePod which originally sold for 600$ last year is now going for $500, while similar interfaces by MOTU (say 828 MkII, 8 pre) have kept their price, which I take as a sign that the demand is weaker than expected. In general, what used to be the medium segment of this market seems to now be getting saturated with products with increasingly lower quality. Before, if you pay $800 for an interface, you know you've got a quality piece of gear that will be very solid. Now, with all of that outsourcing to China, I feel like the quality of what you get is mostly a matter of good luck. In this situation it is hard to recommend one brand over another, because either way there is a chance it could be defective.
Most US-based companies deal with this by offering good customer care, free replacements, etc, etc and play on the fears of the consumers that "would you be willing to pay extra $500 for the same piece to be made in the US?"
But in practice, the outsourcing has not lowered the final prices by any appreciable amount. Eh, whatever.

[125]

a little side note:

check this place out.
http://www.blacklionaudio.com/home.html

i emailed them to see if they have or will have in the near future a Motu 8pre modification. im still waiting for the reply.

right now im leaning towards the Presonus. the frontside inputs remind me of the flexibility in changing inputs like a patch bay :P.

dice.

[Lambo]

I was recently faced with the same dilemma and purchased the Saffire Pro 26I/0. Wow! What a great interface this thing is! I had all of the ones on your list including the Konnekt 24D but narrowed it down to the Saffire Pro 26I/O and the Presonus Firestudio. The Saffire got the nod because it presented a better ergonomic solution (XLR inputs on the back) and it was compatible with Vista. It has been rock solid with Sonar 6 Producer.
As for the Alesis at it's price point; I couldn't get past the fact that things that appear to be too good to be true usually are a disappointment just waiting to happen. :)

[cwenger]

Lambo,

I, too am faced with the "interface question" for my school -- I think I have pretty much settled on the Firestudio, since Presonus is throwing in a free MSR-1 remote for the next several months.

I'm intrigued about several elements of the Saffire Pro, though -- in the product description, it mentions an "intuitive talkback system" as a part of the control software. Do you use that? Do you know what the heck that even MEANS?

Also, how good are these great plugs that come with it? The Firestudio comes with a bunch of nice stuff, but not really any plugs. To get the free remote, you need to buy Cubase 4, so we're gonna go Studio 4, which doesn't have a compression plug. I'd REALLY like one.

In the end, I'd really love to talk with someone who knows a lot about both in order to make an"apples to apples" comparison.

Dice, my apologies, since I realize that I'm asking a different question than you were. If I can add a comment which might be meaningful to you (maybe not), ADAT is REALLY great for expansion, since so many things use it. If, for example, you wanted to add eight pres to your rig, the Octopre, the Mackie 800F and the Digimax are all ADAT equipped, just to name a few.

Anyway, I'd love feedback, too.

[Lambo]

cwenger- Had that deal (throwing in the remote) been offered when I made my purchase I would have probably decided on the Firestudio and waited for Presonus to develop the Vista compatible drivers. I really like the functionality the remote adds to the Firestudio! I don't understand why you NEED to purchase Cubase 4??? If that is a stipulation for getting the remote for 'free' then that is not such a great deal unless you were planning on Cubase 4 as your DAW software. Personally I wouldn't favor anything that locked me into one particular DAW software unless I really liked that particular software.
As for the great plugs and the "intuitive talkback system" that came bundled with the Saffire I haven't done a deep dive into them yet so I can't honestly comment on them. Both the Firestudio and the Saffire PRO 26i/o offer a plethora of routing capabilities. I don't think you could go wrong with either one of them. From a value perspective the scales are tipped in favor of the Firestudio with the free remote.

[cwenger]

Lambo (et al.),

Yes, the Cubase 4 is necessary for the free remote. I was a little disappointed, since I was hoping to get back to Cakewalk, with which I have more experience. We were gonna get the Studio version of Sonar 6 anyway, though, so it doesn't seem to me to make a huge difference to go Cubase Studio 4 instead, since they're the same price (academic version)

You don't find that out until you actually look at the rebate form on the Firestudio page, but ANY version of Cubase 4 is eligible, and I have an old VST version of Cubase that I like, so I think I'm good.

In any event, thanks for the comments. I'm amazed at how cheap all of these "mid-level" interfaces are and what you get for the money. I'm a big fan.

:banana:

[Rad]

I don't know about this thing with the Vista drivers. In general, I personally would try to stay away from the Vista for as long as possible, even if this means migrating from Windows to Linux or something like that. The problem is that the new "security features" of this OS mess up with IRQs on the audio signal path in ways that even computer pro's I've talked to dont understand fully, and there's no way this can be good for the digital audio. This whole OS is as if deliberately made to mess up the work of audio professionals using Windows!!!

Anyone who has set up a recording system on a PC knows how hard it is to eliminate digital dropouts in the first few weeks of setup. Well, if what I am hearing from the professionals is true,then with Vista this will be even harder than ever before. Good luck to everyone, but I'm staying away from this.

[125]

im doing further more research on the products, im trying to get a more precise decisions like to have talkback, fantom swith per channel, which preamps are better or not.

as far as the vistas thing, why not get an AMD with 64bit processing to take advantage of the 64bit float thats become more and more popular?

dice.

[cwenger]

Dice,

To me, and this is the reason which has pretty much sold me on the Firestudio, the MSR-1 remote gives you a TON of extra options, including talkback with the "talent" without burning a channel on the interface to do it.

What that means is that there's a mic (not a great one -- think telephone mic) IN the remote, which connects to the FS via ethernet cable. With every other interface out there, you'd need to plug a mic INTO the interface (thus losing one of your eight channels) and routing to the outputs to talk to the "talent".

Also, the phantom switchable individually on the MOTU is nice, but most of the mics I'll be using are Shure PGs, and it doesn't matter that there might be +48v on the line. You might be different, since you won't be doing drums. Someone more expereinced than me could correct you on this, but it seems that the only mics that are negatively affected by phantom power are ribbons, and it'll be a while before I have any of those...

Anyway, I hope that helps.

[JCWOOD1587]

I'd get an mBox....

[wfhscoyotes]

If the MOTU 8pre would sacrifice a pair of it's ADAT i/o for a few more customizable 1/4" outs i'd be all over it.

[125]

yea, the remote for the firestudio does seem nice, but i wont be needing most of its options, including the talk back. id rather get the firepod and get the free headphone amp.

aside from that i hear that the quality of the preamps goes something like this:

Focusrite
Motu
Presonus


as far as midi control, i think Motu got it...but what ever, im still not sure yet.
i think i might go with the Motu, or the Focusrite...

we'll see :)

[bravestudios]

General saffire pro 10/26 questions I can't find answers to...

Has anyone used multiple units at the same time to record 12+ tracks simultaneously? (can both the 10 and 26 be used in multiple configs?)

Any firewire problems on PC? or was it just a mac problem?

Are these pre-amps good enough for drums, guitar, etc. or do higher quality pre's need to be used in front of these?

Is latency an issue when tracking with other musicians, or with existing tracks?

Can EQ be adjusted in your DAW and heard while playing live, through the front panel headphone outputs, studio output, monitor out, etc.?

Would Liquid Mix be a good add on to this interface, to reduce CPU loading?

Sounds like great gear...

Thanks, Sean