Audio Interface Choices...

[ofafeather]

Hi, All. I know that there might be better veues to post this question, but I highly value the experience and opinions of the Garritan community.

I am lookig for an Audio interface, probably Firewire, for home acoustic recording and for playback, especially for use with Sonar 6 Producer and Garritan sounds. I have a fairly new Dell Core Duo wit 2G RAM and Windows XP Media edition.

The Focusrite Saffire LE and the PreSonus FIREBOX have both been recommeded in the uder $400 (US) range, but in reading reviews I have seen stability issues with both. Are there any others in this range that you might recommend? Ease of use and stability are as much of a concern as sound quality.

Thanks and best regards,
Eric

[Styxx]

Hi,
I've used the PreSonus FirePod for a year now without problems. As a matter of fact, PreSonus has sent me updates several times in keeping with issues (if any) and updates. Never having a problem with the FirePod, I am looking into the FireStudio for home use.
I also highly recommend MOTU interfaces.
Much luck to you

[rayzalaf]

I don't know if you have a tight budget but the Tascam FW-1884 which I use has everything you need including near zero latency even when running higher latency on your DAW of choice. Check it out
http://www.tascam.com/Products/FW-1884.html

Best Regards

Ray

www.rayinstirling.net (http://www.rayinstirling.net)

[Braindrop]

My Firebox has been solid for over a year now as my main sound card and audio interface.

[KeithW]

I am lookig for an Audio interface, probably Firewire, for home acoustic recording and for playback, especially for use with Sonar 6 Producer and Garritan sounds. I have a fairly new Dell Core Duo wit 2G RAM and Windows XP Media edition.

Eric
I use the Roland Edirol UA-101 (USB 2.0) It works with Mac OS X, Vista x64, Vista x32, and Windows XP. It works fine with Sonar 6. And it's a little faster than the FireWire 400 products.

Keith Walls

[karvasika]

I own a Firepod and I've had issues when having Airport card on in my computer. I don't know if it's the same with PC, but prepare, that you can't use it reliably when having your wireless lan on. The bad side of Firepod is, that you need an external power supply for it and it won't run with buspower only. The good thing about it is you get more inputs but the price is still above your limit I guess.

I've read lots about Firebox (good) and I'm considering it myself too. Also Motu is said to be very good, but it's much more expensive.

Also, M-Audio Fast Track Pro has nice outputs for a very reasonable price, but it's USB (1.1) and has certain limitations if you want to record many channels.

I think you won't find a device with no stability issues at all. In overall, I think Firebox has lots of happy users. I also saw it in Frankfurt Musikmesse and played with it. It seemed very solid and had a very clean user interface. I don't know if it's good or not, but most of the routing and settings (for example input padding) is done via a software interface on your computer. I don't know if this is a good thing. You have to try it yourself.

[LFO]

Eric,
My recommendation is you find out what chipset and bios your motherboard uses and then look at audio cards that are compatible with them. It will save you many potential headaches.

-Kevin