yo guys, I'm brand new, firewire interfaces please!

Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 12:56 pm

sorry to come in here full guns blazing but I need info Very Happy

right, first off let me enplane, I am and always have been an analogue engineer, I own this, it is old, but I love her!!

this isn't the exact one I robed this pic of the net for convenience.

basically I am trying to get my little head around digital recording, I have buried my head in the sand long enough, no matter how much I want it tape and large format consoles just arn't coming back Crying or Very sad

so, got me a computer, here it is

ntel Core 2 Duo E4400, Socket 775, 2.0 GHz, 800MHz FSB, Allendale Core, 2MB Cache, Retail

1GB (2x512MB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15

Abit AB9 Pro WiFi iP965, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX

case and power, now first I am a little worried about my systems potential, I want to run 24 channels at 96k 24 bit with multiple plug-ins on every channel, I also intend on using my desk for both running audio in and to mix with, this might well end up being two computers synced in some way, one for audio and one for FX. I will ask how I do this at some other point Laughing

, I would just like to know about interfaces at the mo, I am going to try and get 16 channels up and running, pos on 2, 8 channel cards. I want to know what to buy really, something that is going to run in the quality that I want, has fire wire and dosent cost the earth, I was hoping to spend no more than 400 quid on each box, is this realistic?

if not what are my options?

thanks guys!

Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 1:00 pm

ps, I'm not sure what daw I am going to end up with, at the moment I am using SX, more than anything cause I have been using cu base for years for sequencing and I am relatively comfortable with it, I might well end up with pro tools, just thought I would add that in case it mattered Very Happy

oh and O hate digital desks sop please can no one try and talk me into buying a digi desk controller, it isnt happening!!, when they put fully controllable pots on 32 channel desks with 96k pre's pless for less than 200 quid I might consider it Wink

Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 4:46 pm

boooooooo, someone must either know or care enough to tell me!! Laughing

this isn't an analogue free zone is it Twisted Evil

Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 5:17 pm

Well you're asking a lot. What exactly is a quid? Cubase should work fine and the specs of your computer should be fine.

As far as interfaces are concerned, the Presonus Firepod is within your pricerange I think. Or, you might look into the M-audio Delta 1010. (Not the LT.)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Delta1010/
These are PCI however and have a breakout box. The nice thing about them is that they don't have internal preamps, so you will have just the line level inputs and won't be running through unwanted circuitry. (apparently the line inputs on the firepod don't entirely bipass the preamp circuit, but that's just hearsay. Add salt.)

Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 7:22 pm

I would recommend the RME Stuff. I run an RME Fireface 800 with an Octamic D inserted to give me 16 ins and outs. runs well on a lesser system than yours. For my main app I run Reaper. If you are all analogue I would guess that you would find a lot to like in reaper... in addition, it is a light load on CPU and comes with many of the effects that you will not have accumulated yet.

Check www.reaper.fm the main developer runs the RME PCI based stuff which is suppose to be even more solid than the FW stuff.

Been really happy with the RME stuff.

Hope this helps.

Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 2:06 am

You might want to wait for the Mackie 1200F to come out: http://www.mackie.com/products/1200f/splash.html

This will include their Tracktion 3 software, which might be all you need: I also grew up with Cubase, but switched to Tracktion 2 a couple of years ago and never looked back... version 3 has just hit the shelves, and it's great!

Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 9:50 am

hueseph wrote:

Well you're asking a lot. What exactly is a quid? Cubase should work fine and the specs of your computer should be fine.

As far as interfaces are concerned, the Presonus Firepod is within your pricerange I think. Or, you might look into the M-audio Delta 1010. (Not the LT.)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Delta1010/
These are PCI however and have a breakout box. The nice thing about them is that they don't have internal preamps, so you will have just the line level inputs and won't be running through unwanted circuitry. (apparently the line inputs on the firepod don't entirely bipass the preamp circuit, but that's just hearsay. Add salt.)

a quid?????, 400 quid Very Happy

I will check those out chers mate!!

Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 9:52 am

IIRs wrote:

You might want to wait for the Mackie 1200F to come out: http://www.mackie.com/products/1200f/splash.html

This will include their Tracktion 3 software, which might be all you need: I also grew up with Cubase, but switched to Tracktion 2 a couple of years ago and never looked back... version 3 has just hit the shelves, and it's great!

sorry but that Mackie caused an unusual sexual response!!, it looks awesome!!

no idea what the price tag is going to be have you?

Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 9:58 am

jdier wrote:

I would recommend the RME Stuff. I run an RME Fireface 800 with an Octamic D inserted to give me 16 ins and outs. runs well on a lesser system than yours.

Quote:

For my main app I run Reaper. If you are all analogue I would guess that you would find a lot to like in reaper... in addition, it is a light load on CPU and comes with many of the effects that you will not have accumulated yet. Check www.reaper.fm the main developer runs the RME PCI based stuff which is suppose to be even more solid than the FW stuff.

looked at that one, it dosent seem to have the right amount of stuff on the front, I will be recording hopefully at least 8 tracks at a time with the drums alown, I realize I will need to beef up my system a lot pretty soon but I need to get away from my 2" reel to reel!!, it kills me to say that!!!, but it has to be done, this smaller system is just a first step into the world of digital recording, the next thing after a few good interfaces will be a super dual quad core mega bitch of a machine

Quote:

Been really happy with the RME stuff.

Hope this helps.

nice one feller

Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 10:58 am

Well If you like that mixer and want to interface it to the pc. to do it right you need 24 in and firewire out.
which means you need the motu 24
http://www.motu.com/products/pciaudio/24IO

Now the fire wire out will keep the tracks seperate if you purchase a firewire sound card.
heres the motu 424 pci card
http://cgi.ebay.com/MOTU-PCI-424-AUDIO-CARD-NR_W0QQitemZ120116547719QQihZ002QQcategoryZ41787QQcmdZViewItem

If I had your console this is the way I would go.

as for a DAW I use sonar-6 and it also has active controller tech
http://www.cakewalk.com/products/SONAR/Control.asp

Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 12:42 pm

bwmac wrote:

Well If you like that mixer and want to interface it to the pc. to do it right you need 24 in and firewire out.
which means you need the motu 24
http://www.motu.com/products/pciaudio/24IO

Now the fire wire out will keep the tracks seperate if you purchase a firewire sound card.
heres the motu 424 pci card
http://cgi.ebay.com/MOTU-PCI-424-AUDIO-CARD-NR_W0QQitemZ120116547719QQihZ002QQcategoryZ41787QQcmdZViewItem

If I had your console this is the way I would go.

as for a DAW I use sonar-6 and it also has active controller tech
http://www.cakewalk.com/products/SONAR/Control.asp

this seems like a really good solution to my problems, cheers, I will go do some research on this immediately!!

Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 2:57 pm

the price is right on this one to be honest!!

http://www.studiospares.com/Product.aspx?code=375280

someone on another forum is trying to make me buy a pro tools hd, there is no price that I can find on the net, this suggest to me that they are damn expensive!

Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:22 pm

joebot wrote:

jdier wrote:

I would recommend the RME Stuff. I run an RME Fireface 800 with an Octamic D inserted to give me 16 ins and outs. runs well on a lesser system than yours.

Quote:

For my main app I run Reaper. If you are all analogue I would guess that you would find a lot to like in reaper... in addition, it is a light load on CPU and comes with many of the effects that you will not have accumulated yet. Check www.reaper.fm the main developer runs the RME PCI based stuff which is suppose to be even more solid than the FW stuff.

looked at that one, it dosent seem to have the right amount of stuff on the front, I will be recording hopefully at least 8 tracks at a time with the drums alown, I realize I will need to beef up my system a lot pretty soon but I need to get away from my 2" reel to reel!!, it kills me to say that!!!, but it has to be done, this smaller system is just a first step into the world of digital recording, the next thing after a few good interfaces will be a super dual quad core mega bitch of a machine

Quote:

Been really happy with the RME stuff.

Hope this helps.

nice one feller

Check the Fireface 800 again... If you are going to be using your mixing board, then you do not need the preamps. You will run a 1/4 snake from your board (where your preamps are) to the BACK of the FF800. The inputs on the front are just the built in preamps.

Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 6:06 pm

jdier wrote:

joebot wrote:

jdier wrote:

I would recommend the RME Stuff. I run an RME Fireface 800 with an Octamic D inserted to give me 16 ins and outs. runs well on a lesser system than yours.

Quote:

For my main app I run Reaper. If you are all analogue I would guess that you would find a lot to like in reaper... in addition, it is a light load on CPU and comes with many of the effects that you will not have accumulated yet. Check www.reaper.fm the main developer runs the RME PCI based stuff which is suppose to be even more solid than the FW stuff.

looked at that one, it dosent seem to have the right amount of stuff on the front, I will be recording hopefully at least 8 tracks at a time with the drums alown, I realize I will need to beef up my system a lot pretty soon but I need to get away from my 2" reel to reel!!, it kills me to say that!!!, but it has to be done, this smaller system is just a first step into the world of digital recording, the next thing after a few good interfaces will be a super dual quad core mega bitch of a machine

Quote:

Been really happy with the RME stuff.

Hope this helps.

nice one feller

Check the Fireface 800 again... If you are going to be using your mixing board, then you do not need the preamps. You will run a 1/4 snake from your board (where your preamps are) to the BACK of the FF800. The inputs on the front are just the built in preamps.

yea fair point, but for the same money (here or there) I can have 24 channels at 24 bit 96k with the motu......or am I missing something, besides my trusty tape machine Crying or Very sad

....aaaah, I won't forget her Crying or Very sad

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 7:04 am

seems you are right. I have not owned or used the other one you are suggesting. I just wanted to make sure the FF800 was not ruled out due to a misunderstanding about number of inputs.

I own an 800 and like it fine and suggested it as you mentioned a desire to record 8 simultaneous inputs.

I would imagine the other choice would work for you as well, but I have not experience with it.

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