Aardvark?

Hi, this is my first post but I saw your question and thought I'd give my two cents... I had used the Q10 (two of them) on my dual zeon system a couple of months ago. I had nothing but trouble with them. Wether it was a compatibility problem with MOBO etc I don't know - but in the end I was lucky that the store took them back. I was able to get them to work with Cubase SX2 which I was using at the time but it did not like to work with other software such as Beatquantizer and typical Windows stuff like Nero. Also it was a bit quirky like the clock always reseting to 44.1KHZ at start up and causing crashes in Cubase when I would switch audio buffers when adjusting latency. I assume I had the latest drivers but I don't remember what version now. I had downloaded them from their site when you still could. I also did not like the fact that they were powered solely from the PCI bus in the computer. I mean how do you get enough juice for 8 (or16 in my case) pre amps from the PCI bus? Another problem which was a pain was these Q10's cause a hi pitched whine to come through my monitoring system which sounded like hard drive noise (sort of sounded like SMPTE but following the speed of the Hard Drive) No matter how I tried to eliminate the noise - either by attempting to remove possible ground loops or by changing the location of equipment - I could not solve this. So again- this is just my expierience with the Q10. Others might have a different story. I have now gone back to using my Echo laya 24/96 - which I think sounded better any way. Like I said, I was luck I could return the Q10's

Another problem which was a pain was these Q10's cause a hi pitched whine to come through my monitoring system which sounded like hard drive noise (sort of sounded like SMPTE but following the speed of the Hard Drive) No matter how I tried to eliminate the noise - either by attempting to remove possible ground loops or by changing the location of equipment - I could not solve this

This type of noise is usually associated with CD audio cables coming to close to HDD's or other sources of EMI inside your PC. Moving the cable to another area of the case helps in most cases. Another possibility is the HDD being too close to the PCI sound card or it's IDE/SATA cables passing over the card.

I also use the Layla 24/96's (2) and love them. IMO the best converters under a grand.

McBass--Thanks very much for your contribution. I'd heard some complaints about the Q10, but I'd never read any specific problems associated with it.

Big_D--I checked the prices of some Layla 24/96s on eBay (since Echo has discontinued them), and while they seem solid and affordable, I'd have to buy separate pres for this outfit. What are you using?

Thanks, you two.

Ive been using two q10 for almost 2 years and not a single problem. Many people complain that they have problems when using 2 Q10´s at the same time, remember to turn off the Hyper Threading or else your PC might freeze.

I mainly use a Mackie 1604 (sigh) but have the luxury of borrowing a VMP 2000 and Vintech 1272 when needed. IMO the Layla's can hang with the better Pre's pretty well, it really let's the detail come through. I won't be selling my Layla's when I get my VMP 4000 in the spring that's for sure.

Q10 vs Layla 24/96

Just to add to what I said earlier. I found that the layla's converters where much more open and detailed than the Q10's. I also found that when playing back projects with the Q10 that I already recorded with the layla lacked the punch and dynamics that where there before switching to the Q10. I'm happy being back with the layla 24/96. I don't have any weird software behavior etc. that I was having with the Q10.
I also have expierience with the MOTU 24i. - the older model based on the PCI-324 card. The Motu stuff is nice when you don't have any hardware conflicts(they seem pretty finicky) but again the converters on the Layla blow the 24i away. Another observation I have is that I own both the Layla 24/96 and the newer Layla 3G and I don't think the 3G sounds as good as the 24/96! I use them together on my DAW and I clock the 3G from the 24/96 which I think helps it's sound. It's a very subtle differance but I can hear it. I might just be more used to the sound of the 24/96. Also the 3G is no where as solid a unit as the 24/96 and is PCI bus powered - again I'm not sold on this concept. I feel these manufacturers are trying so hard to get the price point down that us users are losing out on getting quality. Instead we get a bunch of bells and whistles and what seems to be a great price. On a side note I have a problem that has arisen when I added to Layla 3G to my set up. Maybe someone knows something. here is the problem. i use Cubase SX3 and now that I have added the 3G recorded audio gets offset from where it should be. Steinberg says this is because the audio interface sends the wrong latency info to the software thus causing the audio to be placed (in my case ahead ) in a offset position. I have used the record offset function in Cubase to compensate. But if I change buffer size this offset value changes as well. - Kind of a pain. I never had this problem when using just the layla 24/96 so I'm assuming that by adding the 3G that Cubase is getting confused. Any Ideas? Not that big of a deal but I still would like to know what's up. Any way I feel a home studio should be used for making music and not thinking about troubleshooting! So that's why I'm happy with the way the Layla's work for me.

This type of noise is usually associated with CD audio cables coming to close to HDD's or other sources of EMI inside your PC. Moving the cable to another area of the case helps in most cases. Another possibility is the HDD being too close to the PCI sound card or it's IDE/SATA cables passing over the card.

just to add to what I said earlier.. On top of moving eqipment around the studio and changing connections I also moved stuff all over my computer case. There are no cables near the PCI cards and the hard drive is as far as it can be from the PCI slots. - Oh well... and as far as the post saying that it seems that many problems with the Q10's come from people using more than one in there system- it kind of defeats the purpose for me as I need more than 8 inputs. The Q10 does not have an ADAT dig. input either so I could not go that rought in adding external converters.

last post

sorry, the first part of my last post was suppoed to be a quote!

I agree with McBass on the converters in the 24/96 vs 3G. When I bought my second Layla I first chose the 3G due to supposed improvements. It just never had quite the same sound of the 24/96, very hard to put into words. I called Musicians Friend and they worked an exchange with me for one of the last 24/96's. I am now looking for one on EBAY for my live rig so I can leave (2) 24/96's in the studio and put a 24/96 with my AI3 in the live rack.

Thanks, everyone.