the motu gear is great! i have an 828 mkII and simply enjoy it much! great value for the money! of course i'd like to have a rme fireface 800 but i'd also like to have an apogee rosetta 800 and a big studio and be the winner on the lottery...
for that middle studio motu is great... for a good home studio is more than great!

you can get a fireface for 1265 on ebay and a bit less if you look around.
Im talking new too.
Actually....theres a store nearby (N.H) that sells it for a good price and you get a "free" version of samplitude version 8 I think...

check out the special price.... it isnt going for 1499 as listed.
http://www.rockinghamsound.com/pcatalogue.asp?tID=1150&sID=2576
also the presonus looks pretty good as well..but i really like my rme
from the converters to reliability to the pres...its a complete package.
If yu cant buy pres and converters and everything else all at once...
it might make sense to at least start with something that gives yu great quality in all three areas...converter,pres and expandable interface capabilities.
It also comes with some good pc stuff that the mac guys like myself do not get.
Good luck.

so you have a fireface?

Let me chime in, I own a RME Multiface and in the next few months I'll be getting the Fireface 800, from all I've heard it sounds damn good and it's based on the Mulitface which is a great audio interface too with 8 ins and outs. I've never had problems with the sound card it's rock solid so I can imagine the Fireface is built with top quality in mind. I don't think the 828MKII is in the same league as the Fireface (hence the price difference) but I'm sure it's a good card.

My advice is to get a used Motu 828 as its on a very good price point now. You will get something useable, but not stellar. Spend the money you save on mics, micpres and education or training. Next year the the fireface 800 will look bleak compared to the new things coming out, so buy then instead. Alternatively, the fireface will be available at a much lower price in a years time. Mics and micpres seems to keep their values much better. Education / training never loses value.

I would place the fireface in the "middle" ground, together with so many other converters. It is not the lowest hobby level, and it sure is not the bank breaking top level either.

To me the importance of things in getting good recordings are as follows.

1 - artist. A really good artis will always sound good.
2 - room. Would not record in a tiled bathroom.
3 - microphone.
4 - microphone placement. Makes big difference.
5 - microphone preamp.
6 - converters (unless we are talking sound destroyers found in a few really bad things).

So once you have the other five things in place, you can invest in really good converters. No converter is going to make a good recording.

Well, only my thoughts.

Gunnar

imagineaudio...yes I own the fireface,and am completely happy with it.
I dont even think about it when I record anymore.
There are many good products to choose from rme,and others...
I personally researched alot and found the fireface to be a good value.

Thanks guys............i don't know why ya'll are trying to talk me in to something cheap though.....non of the soundcards im interested are under $1000, Im just trying to find out if the fireface is a good value.......my intention here is to have the only bottleneck in my chain be me. I have blown the ins on my delta 66 soundcard and im not interested in buying a cheap interface that i will want to replace later. I am looking for something that will either be higher end or allow me to upgrade (converters, ad more I/O) down the road without having to replace. I would like an interface that I will be able to get at least 5 years out of before i out grow it.

The fireface has all the I/O i see myself needing for a while, and more can be added later, It has, from what I understand, very decent converters, which can be bypassed, and almost jitter free clock, which I can bypass and use something else later.....

Is there anything else out there now that is as capable?

ghellquist............I understand your point but if we always buy something cheap now and wait till next year to get something good there will always be something else out even better, so when do we jump on board?? whats the point of buying twice, seems to me way more expensive!

Imagine,
I read in your first thread that you own the k2?
is that rodes k2 what you had hoped?..
Im going with the same long term logic when it comes to buying once, thats my next planned purchase at this point. I figure its a good tube mic, i can also mod and upgrade it in the future...and the service seems to be great with that company.
I plan to own several different mics in my lifetime, so a good tube mic will always come in handy down the road.
I'm saving up to get one....interested in your experience with it.

as far as interfaces etc...IM sure you've read it but They say the lynx is pretty good..ive never heard it.Lots to choose from...
I also considered the motu 896hd for a long while..has lots of candy.
Might want to check into http://www.unicornation.com to research it first though.....
Also consider that I use a laptop so the fireface was actually a great fit for me..you have access to lots of pci card stuff...I dont have lots of researched knowledge about that.
Let us know what you decide..its a big decision but so much fun when you finally get it home and your doing your recording!
I spent the whole weekend recording...and might not be able to commute to work tomorrow because of a "nor easter" snow storm! MORE recording...yes yes yes!

so far so good on the k2 i just recieved it 2 days ago. Havn't done any serious recording but i did do some a/b's to the last acoustic guitar track i recorded, with the only difference being the mic, and I must say it's about 1000% difference in over all fidelity and realism. I too bought this mic because of the good things ive read and heard about it, also because of the successful reports I've read about changing the tube and such. Can't wait to get a full day off to put this thing through the ropes................

I'll check out that site and see what its all about

the fireface does not work on windows (I have xp 2)
You get clicks and pops when playing back a single song
No one knows why. Not even RME
It seems not to be RME fault because this occurs with other hardware from other manufacturers and there is a feature on the RME interface that tells you if the problem occurs outside the rme gear or not (it does occur outside if this outside "error" counter can be trusted)
You can't spends hours (actually days) following mostly useless advice found everywhere about disabling this or that service or changing system critical setting on windows (until more or less there is not much left you can do efficiently inside windows or you start getting problem elsewhere because some of those setting are important for other aspects of windows performance, people are not aware of)
Still whether it is windows or rme is of no importance: you still can't use it in windows until windows improve or rme finds a work-around that actually works

Fireface works fine in Windows either SP1 or 2.
you have to download the Firewire patch for SP2, without it your firewire port is running at 100 not 400.

Scott

imagineaudio wrote: ghellquist............I understand your point but if we always buy something cheap now and wait till next year to get something good there will always be something else out even better, so when do we jump on board?? whats the point of buying twice, seems to me way more expensive!

Fair enough. I was not very clear. Been there myself.

Gunnar