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Best drivers?

Which of these cards has the best drivers and best reputation? I'm leaning toward the Echo Layla, since they're the only one to have Vista drivers already (shows they've got their shit together IMO). E-mu look the best on paper, but I am dubious. M-Audio are no doubt the most tried and tested of the lot, but lack features. Edirol... I haven't heard too much about.

$399 M-Audio 1010
$396 Echo Layla 3G
$379 Edirol FA-101
$429 E-MU 1616M

After 2 weeks of researching, I've got few hairs left and I just want someone to make the descision for me. I will be connecting 3 sets of speakers, 1 headphone amp and a mic preamp. I may get 1 or two synths or FX units in the future.

Any recommendations I have missed?

Another option is to just get a 2 in 2 out card (1212m) and go apeshit on the patchbay, but save tonnes of moneeeeeyz.

The Layla seems good. I didn't find any information on what converters they use, but the specs are good. M-Audio has solid drivers and the 1010 has the best converters (AK5383 & AK4393) of the Delta line, but it has been around for some time. E-mu is a risky choice. It does pack the best converters, but it may be a pain to use unless they come up with good drivers (they might have already, haven't been checking the forums).

I would take the Layla for a tryout.

Echo have a good reputation at putting out solid stable drivers, the have been around for many years making mid range audio products and I would rate them above M-Audio and Emu anyday, and I would say that it is the best card out of your list.

8 line i/o and option for a further 8 i/o via ADAT make it a very decent card.

I'm currently deciding whether to get the PCI Layla or the Audiofire 12 myself.

Keep us updated with which ever one you get so I can decide!! LOL

FJ

Emu is off my list. Seems the geniuses at Creative decided to put a bit of their own work (read: Audigy shit) into the mix. Not liking that at all. Edirol can't really compete, just checked it's stats.

Down to M-Audio and Echo. Echo has better ADC/DAC, supports Vista, has a headphone plug and preamps. The only benefits M-Audio have is that it has been around longer and their drivers support multiple cards. I can't imagine I will ever need 16 analogue I/Os (lol), so I guess it's a bit of a no brainer hey!

I considered the AudioFire as well, but PCI still takes the prize; slightly lower latency, lower jitter (typically). However, it is difficult to tell how long PCI will be around for, whereas firewire isn't going anywhere.

they sure as hell ain't asian

quote:

Originally posted by RichieV they sure as hell ain't asian

you got something against asians c*nt? i'll f*cking cut you round eye!

jk

no way man

my favorite clothes are made in asia. Its just that they are awful drivers.

quote:

Originally posted by RichieV no way man my favorite clothes are made in asia. Its just that they are awful drivers.

It's cool, I'm not even asian anyway... hahaha

Re: Best drivers?

quote:

Originally posted by echosystm Another option is to just get a 2 in 2 out card (1212m) and go apeshit on the patchbay, but save tonnes of moneeeeeyz.

This is an option, especially if you're thinking of buying a new synth, all the new ones have usb interfaces anyway, so you won't need audio inputs. But you were thinking of doing a bit of audio weren't you, so you might want more inputs. Layla sounds good for you I think. Have you checked out the MOTU stuff as well? I've heard good things about them.

Re: Re: Best drivers?

quote:

Originally posted by kitphillips This is an option, especially if you're thinking of buying a new synth, all the new ones have usb interfaces anyway, so you won't need audio inputs. But you were thinking of doing a bit of audio weren't you, so you might want more inputs. Layla sounds good for you I think. Have you checked out the MOTU stuff as well? I've heard good things about them.

MOTU is out of my price range
See, MOTU prices are pretty much static throughout the world, so I can't get them for half price from the states!

$250 is an ok price to pay for never having to screw around with patch bays and also having massive expandability for the future. So yeah, the 2 in 2 out idea kinda loses it's magic. Layla ftw!

Sounds good then, the layla looks great!

I'm about to buy the emu 1616 pci. Its the only card I can find that has enough balanced i/os and is within my price range. When you say that their drivers are crap, what exactly does that mean? Does the card play up, cause software to crash, or what exactly?

quote:

Originally posted by G-Con When you say that their drivers are crap, what exactly does that mean? Does the card play up, cause software to crash, or what exactly?

In my case, it's latency problems. Sometimes everything works fine with low latencies, another times you get crackle/pop sounds with any setting less than 50ms. Sometimes there's a huge latency even when it's set low. There's no reliability.

Speaking from experience, E-MU is just about the worst on that list. Not only are they crap drivers but they somehow manage to corrupt themselves every 3 or 4 reboots.

I'll give a thumbs up to MOTU, whether or not that's on your list. It's been good to me for about two months so far!

Well now I feelin stuck.. I 'm getting a virus ti and was gonna get the emu 1616 pci cause i want a card with balanced i/o's. If emu are known to be crap then I best get something else. However I require at least 1 pair of balanced ins, 2 pairs of balanced outs (so i can cue up in ableton) and a midi i/o. Does such a card exist for less than �200

echo audiofire 4?
echo gina 3g?

quote:

Originally posted by echosystm echo audiofire 4? echo gina 3g?

Thanks for the suggestions..

The audiofire looks good but I assume it needs a firewire port to connect to my pc- if so i havent got one so thats no good.

The gina 3g looks like a possibility but as far as I was aware, I should get balanced ins if I choose to connect the virus ti that way. The gina 3g has universal ins. I don't even know what these are. Are they balanced? Can I connect the virus to them?

quote:

Originally posted by G-Con Thanks for the suggestions.. The audiofire looks good but I assume it needs a firewire port to connect to my pc- if so i havent got one so thats no good. The gina 3g looks like a possibility but as far as I was aware, I should get balanced ins if I choose to connect the virus ti that way. The gina 3g has universal ins. I don't even know what these are. Are they balanced? Can I connect the virus to them?

A universal in will take balanced in, instrument in and mic in. SO it basically does everything an in would ever want to in... !

I would get the audiofire and a firewire PCI card if I were you. PCI is a time bomb (soon to be obsolete) and you would get better functionality out of the audiofire (4 out, 4 in).

Oh, seeing as youre doing the disableton thing, it will go nice with a laptop if you upgrade

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