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Choosing a audio interface!

Need help choosing a audio interface for my PC. Any good recomendations? Looking to spend about �170. Was looking at buying the m-audio 1010LT.

USB? FIrewire? or PCI?
How many channels do you need?
recording or only for monitoring?
can you save some more, like 300?

these are important infos

echo audiofire 2 is 200 if i dont remember wrong, its very good but it has only 2 ins/outs and it lacks a powerbutton. its firewire and not USB though. I would save some more and get Ehco Audiofire 4. or are you looking for PCI or maybe USB devices? PCI: id recomend Echo Mia Midi.

also do a search here, the topic is covered twice a month.

edit: your budget was in british pounds, ok you can afford Echo Audiofire 4 and a firewire card for your computer. Best quality/price-ratio you can find.

If you need that much ins & outs. If not, have a look on the delta audiophile 24/96. Used one for nearly 10 years. Died around some days ago.

Now I bought an EMU 0404 (since it was cheap). Can't recommend that one. Asio4all driver is just as good as the EMU drivers and also the VU meter on my monitor control telling me that I'm having +6dB gain at my output stage since I use the EMU.

Focusrite Saffire 6 or EMU 0404

haha really cmon guys

one word


M-Audio

quote:

Originally posted by UrbanNinja haha really cmon guys one word M-Audio

sux

quote:

Originally posted by Coyke If you don'tneed that much ins & outs. If not, have a look on the delta audiophile 24/96. Used one for nearly 10 years.

I've used it for a couple of years and it was a great buy, still hard to beat on price/quality even now. The emu0404 I once bought for a radio studio project was dead on arrival, but I never felt for creative/emu anyway.

quote:

USB? FIrewire? or PCI? How many channels do you need? recording or only for monitoring?

This is really important

quote:

Originally posted by Storyteller This is really important

i hope you arent joking lol

Should have mentioned what features I need on the card. Need a midi i/o for connecting my keyboard, and want to connect a set of monitors as well. The interface can be PCI, firewire or USB.

then the Echo AF2 or 4 will do you good.

instead of making a new thread, ill post in here..

what soundcard would you guys recommend if im using a soundcard strictly for monitoring?

i wont be doing any recording as i work in the board..i have a pair of krk 5's

my budgets around 300 dollars.

I usually recommend getting a newly released audio interface because there are usually glitches in the drivers.

One thing people tend to overlook a lot are drivers. When they work, you won't complain, but when they don't work, it is hell.

My advice is to look up for each interface you are buying and look at if there are prevalant problems that other users are facing with the drivers.

I personally use the Native Instruments Audio Kontrol 1 with 2 outputs and 2 inputs and it works great.

I personally haven't had a good experience with Tascam products, and I will vouch against them.

M-audio drivers tend to be steady for products that are about over a year old, but their newer stuff will almost have some problems with some computers.

quote:

Originally posted by goldy1977 Should have mentioned what features I need on the card. Need a midi i/o for connecting my keyboard, and want to connect a set of monitors as well. The interface can be PCI, firewire or USB.

I'm not sure what the Echo Audiofire 2 or Audiofire 4 (either one would be a great choice!) costs but if those are too expensive just get a good old M-audio audiophile 2496. Great choice (quality+cheap) if you still have a pc that has PCI ports. Not very futureproof though. PCI practically does not exist anymore.

A friend of mine has the audiophile USB which still is a bit dodgy now and then so I'd not recommend that one.

As for lovehate, just go Echo, shouldn't be a problem with 300$ .

quote:

Originally posted by LoveHate instead of making a new thread, ill post in here.. what soundcard would you guys recommend if im using a soundcard strictly for monitoring? i wont be doing any recording as i work in the board..i have a pair of krk 5's my budgets around 300 dollars.

Need to get myself some active monitors as well. was thinking between the krk5's mk2 or the mackie mr5's, as I got a small room. But reading further about the mackies people say they sound a bit bassy. How do the krk 5's sound?

bassy and plastic.

Bassy is the last thing I'd think of for a 5" woofer haha

quote:

Originally posted by goldy1977 Need to get myself some active monitors as well. was thinking between the krk5's mk2 or the mackie mr5's, as I got a small room. But reading further about the mackies people say they sound a bit bassy. How do the krk 5's sound?

its defitnely not bassy,but its good for the price, i think it has just enough low, and high range, so its a pretty accurate sound. and good for a small room.

quote:

Originally posted by Storyteller Bassy is the last thing I'd think of for a 5" woofer haha

they tend to boom around 80-100Hz to compensate for the lacking in 30-70Hz area. usually bassports on small speakers are tuned to around 70-80Hz and this cause them to sound boomy. this is why people at first ar impressed by the bass of such small speakers, until they put on their favorite music with deep subs completely gone. having a bassport tuned that "high" is also making smaller speakers very inaccurate in the bass, id rather have a nice rolloff like a closed speaker does. or with a bigger box but then you loose efficience and power handling on the speaker. speakers are complicated shit always doing sacrifices.

quote:

Originally posted by clay USB? FIrewire? or PCI?

And what is the difference between these?

It's the type of connection necessary for the device to work on. Different soundcards use different connectors. There's a lot of difference between the lots of them but it involves a lot of technicalities. Saying the plugs are different is by far the easiest way to explain.

If you are interested I am selling:

-KRK Rokit 6 G2 (pair)

-M-Audio Fast Tr4ack Pro USB audio interface

both of these products are like brand new only used a few times, just purchased them 2 months ago. I still have all the original boxes for them as well.

Also brand new item:
Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO studio headphones brand new in box, never opened.

The reason why I am selling this gear is because I split up with my partner and I am selling off the gear that I purchased for the studio.

quote:

Originally posted by future_newbie And what is the difference between these?

essentially different methods of data transfer and architecture. Although i have usb2.0 FTU by m-audio, firewire is considered to be somewhat more stable and better overall.

EMU makes great products I use the 0202. Just get something that will have low latency with your computer. Mine is at 10-12ms with this little box.

http://www.emu.com/products/product...1&product=15186

Fuck, so many lame products mentioned in one thread.

TO avoud my usual rant about KRK (dogshit - all of them), or M-audio (decent but dated / left behind in terms of quality vs performance these days) or EMU (staggeringly bad quality control, and only OK sonic quality as well)or Mackie MR5's (alright but overpriced and not that flat).....

.....I'll just say my usual advice of buying an Echo AF4 and some JBL LSR2325p monitors. That's the best setup you can buy at that price range right now.

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