considering most firewire interfaces are quite expensive, firewire 410 is pretty good for the price. you get 6 analogue outs i think but only 4 ins. bear in mind my virus already uses 2 (1 for the left stereo channel. 1 for the right). 6 outs is alright though + i think theres a digital S/PDIF in/out for devices that use it (normally, external mixers and so forth). you can completely bus power it so its totally mobile. dont need to be stuck near to a wallsocket which has its advantages. if you are a live musician and would like to record a set then having a firewire 410 around + a mic (has preamps on board) then its really convenient. if you are not planning on moving around alot then this feature is pretty redundant and you would be spending money on a feature which you dont use at the expense of ins/outs which you may need more if you plan on assembling a studio in the next couple of years. the breakout box looks a little bit shit and the rotaries on the front are made of this really cheap plastic but it holds together fairly well and it seems sturdy enough.

if you can get the delta 1010 LT thats probably a more suitable soundcard if you plan on writing all your music in one place. you get 8 ins, 8 outs, 1 digital S/PDIF in/out, 2 mic preamps and it costs less than the firewire 410. on the downside you dont get a breakoutbox, its just a PCI card with a *tonne* of cables hanging out the back.

if you are dead set on firewire interfaces and want proper mac support id probably look up MOTU (mark of the unicorn). they do a variety of firewire interfaces, all of them look fucking cool, most of them are really fully featured and, as a consequence, you will pay through your arse to aquire it. it really depends on how much money you are willing to spend. i would trade my delta 1010 in for a motu 828 mkII + the difference in price. if i had the difference in price to spend.

Thanks for the information. I don't want to spend more than $600 US. I looked at the MOTU 828MKII and it is hot but it's fu*king expensive! Also, it is not bus powered so not completely mobile which is something that is important to me. I want to be able to tote it around.

I am also looking at the m-Audio firewire 1814. I'm trying to figure out if this is worth the upgrade from the 410.

I am dead set on Firewire. I use a powerbook G4 so there are no PCI slots. I've heard of many issues with USB. Firewire from a technical standpoint looks superior.

quote:

I looked at the MOTU 828MKII and it is hot but it's fu*king expensive!

yea thats pretty much what i thought

firewire 1814 is pretty expensive too though. and it still has those cheap rotaries on the 410. other than those 2 im not familiar with any other completely mobile solutions unfortunately.

i should add that there are disadvantages to completely bus powered operation and problems with bus powering it from a laptop. read this:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar...67b637f3d83a050

Last edited by Derivative on Dec-03-2004 at 17:34

You know mate, you and I are looking at the same stuff! I was just at that site trying to get the review for the 1814 but it said I am not an account member. Any way you can post a link to the 1814 review, i'd appreciate it

I'm also looking at the edirol FA-101. Heard the line out and headphone volume are the same knob which makes no sense!

http://edirol.com/products/info/fa101.html

quote:

Originally posted by Derivative yea thats pretty much what i thought firewire 1814 is pretty expensive too though. and it still has those cheap rotaries on the 410. other than those 2 im not familiar with any other completely mobile solutions unfortunately. i should add that there are disadvantages to completely bus powered operation and problems with bus powering it from a laptop. read this: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar...67b637f3d83a050

Dude,

The Presonus Firepod is the best valued Firewire interface out there. And it beats the MOTU 828mkII,Digisign 002 & M-audio 410 in latency and stability. This card just got raving reviews!!
(Read the reviews - link below)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...reviews/#anchor

I bought one today to replace my outdated Delta 1010. Hopefully I'll achive the short latency that I'm after. I'll let you know.


Dave out !

It's not bus-powered or has optical TOS interface which I need to hook into my monitor system

quote:

Originally posted by dodgydave Dude, The Presonus Firepod is the best valued Firewire interface out there. And it beats the MOTU 828mkII,Digisign 002 & M-audio 410 in latency and stability. This card just got raving reviews!! (Read the reviews - link below) http://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...reviews/#anchor I bought one today to replace my outdated Delta 1010. Hopefully I'll achive the short latency that I'm after. I'll let you know. Dave out !

im not subscribed to sos avikonen, i just got the bus powered information from the 410 review. if you scroll down to one of the grey box outs, it says that in some cases you cant completely bus power the 410 from a laptop firewire port (the 4 pin variety) because its not live at the operation voltage of the 410 (which is 12V at 1.5A i think). its worth checking what firewire port you have got first though. that edirol midi interface looks good. specs wise its good too. the headphone port just looked like a regular single 1/4" TRS output. a line out would be a red/white stereo RCA out? either case its probably a typo cuz ur right - it doesnt make any sense.


as for that presonus - look how many preamps you get on it! jesus christ! if i had that 5 years ago you could amp my entire band on one soundcard! i own a delta 1010 and tbh its not really very good. no preamps. no TOS optical in/out. if they sell it over in the UK any time soon for under £400 im selling my 1010 and getting one of those.

EDIT: £484. not bad. just need to get a good resell value on my 1010.

Last edited by Derivative on Dec-04-2004 at 00:04