I've finally had it with my M-Audio Fast Track Ultra, probably the most rubbish audio solution on the market. Honestly, I'm gonna put an axe through it as a display of my wrath at M-Audio for failing to create a reliable USB audio card and then charging people hundreds of euros for it. No support, no updated drivers, no money back - nothing. Just their forums clogged up with problems. Never again M-Audio.

Now though, on to my point. Something I hope will be my light in the dark. I went looking for a similar interface, PCI(e) this time since I've kind of lost all hope for USB solutions. What I stumbled across is this, the ESI ESP1010e (http://www.esi-audio.com/products/esp1010e/). It's got good input/output capabilities, good & updated drivers, fair price and no evil forums where it's true colors are shown. All that as far as I can tell.

What I'm wondering now is if anyone here has got any experience with it and if that person can recommend it as a reliable, well-performing and smooth audio card. Because I bought the Fast Track Ultra on a whim and that proved to be a big mistake.

Regards,
Erik

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would love to help but, don't know anything about these. sorry to hear about the m-audio dilemma but!

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If you want great driver support, try Echo. RME also stand out from the masses on this issue.

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Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox I've never had a problem with FLs tech support till this day. (I've actually never used it till this day)

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Originally posted by floyd741 i think echosystm is a pretty cool guy. eh pwns robby rox and doesn't afraid of anything.

+1 on echo. Ive only tried their firewire products though but im guessing its all good.

http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/PCI/MiaMIDI/index.php

Last edited by Zak McKracken on Jan-03-2010 at 14:15

+1 on Echo and RME.

Echo interfaces are the best value to performance available in my opinion (as the proud and extremely happy owner of an Audiofire4).

RME are are the best interfaces before going fully pro equipment but they start around $1000 second hand, whereas I got my echo interface for $200 in mint condition.

That ESI is OK - it's not terrible and will do the job, but TBH, it's not a huge step up in terms of quality from the M-audio.

I would look at the Echo range.

Why do you want to only go PCI(e)? There's many good FW and USB interfaces out there......

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Originally posted by DJ RANN RME are are the best interfaces before going fully pro equipment but they start around $1000 second hand, whereas I got my echo interface for $200 in mint condition.

RME are sweet but I really don't understand what you're paying for - Echo AudioFires use the same ADC/DAC as RME Firefaces and are a fraction of the cost. It's not like the onboard preamps, clocks and so on are going to be THAT much better.

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quote:

Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox I've never had a problem with FLs tech support till this day. (I've actually never used it till this day)

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Originally posted by floyd741 i think echosystm is a pretty cool guy. eh pwns robby rox and doesn't afraid of anything.

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Originally posted by echosystm RME are sweet but I really don't understand what you're paying for - Echo AudioFires use the same ADC/DAC as RME Firefaces and are a fraction of the cost. It's not like the onboard preamps, clocks and so on are going to be THAT much better.

Yeah, theres clocks, pre's, and the actual analogue side of things to worry about too dude. I know that a lot of dance music producers aren't going to use that stuff (most synths just go digital in) but if your actually recording analogue in then its a big deal.

+ sasha has awesome gear and still uses a fireface 800 behind his SSL gear. That says something about the reliability IMO.

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Originally posted by kitphillips Yeah, theres clocks, pre's, and the actual analogue side of things to worry about too dude. I know that a lot of dance music producers aren't going to use that stuff (most synths just go digital in) but if your actually recording analogue in then its a big deal. + sasha has awesome gear and still uses a fireface 800 behind his SSL gear. That says something about the reliability IMO.

That's kind of right.

Firstly it's the chips. only the audiofire8 and 12 use the same chips (not the lower models which use one chip for both ADC and DAC),

Secondly, the clock used on RME are more accurate (less jitter) and can happily feed external devices (wordclock) and are accurate enough to be used as the master clock device in a studio.

Thirdly, the pre's are up there with aftermarket stand alone solid state preamps.

Finally, they are rock solid in terms of stability and don't suffer from the same issues that motu and other brands seem to have with occasionally frying FW connections.

Personally, I can't justify the jump in cash vs. the tiny performance increases over my audiofire4 but if I had $1200 spare to spend only on a soundcard the fireface800 would probably be the first choice.

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Originally posted by DJ RANN Firstly it's the chips. only the audiofire8 and 12 use the same chips (not the lower models which use one chip for both ADC and DAC),

I was under the impression AudioFire 2/4 has the same ADC/DAC as Fireface 400, while AudioFire 8/12 has the same as Fireface 800.

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quote:

Originally posted by DJ Robby Rox I've never had a problem with FLs tech support till this day. (I've actually never used it till this day)

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Originally posted by floyd741 i think echosystm is a pretty cool guy. eh pwns robby rox and doesn't afraid of anything.

i have, but dont use anymore, a JULI@ from ESI. Absolutely loved it.

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Originally posted by echosystm I was under the impression AudioFire 2/4 has the same ADC/DAC as Fireface 400, while AudioFire 8/12 has the same as Fireface 800.

That's right - I should have been clear - I'm only ever talking about the 800 - I've always held the opinion that the 400 is not worth it as it's so close in costs ($300) to the 800, which has more connectivity, better chips, etc. Also, the audiofire8/12 are a better choice as you point out they're using better chips than the FF400 but cost half the money of the FF400.

Again though, the audiofire8/12 are such damn good value and performers it's even difficult to justify the extra $800 to get the fireface800.

I don;t like ESI that much becuase their monitors were complete turd (near05 etc.) and their early hardware interfaces weren't much better.

Thanks for the good tips guys. I'll be taking that into consideration for sure.

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Originally posted by DJ RANN Why do you want to only go PCI(e)? There's many good FW and USB interfaces out there......

It's because I don't want to run the risk of getting into the same problem again with an unknown brand. Not assuming USB or FW is always poorly optimized but I feel PCI is more stable overall. The advantages with USB or FW are most significant if you move around a lot IMO, and my studio stays put. Though the ESI card's got that external interface which gives me similar accessibility, which is why liked it's impression.

And the reason I don't go uber pro is because I want the same kinda card, same performance, same price, but internal connection. As long as it has full ASIO 2.0 support I'm satisfied with the performance part.

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