Advice on an audio interface

[svanmaanen]

Hey - I have an electric guitar, bass and acoustic, a basic pedal board, amp and a shure57 mic. Up to now I have been using reaper on a pc (decent creative soundcard) with no problems, but I have lost my study as my firstborn due soon! Damn kids ruining my life already (jokes)...

So I bought a macbookpro lap top - and the direct plug in is a both in and out mini-jack (not that flash in terms of sound quality and a pain to keep switching over). I also don't like the idea of jabbing my instruments directly into the precious macbookpro!

So...I have been looking at basic audio interfaces, and most online advice says to go for a firewire version to avoid latency issues - any advice? I usually mic up my amps so I can use pedal etc but open to other options.

I also like the idea of it being basic, small / portable as I may be on the road for a few months this year. This also means I'd prefer the unit to not require a separate power connector (if possible)

Here are the cheap and cheerful options I have to date:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... 6074wt_988

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... 2588wt_865

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/BEHRINGER-WHITE- ... 756wt_1188

Any help appreciated!

ps - the M-Audio FireWire Fire Wire Solo Audio Interface seems to have phantom power & a pre-amp http://www.tweakheadz.com/audio_interfa ... _chart.htm

[Gilmourish]

I'm getting some recording stuff soon, and am getting a sm57 and a lexicon lambda which comes with cubase. Have a computer I think will be able to handle it >.>
only problem I have is monitors/speakers...

Sorry for thread-jacking a bit... just thought I would put my 2 cents in :D

[svanmaanen]

Looks kewl, self powered and has a pre-amp!

It's USB though and most reviews lean towards firewire - is USB vs. firewire a real issue or not in your opinion?

[Gilmourish]

Don't even know if my computer has firewire...Never used it

USB sounds fine to me...

[HereticPride]

I have one of the early '09 macbook pro's without a firewire port. I've just been using an Apogee One to record with which is usb 2.0. It may depend on the interface itself but I wouldn't read too much into the usb v. firewire debate, I've never had a single latency issue in Logic Studio. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of that argument is made by people trying to justify buying a more expensive product.

[CBA]

I have a pretty dope setup that I've been working on for the last year. Here's what I suggest for starters:

1. External hard-drive (recording direct to the Mac's hard-drive will only cause problems and sllloooowwwness). I have an OWC Mercury Elite. http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/

2. Don't use M-Audio. For quality/lowish prices, I highly recommend PreSonus. Take a look at the Firestudio Mobile. http://www.presonus.com/products/Detail ... oductId=58

3. Firewire is what you should be using at minumum. Again, with USB, shit gets slow. Firewire is currently the standard. 400 or 800 works fine, depending on what your Mac has ports for.

Now, extra stuff:

1. I have an Apogee Duet and it is GREAT. Top of the line preamps, simple interface, works directly with Logic on your Mac. $500 new, but worth it for simplicity/sound quality.

2. How much RAM does your computer have? Perhaps you could pick up a bit more to upgrade to 4 GB. I did that, and now I can be sure there are no delays during recording.

3. Logic is a great, built-for-Mac, easy to use recording interface. Here's where I get most of my advice: http://www.logicprohelp.com Great dudes and ladies.

Uhhhhhhhhh time for breakfast.

C

P.S. I use a Macbook Pro, Apogee Duet, Mercury Elite Pro 750 GB, Logic 9, KRK Rokit 8s, Presonus BlueTube Preamp... all works great with only occasional glitches (as in no setup is perfect)

[Nychthemeron]

CBA, I want your setup. I did a recording using only Logic, a Duet, and a set of Rode NT-5s in stereo. Those mics work so well into that interface. I just wish it wasn't all so expensive.

[CBA]

Fairly expensive, yes, but I've been putting this together, including my MacBook Pro, for about 3 years. I bought my MBP with the intention of learning ProTools, and then my other Mac using friends were like HUUUUUUUUUUH? GET LOGIC so I did. It's great.

I have spent a bit of money on this setup, but I did a TOOOOON of research before I bought anything to make sure I was getting the right stuff. Turns out I did!

My band is on Bar/None Records (we're called Starling Electric <------COMMERCIAL), and our first record was done entirely at home, so I stepped up my game a little for the second record that we'll be doing soon. It's going to be FUN.

I use RODE mics too! I have a NT-1000 that is SWEET, and a M3 that I got for $1 with the purchase of the NT-1000. Other than that, I use a Shure SM-57 for just about everything else.

Piece!

C

[Nychthemeron]

Well if you're gonna be doing a lot of recording you'll probably need a fair amount of hard-drive space. Investing in a 1TB hard-drive would be good bet if you want to be able to do multiple albums while keeping the raw files backed up. Having tons of takes in the tracking stage is helpful since you can crossfade the fuck out of the good parts, but still have it all there if need be.

[comtrails70]

Have you looked into the steinberg CI2?
http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/graphics/articles/reports/2009/adv620774_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.musiciansfriend.com/document%3Fdoc_id%3D105193&usg=__AqwvCm7XeC_DbqNbPHp_Ilo_J9s=&h=250&w=200&sz=13&hl=de&start=2&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=phMIVR4ptHgFFM:&tbnh=111&tbnw=89&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsteinberg%2Bcubase%2Bci2%2Bmusicians%2Bfriend%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dde%26sa%3DX%26tbs%3Disch:1

[svanmaanen]

Whoah! Thanks guys!!

I'll check out the Apogee Duet & One, Presonus and C12

Other "gear" I have:
Macbook Pro 4GB RAM
Lacie USB2 500GB external hard-drive - not firewire
GarageBand - no Logic
Shure sm57

I hope that all works well together!

Thanks a ton!!!

[svanmaanen]

I really like the look on the Apogee One, even if the in-built mic is just "OK" how portable is that!

Small too - the only potential issue is that it is USB2, but from all reports (on this thread) it is fine for most users... much cheaper than most other options too.

I also like that it is built for Macs

Found this for those interested I found a duet one comparison
http://onevsduet.blogspot.com/2010/01/a ... -duet.html

[CBA]

I'd say One vs. Duet is irrelevant and moot. Buy the Duet if you have the scratch; if not, buy the One. Both great.

Garageband runs on all the same, uhhhh, STUFF as Logic, it's just that Logic has more plugins, options, etc. Garageband is a great recording interface, and it will do just fine for where you are currently.

If you already have an external harddrive, you're in good shape.

What kind of connections do you have on your MBP again? Because my advice would be to never daisy-chain your items if you can avoid it. I bonk my external through an Expresscard into the Express slot on the side, but I don't think newer MBP models have the Express slot.

If you can, do USB with your external harddrive (IF that's the only option), then try to get an audio interface that runs on Firewire 400 or 800. That way you'll be using different buses, and there will be no overload. I still say that, if you can, you need a harddrive that can do better than USB, because if your external harddrive connection is slow, you could have the fastest computer in the world in terms of processing, but if you hard drive can't get all that information quick enough, it's useless.

But yeah, as far as daisy-chains, I'd avoid that. Like if you had a USB ext. harddrive AND a USB audio interface, that's a big no no. It will "work", but not well. Same goes for Firewire. If you can, get shit on different inputs... As I said, I run my Duet through my Firewire port/bus, and then cram my external harddrive into an eSATA expresscard. Again, not sure if your MBP has that option.


Your pal,

C

[svanmaanen]

Thanks C,

Makes sense to me.

My MBP has:
http://www.apple.com/au/macbookpro/specs-13inch.html
One FireWire 800 port (up to 800 Mbps)
Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
I have the newer SD slot, no eSata
---
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache
1066MHz frontside bus
4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 memory; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 8GB

So if I get the Duet, I can use my existing External HD ($500) - better device but no inbuilt mic
But if I get the One I'd need a firewire External HD too ($229+$200) - inbuilt mic and another HD

Eeeep! Which combination is best, one HAS to be USB?

[CBA]

That's a tough call, depending on what sort of connections your external HD has. Does it have USB 2.0? If so, I'd go for the Duet (in the FW800), and the HD in the USB. I'd say a small cord and a SM57 will get you better results than the onboard One mic. What are you going to be recording? Obviously you can do everything direct except for vocals, and for those the SM57 would be much better.

Otherwise, if your external HD doesn't have... well, listen... You could always upgrade your Lacie to something a little nicer (Lacies are just ok)... the OWC gets my rec... and then make sure you get one with a quad-interface (FW 400, 800, SATA, eSATA; and come to think of it, there may be quin-interfaces with USB 2.0, so yeah, make sure you get one with that, at least with USB 2.0 and some sort of FW), then you could sell your Lacie... er, get the new one first, copy everything over, format the Lacie, and sell that to pay for part of your new HD. In the long run, it will be much better to have a faster HD connection (USB 2.0 or FW). Then you won't have to worry about any of this shit!

I know that's a lot of investment in time and money, but again, in the long run, you'll be better off.

Your MBP sounds dope... everything you need for great recording as far as the CPU... so these few little peripherals will make your system a beast.

C