Which Audio Interface?

[BigRedX]

38 minutes ago, Skol303 said:

That sounds like very bad customer service from TASCAM (I must admit I've never had to call upon them for support).

I assume you also tried approaching the retailer to help fix the problem, or was it long after you'd purchased it?

Unfortunately the retailer had gone out of business quite a while before the mixer started playing up. I'm just glad I hadn't paid the full list price of £7k. In the end I think it lasted for about 15 years before it packed in altogether, but it had been developing various niggles on top of the incomplete software for about 3 years before that. My analog mixer it was bought to replace is still going strong after almost 30 years.

[Skol303]

^ That sucks. 15 years is a fairly good innings, but as you mention, properly built analogue gear can last decades (if not pretty much indefinitely) if well maintained.

I'm slowly moving over to analogue, bit by bit. I have a second-hand digital/analogue desk, which can be used as standalone analogue if/when the manufacturer stops supporting the digital side of it. I've also pretty much stopped buying plug-ins and now instead save up for a few choice pieces of outboard gear, which has greatly speeded up my workflow (by reducing 'options paralysis'!), aside from any audible improvements from analogue mojo (a whole other debate, of course...).

It means I'm reducing the number of tools at my disposal, but it's a strangely liberating process. Sort of back to basics. It also means my kids will one day inherit some gear they'll still be able to use - or more likely flog on eBay - rather than a stack of hard drives full of software they can't run.

[DaveFry]

If I was looking for a new audio interface today I would check that it was compatible with Linux first in case Msoft/Apple get too big for their boots in the future .

https://libremusicproduction.com/articles/understanding-recording-hardware

( Link to List of supported devices down the page )

[Skol303]

1 hour ago, DaveFry said:

...in case Msoft/Apple get too big for their boots in the future .

Possible but unlikely. Compatibility is a big plus point for parties on both sides of this equation; so I can't see Microsoft or Apple wanting to upset the... err... Apple cart!

Useful link though; bookmarked.

[Sibob]

Linux is based around Unix architecture, as is Apple’s OS. As such, compatibility, whilst usually not ‘official’, is often* likely out of the box if the unit is class compliant.

Si

*No assumptions should be made, try before you buy if possible.

Edited March 8, 2018 by Sibob

[MoonBassAlpha]

On 07/03/2018 at 11:53, Skol303 said:

 

I'm slowly moving over to analogue, bit by bit. 

Hilarious! That's made my day, and it's only 11 o'clock!

[Skol303]

1 hour ago, MoonBassAlpha said:

Hilarious! That's made my day, and it's only 11 o'clock!

Haha! Perhaps byte-by-byte?

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Skol303 said:

Haha! Perhaps byte-by-byte?

Word. 

[MoonBassAlpha]

I thought I'd get a nibble from you guys!

[Guest adi77]

Roland rubix series (?)

[Mcgiver69]

On 02/04/2018 at 13:03, adi77 said:

Roland rubix series (?)

Yes I've seen the reviews and to be honest I wasn't very impressed, for that money I can get something better.

[Guest adi77]

Just now, Mcgiver69 said:

Yes I've seen the reviews and to be honest I wasn't very impressed, for that money I can get something better.

Ok, maybe the audient then

[Mcgiver69]

43 minutes ago, adi77 said:

Ok, maybe the audient then

Now that's a great piece of gear.

[xgsjx]

The audient interfaces look pretty good for the money. 

I think it’s hard to get a bad interface & the main things to look at are what connections do you need from it & if you need any software, what comes with it. 

I wanted 4 ins and midi, hence going for the NI KA6, & it’s been a great bit of kit & solidly built. 

[Mcgiver69]

1 minute ago, xgsjx said:

The audient interfaces look pretty good for the money. 

I think it’s hard to get a bad interface & the main things to look at are what connections do you need from it & if you need any software, what comes with it. 

I wanted 4 ins and midi, hence going for the NI KA6, & it’s been a great bit of kit & solidly built. 

Another great piece of kit, the pres are great too which was my main concern but they are darn good.

[velvetkevorkian]

Are there any affordable PCI-E interfaces these days? Just upgraded to a new Windows PC and my venerable M-Audio Delta Audiophile 2496 PCI card isn't supported (and I don't have a regular PCI socket on the new motherboard). I'd like to avoid adding any more cabling to the rats' nest under my desk. Stereo IO and ideally MIDI is all I need.

Edit: just been reminded of ASIO4ALL in another thread, might give that a bash with the built-in soundcard before dropping more cash on hardware. 

Edited April 14, 2018 by velvetkevorkian

[Acebassmusic]

9 minutes ago, velvetkevorkian said:

Are there any affordable PCI-E interfaces these days? Just upgraded to a new Windows PC and my venerable M-Audio Delta Audiophile 2496 PCI card isn't supported (and I don't have a regular PCI socket on the new motherboard). I'd like to avoid adding any more cabling to the rats' nest under my desk. Stereo IO and ideally MIDI is all I need.

Strange....I'm on Win10 and currently using a 2496 PCI card. I can't get the MAudio software interface up but the card is running and I can access the SPDIF settings etc through Windows standard menus. (Just read your full post and notice you don't have a spare socket...oops)

Edited April 14, 2018 by Acebassmusic

[velvetkevorkian]

6 minutes ago, Acebassmusic said:

Strange....I'm on Win10 and currently using a 2496 PCI card. I can't get the MAudio software interface up but the card is running and I can access the SPDIF settings etc through Windows standard menus.

Interesting! I assumed it wouldn't work without the MAudio drivers. Unfortunately my new motherboard only has PCI-E slots so I don't think I can physically fit it anyway.

[Acebassmusic]

2 minutes ago, velvetkevorkian said:

Interesting! I assumed it wouldn't work without the MAudio drivers. Unfortunately my new motherboard only has PCI-E slots so I don't think I can physically fit it anyway.

You can get PCI to PCIE adapters off 'tinternet.

[Sibob]

Internal based soundcards tend to be fairly old-hat now, with most being incorporated into motherboards. PCI is very old technology, and PCI-e is usually reserved for fairly advanced audio systems (Pro Tools HD, AoIP etc), so I'm not surprised M-Audio no longer support your old card. A PCI to PCI-e adapter will obviously only ever run at PCI speed, so you're spending money to get old tech working. 

The closest to PCI-e you'll get (with regards to speed), is an external sound card/interface that uses the Thunderbolt protocol.

With regards to ASIO4ALL, worth remembering that it's just a WDM (Windows Driver Model) audio driver dressed up as an ASIO driver so that it's recognised by DAWs, as such, I don't believe you'll be able to use any more than the first two inputs and outputs (assuming it has more than that). So it may get you out of a fix, but don't expect any performance miracles  .

Si // Focusrite Media Relations

Edited April 15, 2018 by Sibob

[Dood]

40 minutes ago, Sibob said:

Internal based soundcards tend to be fairly old-hat now, with most being incorporated into motherboards. PCI is very old technology, and PCI-e is usually reserved for fairly advanced audio systems (Pro Tools HD, AoIP etc), so I'm not surprised M-Audio no longer support your old card. A PCI to PCI-e adapter will obviously only ever run at PCI speed, so you're spending money to get old tech working. 

The closest to PCI-e you'll get (with regards to speed), is an external sound card/interface that uses the Thunderbolt protocol.

With regards to ASIO4ALL, worth remembering that it's just a WDM (Windows Driver Model) audio driver dressed up as an ASIO driver so that it's recognised by DAWs, as such, I don't believe you'll be able to use any more than the first two inputs and outputs (assuming it has more than that). So it may get you out of a fix, but don't expect any performance miracles  .

Si // Focusrite Media Relations

Which in Focusrite terms is insanely good. Even my humble laptop has been able to attain the advertised low latency figures below 2ms..

[velvetkevorkian]

46 minutes ago, Sibob said:

 I don't believe you'll be able to use any more than the first two inputs and outputs (assuming it has more than that). So it may get you out of a fix, but don't expect any performance miracles  .

Realistically, more than one mono input will be wasted on me anyway. 😬

[Switch625]

I'm thinking of taking the plunge and getting the Focusrite 2i4 as my first audio interface and first step into home recording. Not that I have any creative ideas, but I feel it could motivate me to play more and get the creative juices flowing. Or it could just be another toy that gets used once and put away!

I was considering the 2i2 but I also want to use it for guitar and apparently that suffers from clipping issues which is resolved in the 2i4. My only concern is the Amazon reviews that state the Windows drivers are a P.I.T.A to get working correctly. Hoping it won't be a problem as I've only got a Windows laptop and no Mac.

Edited May 2, 2018 by Switch625

[Mornats]

I've got Windows drivers working fine on Win 10 (and previously on Win 7) for my Focusrite Forte. The only problem I had was that the free anti-virus programs (Avast and AVG) mess your latency up but swap to another anti-virus and it'll be fine.

I started out with a simple audio interface just to record myself playing so I could listen back and work out how I could improve. It grew out of that and now I record with a whole bunch of software synths, virtual instruments (including entire orchestras) and I'm loving it. You can go as basic or as advanced as you like and you'll get plenty of help from people here in this forum too.

[dannybuoy]

49 minutes ago, Switch625 said:

I'm thinking of taking the plunge and getting the Focusrite 2i4 as my first audio interface and first step into home recording. Not that I have any creative ideas, but I feel it could motivate me to play more and get the creative juices flowing. Or it could just be another toy that gets used once and put away!

I was considering the 2i2 but I also want to use it for guitar and apparently that suffers from clipping issues which is resolved in the 2i4. My only concern is the Amazon reviews that state the Windows drivers are a P.I.T.A to get working correctly. Hoping it won't be a problem as I've only got a Windows laptop and no Mac.

I've got a 2i2 and Windows 10, it was a piece of cake to set up. No clipping issues either unless of course you set the gain too high which is to be expected!