Audio Interface |
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Jul 8 2008, 07:48 AM
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Well, besides the price difference, Do you think It would be smarter to invest in one of these :
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/ProFire2626-main.html Over this : http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FireWire1814-main.html ? tj I don't know much about interfaces, But the rack one seems to be better. This post has been edited by Tjchep: Jul 8 2008, 07:49 AM |
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Jul 8 2008, 08:16 AM
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I'm not familiar with either one of them I'm afraid, but I see that the ProFire 2626 has 26 inputs? Do you really need that many?
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Jul 8 2008, 11:16 AM
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Well apart from any price difference the 'Pro' has more XLR ins and can provide more phantom power output to the mic. Not much of an issue except a very few mics (usually valves and ribbons) sometimes need quite a bit of juice to work - however those that do often come with a separate supply.
The 'Pro' also has better quoted performance figures for noise, THD etc - albeit that for a home studio the quoted figures on the Firewire are more than adequate. Somewhat annoyingly MAudio don't give all the specifications for each product - ie talks about improved jitter on the clock for the pro but no figures  . Pro has more flexible routing. Can be great as you have more control but it can also be confusing if you don't have experience here. Pro doesn't seem to come with any 'big name' sequencer software - Firewire has a version of Ableton LE. If you have a sequencer already (ie Reaper/Cubase/Pro Tools etc) this isn't an issue. Pro can both be master and slave for clocking - not sure about the Firewire. However few small home studios need wordclocks anyway. Personally I don't like the idea of the BNC being on a breakout cable. Connection is small and I'd prefer it to be mounted on the case and connected direct to the pcb. Why introduce a possible source of timing error when it's not necessary ?The 'Firewire' has been around for a few years whereas the 'Pro' is new. That has good and potentially bad points - a new device is upto date and won't be superceded by the manufacturers for a while. The possible downside is that a new device may need to go through a couple of software hot fixes as bugs are reported. MAudio are generally pretty fast at sorting out bugs though but take a look at their user forums to see what people are saying. Both look like good products but for a small home studio where you are starting out I'd agree with Marcus - you may be paying for things you just don't need. Cheers, Tony -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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Jul 8 2008, 12:27 PM
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Figure out how many mikes you need. If you're miking up your band you use 1-2 per guitar, 1-2 per bass, at least eight special mikes for the drums. Vocals are recorded after but count 1 for that too just incase.
Does the 2626 provide that many mike inputs simultaniously? How will your computer manage to record more than a dozen audio tracks at the same time (you'd want them separately). Big question is, do you need it? The simpler model has two mike inputs, sufficent to record an amp prefessionaly. And two instrument inputs, maybe one more than you'll ever need for home use. So I think in 99% of all cases the smaller sound interface would be sufficient for most people. Buying the larger one could mean you pay for things you don't need, and even if you try to use all the fuctions your computer hasn't the power to record 10 tracks simultaniously anyway. And I say that without knowing what computer you have, might be a monster that very well could. -------------------- My bands homepage
All time favourites: B. Streisand - Woman in Love, M. Hopkin - Those were the days, L. Richie - Hello |
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Jul 8 2008, 12:36 PM
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Firewire is a good device, suitable for home audio production. Pro version is over the top for home studio recording needs really.
-------------------- - Ivan's Video Chat Lesson Notes HERE
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Jul 8 2008, 04:44 PM
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QUOTE (Tjchep @ Jul 8 2008, 05:20 PM)  Here is my only issue with the 1814. It only has two mic inputs. And honestly that's the only reason I was Looking into the pro. Starting from that end instead then. How many mike inputs do you need? -------------------- My bands homepage
All time favourites: B. Streisand - Woman in Love, M. Hopkin - Those were the days, L. Richie - Hello |
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Jul 8 2008, 04:54 PM
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Keep in mind that it isn't 26 XLRs input - it's 8 on the 'Pro'. The way they get to say 26 is because of the two ADAT light pipes. 8XLR in itself isn't excessive for a home studio and it's pretty easy to use ALL of them and run out of XLRs in. However I doubt many small home studios will run into this issue since most home studios will do most of their work 'in the box' using VSTIs rather than hardware instruments and live recording. I also doubt that many really need 2 ADATs and a BNC word clock - quite simply few have outboard that needs wordclock synchronisation.
As to having a high end pc - some interfaces are capable of doing the audio processing on board and so there is virtually no load on the pc. RME cards and interfaces do this - I don't know about MAudio though - I use RME and am able to record and process multiple channels synchronously on a pc that is a few years old. Adding a mixer has benefits and issues. You'll have more flexibility and potentially more XLRs but you will need to get the signal from the mixer into the interface. The more obvious solution here is via light pipe BUT with most mixers you will need to buy and fit a special ADAT board to do that. You could of course route the mixer to the interface via whatever channel outs the mixer has or you could sum in the mixer and route out the stereo main to the interface. Many of the low end mixers really only have a stereo main out anyway. Adding a mixer has a benefit in that most of us find a mixer console's faders easier to use then a rotary know on the interface or mouse control in the sequencer. They do however take up a lot of desk space and you'll need additional cabling. Also below a given price range a low end mixer may well neither have equivalent quality pre-amps or AD/DA to match the MAudio interface. Whatever you do you'll need to work out the routing though. I'd recommend that you think about how many i/o channels you'll need. If it is 4 or 2 then look at another solution (The RME Fireface 400 that Nemanja is an expensive but extremely good one here) - if it's 8 then the Pro looks pretty good. If it's more then 8 perhaps a larger mixer with either an AD/DA card or a larger mixer linked to an external AD/DA interface. Cheers, Tony -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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Jul 8 2008, 05:02 PM
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QUOTE (Tjchep @ Jul 8 2008, 05:56 PM) Well, 2 Right now is all I Need.. but, I just find it stupid that In the future I will probably need 5-6. I just want to get something and not have to upgrade for a good while. Yeah, if you need 5-6 in the future it's better to be prepared. I also think like that, but in reality if I got the bigger one just to be prepared by the time it's old and ready to be scrapped I'd likely realize I never used more than one XLR input for the most part and two on occacion when miking an amp. Make a plan for how you intend to use it now and in the future and there's your answer. 
-------------------- My bands homepage
All time favourites: B. Streisand - Woman in Love, M. Hopkin - Those were the days, L. Richie - Hello |
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Jul 8 2008, 05:12 PM
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About software, do you have Addictive drums or similar? I've got the Ezdrummer plugin and I wouldn't be making music without it.
And in a few years from now maybe you have a job that pays well so if you by any chance would need a larger sound interface it might be easier to finance at that time. -------------------- My bands homepage
All time favourites: B. Streisand - Woman in Love, M. Hopkin - Those were the days, L. Richie - Hello |
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Jul 8 2008, 05:36 PM
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 keep it simple for now, especially if you go to school - like you say you'd might want portable stuff rather.Reaper is all good, I moved from Sony Acid Pro to use Reaper instead. The reason was the Sony was so slow on my computer while Reaper runs flawless. Beside, I think I read you get a DAW with the sound interface also... right? Yeah, a MIDI keyboard could come in handy. I've got a small cheap 25 keys, it's good enough for me. I have one desk and a shelf where I work and where I have the sudio aswell. For live sound I just use a reciever + normal speakers, it's not ideal but hey I'm no pro. Fitting a X3 Live, two sets of headphones, twp laptops, three external drives for both work and music. I have to figure out a flexible guitar stand to use where I sit.. it's a corner, not a lot more than that. I use the X3 as sound interface and it works perfect for the purpose. I also have a Guitarport and I switch between the two. I got a SM57 mike but no mikestand, have to get that when I make a sound proof box for a small tube amp (maybe the Classic 30), still have to make it a flexible one so I can fit it. So what's my point? Pretty much that you can get far with being flexible. Like the track your onto now, get the smaller interface + something more. That's how I've been reasoning all my life and it works really well. I never get the most expensive stuff but I get things I can manage with. The most hi-tech I've got is the X3 live, but I was on the hunt for a sound interface aswell but found that the X3 did the job so well I didn't need anything else. Possible the setup could be more professional if I had a separate soundinterface aswell that I connected the X3 through, but why? This is good enough, perfect for me. It only has one XLR port but so far it's all I need. What counts for me is that I got all I needed in one single piece
-------------------- My bands homepage
All time favourites: B. Streisand - Woman in Love, M. Hopkin - Those were the days, L. Richie - Hello |
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Jul 8 2008, 11:12 PM
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QUOTE (Nemanja Filipovic @ Jul 8 2008, 05:40 PM) I haw just came out from studio,and we recorded guitars(Epiphone Les Paul,with Gibson Pick ups) and strait to RME Fireface 800 trough Guitar rig.OMG,we made a killer sound,we took JCM 800 emulation I think,and it sound awesome.That RME is a bit expensive,but RME makes a great audio interfaces. +1. Below a certain price point RME produce arguably the best semi to pro audio interfaces. You need to spend a lot of money to better RME - the AD/DA and the pre-amps are truly a class apart in the sub 2-3000Euro price bracket. -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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