Firewire interface Help!

[lacassius]

Hi...I need help choosing a firewire interface. it is for recording tracks on a 2.1 ghz 4gb ddr2 5400 rpm hd. Ive only ever used usb interfaces but heard firewire was better for latency and audio quality.

currently im stuck between the digidesign MBox 2 pro and the apogee duet. so my question is this.

If both interfaces costed exactly the same and didnt come with any other software which one would be better as far as audio quality? i only need 1 mic port, monitor port and headphone port so inputs are of no consiquence to me. I would like to know purely for the audio recording and playback quality.

also if you have any other good interfaces in there price range feel free to throw them in. i have no experience with firewire at all so any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[zimv20]

quality-wise, i reckon the apogee would be better. BUT the sole determining factor here should be the software you're running.

if it's PT, get the digi product. otherwise, get the apogee.

 

[lacassius]

really im not to concerned about the software. i can get pt le for basically free. to me the prices are the same im just wonderin which is better for quality sound. ive heard good things about apogee ive even heard its pt compatible but i doubt it
it doesnt matter which daw i use as long as it comes out good. im not bound by the industries pt standard. ill use garageband if need be.

i only record tracks for a handful of local artists and even garageband would be a step up from the set up i had so....

 

[marioman38]

Seriously, check out the Presonus Firebox. The pro's use it (Three Doors Down, P.O.D.) and its a great value vs. the Apogee. Read the reviews, you won't be disappointed.

I can totally vouch B&H one of THE BEST on-line retailers. IDK about the other.

(The Presonus was rated as having excellent quality Preamps)

 

[lacassius]

marioman,
thanx for the info...im gonna check it out right now.

 

[lacassius]

hey is the firebox able to daisy chain. i want to get a 7200 rpm hd and the macbook only has 1 firewire port

 

[lacassius]

also Im doing some research on interfaces and im came across the presonus firestudio. it seems like its the same as the firebox as far as audio recording/playback but better as far as latency and inputs w/ software being about the same. is this correct?

so my list of interfaces are:

apogee duet
mbox 2 pro (pro tools)
presonus firebox (cubase)
presonus firestudio (cubase)
MOTU UltraLite-mk3


leaning towards one of the presonus products but i keep hearing such good things about the apogee and bad things about the mbox2 pro. All im worried about is recording/playback quality, latency and the ability to be daisy chained (at least untill i get a mac with 2 firewire ports.) w/ a 7200 rpm hd

 

[lacassius]

this will be the last time ill post on this thread. unless i get some feeback. not to say that what ive gotten already isnt great but...

after alotta looking ive narrowed it to

3) presonus firebox(not fire studio)

1) apogee duet (im leaning towards this because of the good reviews ive read on the audio quality and mac compatibility)

2) MOTU UltraLite-mk3 - also ive read good things about motu.

from what i can tell the apogee duet is the best as far as audio recording/playback and latency, then the motu, then the firebox. would i be correct in assuming this?

 

[LapinSysChicago]

Presonus and MOTU are the best with Apple's Logic Studio

If you're looking for a mobile FW recording solution, Presonus makes an interface called the Firebox which I've used and have great results with.

However, for a few hundred more (about $550) you can pick up a MOTU 8-Pre which is an excellent and very high-quality recording interface that gives you 8 XLR preamps.

Recently, M-Audio came out with a new portable ProFire 610 (a follow-up of the successful Firewire 410 interface). I haven't had a chance to test it personally, but the Firewire 410 was great, especially for the price - plus, its compatible with ProTools 8 and Logic 8.

Hope this helps!

 

[lacassius]

i was considering the firebox but ive read alotta of good n bad reviews on it and the apogee and motu i have trouble finding anything bad about. at least as far as in the qualities im lookin for.

thanx for the feedback its definitely in my top 3

 

[zimv20]

presonus, motu, mbox, etc. are all about the same level of quality. apogee would be your next step up. imho.

but the differences, in the end, are much smaller than the quality of your ears, judgement and room treatment. unless all those are up to snuff, you probably couldn't tell in a blind listen.

and as i mentioned above, you should decide on your software first. what good is an awesome hardware unit if it doesn't play nicely, or work at all, with your software?

 

[lacassius]

thats pretty much the way i figured. room treatment is as good as i need it to be for what im doing. which is not professional level but acceptable.

so as far as sound quality and latency is concerned all of the afore mentioned boxes will be the same to the non pro trained ear?

Software is GB and just starting with logic express. ill work my way up from there. id way prefer PT but I cant justify spending so much $ on laptop, mic, etc. jus to have a latent, noisy, *****y sound coming from my interface. not to mention the mbox2 pro with pt le is more expensive than all the other interfaces i was considering.

interesting...makes me wanna get the firebox which is the cheapest and save myself some $. hmmmmm

 

[lacassius]

well how about the firestudio vs the apogee. if the apogee is a step up from the firebox the firestudio would have to be too. and there the same price.

i was thinkin only way firestudio wouldnt be apogee's equal at least is that your payin for all the extra I/O, pre's etc. not better sound quality or less latency.

im gonna get the apogee...at least for now in 10 minutes i might say firebox.

 

[Slowhands]

MOTU 896 Mk III

Does anyone have any knowledge of the MOTU 896 mk III? My live sound guy tells me that this is "The Holy Grail" for multi-channel recording. Kind of spendy ($900). Any thoughts?

We like to record live and this unit gives us 8 inputs. If anyone has any suggestions for other products I would be grateful. This is my first post on this forum.

Brand new Macbook Pro running at 2.8 ghz with a 320 GB hard drive running at 7200 rpm. (My first Mac and I am in love).

Thanks,
Rich

 

[zimv20]

Does anyone have any knowledge of the MOTU 896 mk III? My live sound guy tells me that this is "The Holy Grail" for multi-channel recording.

quality-wise, it's about the same level as Presonus, Alesis, Mackie, non-HD digi boxes; iow, decent but prosumer. "Holy Grail" is subjective and probably an overstatement.

don't worry about the quality, make your choice based on features and what s/w you're running.

so what software will you be running?

Brand new Macbook Pro running at 2.8 ghz with a 320 GB hard drive running at 7200 rpm.

you'll want to record to an external drive, fyi. 8 channels is too much for the internal.

 

[Slowhands]

External Drive?

Even my brand new Macbook Pro with a 320 Gig hard drive at 7200 rpm isn't going to work? I am planning on using Logic Studio.

Thanks for your input.

Rich

 

[zimv20]

Even my brand new Macbook Pro with a 320 Gig hard drive at 7200 rpm isn't going to work?

it will be quite busy, what with running your OS and your DAW. but 8 tracks is a lot for it to handle, so an external drive for audio is always recommended.

 

[Teej guy]

it will be quite busy, what with running your OS and your DAW. but 8 tracks is a lot for it to handle, so an external drive for audio is always recommended.

I've recorded 8 tracks of 24-bit audio in Logic before to the internal 7200 drive with no problem, but it's certainly just about at the limit of what you'd want to do. That also was without anything playing back at the same time. I can imagine playing back a lot of audio while recording 8 tracks to the internal wouldn't work so well.

Firewire 800/eSata is the way to go.