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Recommended interfaces for a Mac Pro with Logic Studio 8?

O

oban14

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 4, 2008
554
1
Portability isn't a huge issue. I don't need top of the line. I'd like to be able to record bass, guitar, and vocals, preferably without an amp. I'd like it to be firewire, and to use the firewire interface for power.

It doesn't need to be portable. I've dug through a lot of threads and searches here and am overwhelmed by the number of choices out there. The sticky pre-amp thread looks great but I'm not sure if I need one of those or just a firewire interface. Is there one that can do both?

My budget is 20 dollars to 500 dollars, although I'd obviously rather not spend more than I need to.

Thanks in advance.
 
Motu's ultralite is really sweet. Nice preamps, firewire buss powered, and two recording inputs. I've recorded whole bands on mine. Motu and macs are a great match.
 
check echo audiofire series

although motu and mac may be a match, as a professional company they shouldnt afford NOT to post SNR and THD+N on their website,.. it just cheapens the whole deal quite alot.
 
boolio said:
Motu's ultralite is really sweet. Nice preamps, firewire buss powered, and two recording inputs. I've recorded whole bands on mine. Motu and macs are a great match.
Click to expand...

wanna good match, try the apogee symphony system (although this is way out of his price range)
 
Ploki said:
check echo audiofire series

although motu and mac may be a match, as a professional company they shouldnt afford NOT to post SNR and THD+N on their website,.. it just cheapens the whole deal quite alot.
Click to expand...

I'm not totally sure what this means. Sound/noise resistance and something else? I guess that's why I'm here, to learn a thing or two from those more knowledgeable than I.

The ultralite and mkii seem to be about the same price. Any real advantage of one over the other? I'm assuming the mkii requires it's own AC power, is bigger and would probably like to be rack mounted. They both seem to go for around the same price (~400) on ebay.

The Apogee Symphony looks amazing, but hardly cheap! How long do you think it would take something like that to significantly decline in value or become out of date? The card is only 700 bucks but I guess I'll need a converter and an X-symphony card as well.

I'll look at the echo audiofire series as well.

One other question: I've heard about the "really nice preamp" and I've seen the preamp thread as a sticky up there. Do I need a preamp as well, or will an ultralite/mkii/audiofire/symphony replace this need?
 
audifire8 and 4 have preamps (two), 12 has only line I/O.
ultralite has preamps
symphony will cost you well above 700e to make it a useful interface (With I/O's and preamps)
828mkii has 2 preamps

if you dont need to record more sources at once 2preamps should be enough for starters, if you have more needs you can get external preamps for cheap and connect them to line i/o's.

snr= signal to noise ratio (dynamic range)
thd is total harmonic distortion and noise.
all professional equipment has that specification, apogee and echo have them, motu doesnt.

my vote goes for audiofire.. well, i'm getting one anyway. :) wanted to buy Motu 8pre, but no snr/thd spec's really bug me
 
oban14 said:
The Apogee Symphony looks amazing, but hardly cheap! How long do you think it would take something like that to significantly decline in value or become out of date? The card is only 700 bucks but I guess I'll need a converter and an X-symphony card as well.
Click to expand...

right, not cheap (but well cheaper than a Protools HD rig), and i didn't mention it for you to consider it, but just to argue how well logic and mac pros work with the whole system ...

You'll notice one thing about really high end gear, (not computers, but preamps, compressors, and that kinda stuff) is that they're are still very functional and valuable for many years down the road...
 
yeah. but if you get Protools HD you can run them on G4 flawlessly, since you dont really need CPU power. :)
for us cheapscapes its easier to get 8cores and logic,.. ;)
 
Ploki said:
yeah. but if you get Protools HD you can run them on G4 flawlessly, since you dont really need CPU power.
Click to expand...

those cards don't have unlimited power. after that runs out, one must run RTAS plugs off the local CPU. so it does come in handy.
 
oban14 said:
One other question: I've heard about the "really nice preamp" and I've seen the preamp thread as a sticky up there. Do I need a preamp as well, or will an ultralite/mkii/audiofire/symphony replace this need?
Click to expand...

the RNP is very nice. those interfaces all come with preamps built in, so you don't need an external one, but the RNP is likely to better than most built-in ones.

if/when you ever get to the point you want better pre's...
 
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