Looking for some advice on Audio Interfaces please.

Hey all, I've been recording with my basic computer sound card so far, and it makes my gear sound as if it's all made out of cardboard, so.. I've been thinking about getting an Audio Interface sorted.

I'm pretty close to settling on a Line 6 POD Studio™ UX2. My plan is/was to record with 2 mics, a dynamic up close to my 5:25, a condenser a bit further away, and a direct raw input from the guitar, and mess around with all three sources. Trouble is, you can record a maximum of two tracks at the same time with this Interface. I was wondering if there was a similar one around that could take three inputs (the next ones up seem to be 8 input rack components or such?), or whether what I'm planning on doing is completely pointless before I begin . Any advice?

I would look into the M-Audio or Presonus stuff first.

Thanks a lot Ned Some very interesting things there! I can see I'll have to do quite a bit more research too.

Okay, from what I've found out so far, with the aid of a good friend also, there are a few things to watch out for. Make sure you check the specs of the item you're interested in as well as the software that comes with it as it may not let you make the most of your new hardware.


My two options seem to be:

The M-Audio Fast Track C600
!!! - Be careful. To be able to make use of all of it's inputs you need Pro Tools MP at least - SE is included, but only lets you record two tracks simultaneously, which means you might as well get the C400, which is only capable of recording 2 tracks.
This option seems to be very gimmicky, polished, slick, and packed with software accessories, and possibly directed more towards film/computer/electronic/sound production?
The M-Audio Fast Track C600 & Avid Pro Tools MP seems to be around €530 Euros.

or

The PreSonus AudioBox 44VSL
It's not clear how many inputs you can record on at the same time, nor how many the software will let you record simultaneously ...perhaps it simply doesn't limit you on that, where the M-Audio/Pro-Tools ones do?
It probably doesn't really matter too much, but this one strikes me as more of a musicians' choice, being robust; rack mountable, rather than a desktop device; appropriate software bundled in ready for you to plug in and rock.
The PreSonus AudioBox 44VSL USB Audio Interface (which comes with the appropriate software) seems to be around €300 Euros.

They both seem to have the same sort of tech specs more or less.


I can't help but feel that I'm missing something majorly obvious here to explain the price difference. Quality? With the tech specs being practically the same?


Side note... why are the USB Interfaces and Firewire ones separate? Is it really that problematic putting both USB and Firewire on them and just letting you choose depending on your capabilities?

I'm relatively new to the sound engineering world, so may well be horribly wrong with quite a lot of this, so please feel free to correct me on anything as I'm trying to learn about it all and not fall into traps where you NEED to buy a sequence of things to get the first thing to work.

The main difference that 'justifies' the price is the on-board DSP effects. The C600 uses on-board DSP chip to generate the reverb for the singer before it even reaches your PC (that's true zero-latency...kind of). I'd assume you don't really need this.

Also, it's AVID - they always want an extra buck or two for the ugly 80s looking purple logo. :wink:

PreSonus AudioBox 44VSL on it's way /dribble.

Firewire would have been ideal for recording. The data stream between firewire versus USB have a vast difference. You might find yourself being bottlenecked by the USB interface. It might work now, but when you start recording multiple tracks at once, USB's bandwith might limit you.

Also, if you use firewire and record on an external hard drive with at least 7200RPM, that would also be ideal. If you are recording to your computer's hard drive direct, which usually runs about 5200RPM, you might run into issues since the hard drive platter's speed is limiting you.

Of course, I learned all this the hard way. Anyway, consider firewire in the future if you get into heavy recording. Plus those plug ins are a resource hog in your computer once you start initiating several of them. the key is to capture the cleanest take possible with your equipment so that less correction via plug ins would be needed. You'll be surprised how a little EQ (cut rather than boost) will help your tracks stand out in the mix.