Good FireWire/USB audio interface? (BESIDES M-AUDIO)

So, any alternatives to M-Audio's interfaces? My price range is UNDER $250. Alesis? Digidesign? MOTU? Edirol?

All I need it for is for a couple phantom mic inputs, some audio inputs. Effects would be nice, but unnecessary.

Thanks

it's not the drivers i had problems with.

i hear the edirol f/w cards are good.

never had a problem with m-audio. currently running a delta 1010 and an audiophile with like 2ms latency. (2.4gig machine, 2gig ram)

great customer support too.

each to their own.

  hahathhat said:

it's not the drivers i had problems with.

What was it?

The Audiofire4 that someone on here suggested and I then bought (thanks whoever it was !) is absolutely amazing, I'm well happy with it although unfortunately it's a little over your budget ($299 from here - http://www.zzounds.com/item--ECHAUDIOFIRE4 )

yeah, my next audio interface will most likely be some echo audio product. probably that audiofire4.

Okay, I guess this is a stupid question, because the answer is either "yes" or "no" and no matter what it is going to make me look like a retard.

But... I've been looking at the M-Audio MobilePre USB and I can see that it has 2 analog outputs. Does this mean I can run seperate tracks on each output so I can use it for DJ sets?

Edirols are nice. only problems i've had with M-audio is switching sound cards back and forth without restarting.

yeah my only issue with my m-audio Firewire410 is that it's not hot swappable. Otherwise it works fine.

i was an m-audio fw410 user for a few years and finally got out of their p.o.s. line of audio interfaces. (terrible drivers, function and utility.)

having switched to a T.C. Konnekt, i've been much happier ever since. Id look into the Konnekt line of interfaces by T.C. Electronics.

digidesign is great, but the only interface they have worth buying, apart from the digi 00x series is the M-box2 Pro FW, but that's out of your price range.

I just got this:

Absolutely lovin it right now and if you buy it before December 1st you get a free copy of either Massive, FM8, Absynth 4, or Pro-53 :)

I use my old piece of shit Tascam

  yalone said:

  hahathhat said:

it's not the drivers i had problems with.

 

What was it?

whoops, never replied did i??

- i have an audiophile 2496 that has worked flawlessly.

- i have a delta 1010 i got off ebay. worked great for a while, then one day i heard a loud BANG from the rack module and it wouldn't work any more. cracked it open, turns out i had a REV A or REV 1 delta 1010, that is, there was a design flaw that'd be fixed if you got a new delta 1010. power cap was rated too low for what they were giving it, eventually fries. thing worked fine again after it was replaced with proper cap. a year or two later, it died again, i just packed it in and bought a fireface -- figuring i've put in the time on a $300 ebay interface to deserve a proper one.

anyways, i think my mistake was getting it secondhand on eBay, not getting an m-audio card. aside from above, no probs, esp. driver probs!! i use a PC with 2k/XP....

I've myself an Edirol FA-66, found for $239.00 on eBay, though it's seen limited use; I've also an M-Audio Axiom 61 that I bought two years ago on Goffer's recommendation, with which I've done nothing. I can't write on the Edirol's quality but I do hope to motivate myself over Winter break.

glad it worked out for you Pete. been loving the audiofire 8.

i've owned two m-audio duos and an edirol fa-101. all failed eventually under normal use. the duos melted themselves during two different summers. the fa-101 has a shitty sample-rate selection knob that is fried on mine (thinks it's at 96k no matter where the knob is set) and it's $75/hr labor plus shipping both ways. hooey.

  A/D said:

(thinks it's at 96k no matter where the knob is set)

must be the tamas edition.

as i posted in another thread i'm having trouble with my 2496 m-audio... it creates distortion with audio.

it's pci... i only have 2 pci slots, another one is being used by wireless pci card

the sound is perfect when i have the wireless card removed, can somebody please tell me another alternative to unplugging and then plugging stuff back in?

I use an alesis firewire mixer, it was SUPER cheap, and for it being SUPER cheap, it does pretty good for me :)

I'm no hi-fi junky though.

YEK you could get a wireless card that does not share the same bus i suppose. For instance you could get a usb or firewire wireless card.. or sound card visa versa..

  hahathhat said:

  A/D said:

(thinks it's at 96k no matter where the knob is set)

 

must be the tamas edition.

come to think of it i spilled some beer on the knob a long time ago. still pissed that it exists however. software selectable ftw. audiofire.

That was actually the thing that put me off the Edirol's and made me get the Audiofire (the sample rate dial that is, not spilling beer on knobs)

Motu ultralite mk3 is awesome

phonic firefly 302+ if you don't want to dish out too much.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov07/arti...cfirefly302.htm

had it for just under a week and am impressed so far. solid build, decent sound and cost under £100. has the right amount of features i need at the moment. i think you can daisy chain too.

not really into spending lots on gear that doesn't have an immediately creative use so it was a good choice for me.