TC Electronic Desktop Connect 6, anyone?

[Pasha]

I was looking for a new (Budget) interface.
It seems my FCA202 has problems with Leopard 10.5.8 forcing me
to stay 10.5.6. Snowleopard is not guaranteed to fix the cracks.
So I was looking for something and I spotted this:

http://www.tcelectronic.com/Default.asp?Id=13090#m40

What do you think?

[rikhyray]

Absolutely fabulous for the sound,ridiculous low price, it is same sound (chips) like all other TC, was considering getting one myself but I need more ins so Presonus mobile works better for me. I tried the 6 , did DJ gig with it no issues really,on pc latency with ASIO4all was half as compared to TC`s, no probs on mac. The desktop design works great for DJing and imagine that those controls will be great for studio as well.

[oxygen23]

I am using it about 6 months..Amazing sound for the price, great monitor control. Drivers are super stable (I am using it with Macbook Pro on 10.6.4) and I didn't have any problems so far..
I am very pleased with this (portable?) interface and it's the best decision on interface I've made so far.. (previously had NI Audio Kontrol 1, EMU 0404 USB, M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Focusrite Saffire Pro 24, but this one is way above all those regarding sound quality) ..
greetz

[nz]

I have one and it works great with Live. Go for it!

[Pasha]

Thank you for replies.
I'm happy to hear that it seems I have found a solution...
Is the M40 Reverb that comes with it a nice addition?

[oxygen23]

Thank you for replies.
I'm happy to hear that it seems I have found a solution...
Is the M40 Reverb that comes with it a nice addition?

hmm..to be honest, I tried it once as a plugin and it sounds just fine (a waaaaaay better than Ableton's reverb), but little more cpu-intensive, so I am not really using it, because I already bought Breverb, which is great and very low on resources, and on the other way I try to use only few plugins ("less is more", but that's only me..) ..

However M40 is great addition for sure (you can check free M30, which is the same but only have Hall algo) and you would get it anyway, so nothing to worry about, it can easily be your main reverb..

greetz

[leedsquietman]

You could also check out the Focusrite Saffire and Echo Audiofire, which are great products too.

The previous poster - interesting that you say the TC quality was the best, do you do much recording with microphones, because the preamps in the Focusrite are the best out there in this price range.

Was it the DSP reverb in the TC which made you think like this. Focusrite don't have the best reputation for low latency drivers like RME or Apogee which is usually why people choose alternatives, sound quality isn't usually the issue.

[oxygen23]

The previous poster - interesting that you say the TC quality was the best, do you do much recording with microphones, because the preamps in the Focusrite are the best out there in this price range.

hehe..If you thought about mine statement, then I have to say, that you are right about those focusrite's preamps..
They are very good indeed (although, I have to admit, that I do not use inputs on a "daily" level, but of course I used those on saffire pro 24), but very close to TC's to my ears..I guess that is all about taste, but there is another issue that made me switch from focusrite to TC..

It's weird latency issues..Saffire was very unstable on low latencies,and sometimes it start to turn on and off repeatidly during sessions..Maybe it was fault device, I don't know, but I replaced it with TC and I am pretty satisfied now..
Second thing that was maybe issue with saffire pro was non-texas instruments fw chipset on my mbp..So, when I was looking for replacement I brought mbp with me this time and tried tc right in the store..It worked perfectly (although it was about 30 mins of testing, only) ..

One other good thing about konnekt 6 is hot-swapping .. Although tc says that konnekt 6 oficially doesn't support hot-swapping, I am using it regularly, on a daily level, and it's a great thing..I even turn it on and off during producing session (but in Logic, never tried it in Live) and it works without single issue..

So..It's all subjective and I didn't say that saffire is bad, just said that tc was my best choice for external (portable) interface so far..that's all..of course there are plenty of other good devices, but this is my experience..

One more thing that helped me in my decission a lot, was a SOS review on konnekt 6, and I trust them .. you can read it http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct08/a ... nnekt6.htm

thanks for understanding ..

greetz

[leedsquietman]

Thanks for the explanation - a few people have noted issues with latency on Focusrite interfaces, including the Sound On SOund review of the Saffire Pro 24. Did you ever try using ASIO4ALL with the Focusrite interface ? (curious).

[oxygen23]

Thanks for the explanation - a few people have noted issues with latency on Focusrite interfaces, including the Sound On SOund review of the Saffire Pro 24. Did you ever try using ASIO4ALL with the Focusrite interface ? (curious).

hehe, no problem mate..

I am glad that you understand that I don't want to start wars like focusrite vs. tc..No way..I am tired of all those things..
I think every product on the market is good enough to have it's own customer..It's just the matter of "what we need"

Regarding asio4all, I didn't try it because I was using it on Mac with core audio drivers..

greetz

[leedsquietman]

DOH ! (facepalm moment)

[Pasha]

Thanks again for very appreciated explanations.
In the meantime.... I checked with my nearby store and TC arriving next week...
... but I had and interesting fix the bastard session with Mac OS X!

I have discovered the root of my troubles with 10.5.8:

When 10.5.6 loads kext (kernel extensions)
It loads :

39 0 0x81c000 0x22000 0x21000 com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI (3.7.2) <38 17 7 6 5 4 2>
91 0 0x983000 0x4f000 0x4e000 com.apple.driver.AppleFWAudio (2.4.4fc1) <88 82 38 6 5 4 2>

While 10.5.8 loads

38 0 0x827000 0x23000 0x22000 com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI (3.9.7) <37 17 7 6 5 4 2>
101 0 0x99e000 0x4f000 0x4e000 com.apple.driver.AppleFWAudio (2.4.6fc8) <92 86 37 6 5 4 2>

If I install the FW SDK 2.6 from Apple Developer Website
FW driver goes down to 2.4.0fc8 while FWOCHI stays 3.9.7

Only combination number 1 (3.7.2 plus 2.4.4fc1) works fine.
Next step I'll try will be a transplant....
After 10.5.8 upgrade I'll have to transplant 10.5.6 drivers into it.
I'm doing it without harming my working environment by using SandBoxes made
with Superduper....
For those interested in looking at what drivers they are running:
Open a Terminal and issue this command:
kextstat | grep FW

Apple is constantly making changes to what FW Audio drivers do so beware before blaming Ableton
for pops & cracks (8.0.8 and 8.1.3 work fine here only on 10.5.6, for a reason...)
Since 2.4.0 FW Driver Apple has changed the way the streaming audio works and not all Audio Interfaces
are ok with that....as reported in their development FW Audio Guide. That's why many pro-audio interfaces have their own drivers...IMHO
I'll keep you posted..

- Best Regards
- Pasha

[Freedombeats]

Hello all. I've just purchased one of these, and it seems to have some latency problems, for example: I had three audio channels, all with waves EQ on, a couple of Izotope Alloys and a Izotope Ozone 4, and there was some latency when recording. I have a quad core processor and 8 GB ram, fast computer.
Any ideas?
Should I send it back and get a different interface?

http://www.soundcloud.com/freedombeats

[bimaxim]

Hi everyone!

I've been having some trouble with tc electronics desktop connect 6. I saw that somebody had some similar issues:
First of all it keeps disconnecting from the computer, than I go sleep mode with the laptop wake up and usually reconnects. Sometimes not and I have to try unplugging all cables to see if it will start working, firewire, adapter, or even restart ableton...
Sometimes it freezes ableton, and if I restart ableton it freezes again if I switch back to asio4all driver.
Sometimes it lacks 1 sec audio, i donno it might be abletons fault, but very annoying when drummer is on metronome and whole band is out of tempo..

Very annoying. Please HELP!
few ideas, maybe the problem is asio4all, firewire400, ableton live 9.1
thanks, Maxim
sony vaio win7 i7 firewire400 6gb ram