Which audio interface for Ableton & MacbookPro?

[Phelios]

Hello everyone,

I am going to buy a new mac book pro (13'', intel core2duo) for use with ableton and a lot of external midi gear. Does anyone use the same configuration and can give a good recommendation for an audio interface? I need short latency (not more than 256 samples, better 128) and ROCK SOLID performance. No crackles or drop outs should occur even at high cpu usage. I don´t need a lot of ins and outs.

Thanks a lot for your help!

[NF]

fireface with usb/ babyface with usb
apogee duet with firewire
echo audiofire with firewire
maybe motu series.

it depens on your need of I/Os, taste of preamp sound, standalone possibilities and at least the connectivity.

greetz

btw: the performance of an interface depens also on the performance of you computer

[massivesax]

choose an interface that suits your needs made by apogee or RME... quality interfaces! Since you are using a mac I would go with apogee since they are mac specific...

[Phelios]

choose an interface that suits your needs made by apogee or RME... quality interfaces! Since you are using a mac I would go with apogee since they are mac specific...

I heard a lot about Apogee but never actually saw one in use. I think that I might give the "DUET" a chance.

[leisuremuffin]

apogee duet is really cool in theory, and i use mine for when i play processed guitar with my band, or when i do simple mobile recording, but it is not good for DJ use. you can't use it as an aggregate device, so no way to use built in audio for headphones, and it also crackles when decoding audio from mp3/aac etc. my old motu 828 does not have that problem. if i had to do it over, i would have passed on the duet for a small motu.


.lm.

[sexface]

I use the MOTU Ultralite and, even though it might seem like overkill in your case, I could not be happier. I know that literally anything I want to do with this baby I can do. It's small and solid and sounds great.

[Nick Shepherd]

+1 on the Ultralites... havent got any issues with mine, very solid interface and they run flawless on macs

[rikhyray]

Hello everyone,

I am going to buy a new mac book pro (13'', intel core2duo) for use with ableton and a lot of external midi gear. Does anyone use the same configuration and can give a good recommendation for an audio interface? I need short latency (not more than 256 samples, better 128) and ROCK SOLID performance. No crackles or drop outs should occur even at high cpu usage. I don´t need a lot of ins and outs.

Thanks a lot for your help!

I have this MBP model, used following:
NI Audio 8 - so so
Echo Audiofire - OK, better than NI.
Presonus Mobile - best latency of them all, no issues @ 32 and 64, have it set to 128 just for safety.
Wanted to switch to Babyface once it is available but meanwhile see no reason to swap, specially that Mobile gives me more ins.

[jbodango]

Others (will) disagree with me, but i suggest avoiding USB and going with something firewire.

[mattadms]

Others (will) disagree with me, but i suggest avoiding USB and going with something firewire.

I totally agree on that.
Had bad experiences with USB-Audio devices in the past, especially when playing live.

My recommendations are:
ESI DuaFire (on the low-end, looks cheap but never disappointed during DJ sets)
RME Fireface 400 (on the highend, but probably some sort of overkill as you dont need many I/Os).

[Short Scope Boy]

Hello everyone,

I am going to buy a new mac book pro (13'', intel core2duo) for use with ableton and a lot of external midi gear. Does anyone use the same configuration and can give a good recommendation for an audio interface? I need short latency (not more than 256 samples, better 128) and ROCK SOLID performance. No crackles or drop outs should occur even at high cpu usage. I don´t need a lot of ins and outs.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Presonus Firestudio Mobile.

[Jacqueslacouth]

Not one that gets much of a mention these days, but I have absolutely no compalints with the (now discontinued I think) Mackie Satellite. Very flexible i/o options, two good pre-amps and flexible for both studio and on the road...made tough too. Tends to go pretty cheaply these days...certainly performs above the $249 I paid for it brand new.

[marky141]

I use a similar set up for djing and recording my mixes, and my allen and heath Xone-2d works a treat. Depends what you want to use it for!

[Phelios]

A lot of MOTU users here! I had an 828mk3 and were very happy with it. But my new PC did not like it and so I sold it. Maybe an ultralite would be a good thing to buy. Unfortunally it´s not available at the moment and the ultralite mk3 is postponed to march 2011.

[nicolas.kellner]

If you wanna go for USB, I recommend this one:
Focusrite Saffire 6 USB
Not too expensive. good quality, good value.