Ableton Forum

Appreciate your opinion (after some bad experience) on:

the most STABLE audio interface < 1000Euro for Live (6)

minimum requirements:
- Mac OSX
- Mac Intel (Pro)
- 1 Instrument in, 1 Mic in
- Midi in/out
- Usual line outs etc

I see complaints about a lot of interfaces, what about presonus, saphire, ....

Motu's + RME's are usually 100% safe.

Both the MOTU 828mkII Audio Interface and the Fireface 400 seem really nice. Do you still think firewire is better than USB2.0?

Yep, I have the 828Mkii and it is very, very solid.

To summarize:

USB2 bad.

Firewire better.

timothyallan wrote:To summarize:

USB2 bad.

Firewire better.

why?

DeadlyKungFu wrote:

timothyallan wrote:To summarize:

USB2 bad.

Firewire better.

why?

From what I've read the thoroughput for USB 2.0 just isn't consistent like Firewire is. Which is why you'll see Firewire 400 drives outperform USB 2.0 drives even though USB 2.0 is rated at a higher 480 Mb/s. That inconsistency would effect audio streams.

I've got an RME HDSP Multiface and Emu 1820M Digital Audio System. Allthough the Emu is highly flexible, has better conveters, inboard dsp effects, and more inputs/outputs and features, the RME seems to be more stable. In fact, the RME is very stable and I've never had problems with it performing live for nearly three years.

Allthough I don't know for shure if the Emu is to blame for my system being unstable - it could be my desktop computer too - I've heard more complaints about the Emu and never about the RME HDSP Multiface. Another bandmember uses the RME too for both desktop and laptop and also has never complaints.

Regardz,

Jos from Ravenglass
www.ravenglass.nl

i confirm the reliability of rme
never had a problem with mine (multiface II with cardbus).
the only problem is that the newest laptops have no pcmcia

I'd advice an RME too, I use it privately and it just rocks.
I'm sure RME will do something for express card compatibility since like someone other said cardbus is going to be discontinued.
I use a MOTU 828 mkII firewire at work (well, we have loads of MOTUs here) and I wouldn't go for it, the sound quality is not that good TO MY EARS (we are testing in anechoic chamber with state of the art B&K monitors and every superduper thing) and so far I don't like it, and the drivers are not as stable as the RME ones.

DISCLAIMER: I SAID I DON'T LIKE IT I DIDN'T SAID IT'S WORSE.

What puts RME a couple of step above MOTU is the totalmix software, with a super spectral analyzer and a couple of others things which are really nice.

My digi 002 has never crashed on me.

I bought a MOTU 828 when they first came out and it still works flawlessly to this day.

Recently bought an M-Audio ProjectMix I/O and it's buggy as hell.

I'm using a Presonus Firepod with an Thinkpad T-40 (P-M 2.0gHz, 1.5 gb memory, 80gb 7200 hitachi drive, XP-Pro/SP2) through a cardbus firewire adapter (via chipset). The only issues I've run into are crashes in Live 5.2.2 and 6.0.1 when trying to reconfigure the ASIO buffer size. I doubt the issue is with the presonus driver, as this procedure works just fine in Live 5.2 and Live 5.2.1, and I get the same results (i.e., crashes) trying to configure my L6 Toneport as well.
The Firepod works nicely. I'm pretty happy with it.

He decoder,

I bought an M-audio ProjectMix as well. It did not work with XP stable, same with the new macs. It is a bloody shame that nobody wants to admit it. the smallest things can cause it to loose connection between PC and interface. Its is sad that I bought mine with Live 5 in a bundle , because I liked Live and thought that the ableton company would not allow joint marketing unless they are sure that this is save. Guess I am not streetwide enough here.

It took me three months but now I am planning to return the unit to the shop which is not easy since I moved from Europe to the middle East. I am going to loose money either way.

DeadlyKungFu wrote:

timothyallan wrote:To summarize:

USB2 bad.

Firewire better.

why?

In addition to higher sustained data transfer rates, it's also my understanding that the Firewire interface relies less on your CPU than USB to process incoming and outgoing audio streams. Therefore, using a USB audio device at low latency will likely use more of your CPU power than a Firewire device.

If you want as much of your CPU as possible dedicated to running Live, go with Firewire.

Check out the MOTU ultralite.

It's small, it's firewire, good support, cheap, multichannel output, UB drivers.. and it's MOTU. Or 828 mk2 ofcourse.

I still love my RME Multiface cardbus with Powerbook G4 by the way

And yes Firewire is more sustainable then USB.. Certainly with video editing.
If you're streaming audio from an external harddisk it's a different story.. Keep audio and dataflow on seperated (Firewire)busses. I do like usb for my keyboard or midicontrollers... little latency:P

And yes, The project I/O is the worst product ever... Damn Avid wankers.
All they do is blame Apple if something ain't working


See ya