External sound card recomendations - needs inside

comandante · Post by **comandante** » Thu May 03, 2007 11:11 am

Hi everybody

I know that this issue has been treated before, but I have my concrete need and would highly appreciate your opinions.

- I need an external sound card for Live
- Under $300
- Don't know if it should be USB o Firewire. that's my first doubt...
- I need at least two simultaneous inputs (guitar + mic - balanced)
- Possibility of cueing. I don't do much djing but I don't want to get stuck if I want to do it in the future.
- midi in/out

I was looking to buy the m-audio fast track pro, but I read really bad reviews in this forum...

Any help would be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Comandante.

gort · Post by **gort** » Thu May 03, 2007 5:26 pm

m-audio firewire 410

some people have had some issues, but mine has been pretty solid. one of the 2 headphone outputs crapped out on me, but i only use one anyway.

Amberience · Post by **Amberience** » Thu May 03, 2007 5:36 pm

My friend bought an Emu 0404 USB2 one. It's been really solid since he got it. Only two inputs, mind you, there is digital connectivity, so you could expand it with a analog-to-digital box.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Thu May 03, 2007 5:37 pm

gort wrote:m-audio firewire 410

some people have had some issues, but mine has been pretty solid. one of the 2 headphone outputs crapped out on me, but i only use one anyway.

Wait... solid includes broken??

Check yo'self. People expect so little from M Audio. Avoid M audio. They're THE most complained about company on here, except for Ableton.

USB vs. Firewire - Doesn't really matter. If you go firewire, make sure your computer has POWERED firewire ports, a lot of laptops don't. There's the 4 pin no power plug and the 6 pin powered, at least those 2 flavors.

Cueing - You need 2 stereo outs for that, one for your headphones, the other for the PA.

Presonus Firebox, Edirol FA66, Echo Gina 3G... Just go to your favorite music gear website, hit the computer interface section and sort by price.

rat · Post by **rat** » Thu May 03, 2007 5:41 pm

i just got presonus firebox on ebay new for $299 and it came with a bonus presonus tubepre. it came in four days!
i think its the bomb for what i need. portable, sounds good in headphone output, and it has two decent preamps.
you may want to use compressor mics with this because dynamic mics are a little low..theres aw ay to boost with drivers, and this helps a lot.
but for using with line in guitar and bass it give a nice loud static freee sound

robin · Post by **robin** » Thu May 03, 2007 5:49 pm

My Echo audiofire2 is pretty good though others have had a couple of issues (search). Maybe the Audiofire4 would work well for you (I forget how many ins that has)?

I've seen good reports for the Fast Track pro, despite it being maudio. I think their firewire interfaces are a problem not USB.

In fact USB seems to be better at hot-plugging than firewire. Whether that's a consideration I don't know. My AF2 is fine with my macbook in this respect however.

gort · Post by **gort** » Thu May 03, 2007 6:00 pm

Tone Deft wrote: Wait... solid includes broken?? Check yo'self. People expect so little from M Audio. Avoid M audio.

im pretty sure the busted headphone out had a lot to do with my beating on it. "pretty solid" all around tho, and i've been satisfied with the sound.

i would agree tho, if you got $300, check the firebox. couple less outputs, but would meet your requirements.

(shotgun bullets are bad for my health, i know tone.. i know..)

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Thu May 03, 2007 6:06 pm

gort wrote:
Tone Deft wrote: Wait... solid includes broken?? Check yo'self. People expect so little from M Audio. Avoid M audio.
im pretty sure the busted headphone out had a lot to do with my beating on it. "pretty solid" all around tho, and i've been satisfied with the sound.

i would agree tho, if you got $300, check the firebox. couple less outputs, but would meet your requirements.

(shotgun bullets are bad for my health, i know tone.. i know..)

gort no like song. gort SMASH sound card. SMAAASH. gort like now. gort happy.

M Audio sells so much gear, they own the low end market. They sell more so you're going to hear more problems but I dunno, they're suspect.

gort · Post by **gort** » Fri May 04, 2007 12:53 am

haha.. "BLINKY BLUE LIGHT MAKE GORT ANGRY! GORT TRYING TO SLEEP!"

also, ive heard some stories of heat build-up in the fireboxes when leaving them turned on. so, you want to turn them off after each use? (that also can cause problems ! ugh..) presonis AND m-audio have "iffy" customer service.

time to decide if its worth saving $150 to $200 to go with one of these low end boxes or fork out a little more for a MOTU or somethin. (oh yeah, i forgot about that one jerk that works at MOTU, ok forget them). AHHHHH hell with it, dont buy nothin'. you're screwed either way.

WE"RE ALL GOING TO DIEEEEEEEE

man, i love coffee.

comandante · Post by **comandante** » Fri May 04, 2007 9:37 am

thanks
thanks
thanks
... for all the answers...

I'm going to make it a bit more difficult:

how important is to have a Hi-Z input for recording guitars (both acoustic and electric). I've read that it's very important, BUT most of this low end cards claim to record guitars while they don't have a Hi-Z input.

BTW, I've just realised that I don't need MIDI on my sound card as I have it on my KBD.

So if you want to change your recommendations you still have time

thanks in advance!!!