Most rock solid interface for Macs (Live use) ?

chrisedmo · Post by **chrisedmo** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 9:54 pm

Hi all, out of desperation i am asking on here for peoples advice on Audio nerfaces for macs.

You see I originally had a Firebox and this thing was great, i sold it as the band needed at least 8 pres for recording and gigging, after some reason we bought a saffire pro 10.. WOW worse piece of sh*t ever. doesn't work bus powered, latency changes, drop outs.. rubbish. But the Pre's were awesome?

So im thinking of selling for maybe a firestudio/pod ?

I just want something solid now ? MOTU seem to get reliability checks but i heard the pre's or the A/D D/A suck ?

Again, im on a macbook and need a solid 8 pre interface with multi outs ?

LDT · Post by **LDT** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:03 pm

I have the Presonus Firestudio for my Macbook. Low latency and no probs.

chrisedmo · Post by **chrisedmo** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:11 pm

yeah, im thinking i might just sell the saffire and buy a firestudio or that firestudio project.

Atomikat · Post by **Atomikat** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:31 am

Rock solid? go RME or Apogee

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:35 am

Atomikat wrote:Rock solid? go RME or Apogee

or if you're a solid Mac OSX person. nothing beat Metric Halo!

http://www.mhlabs.com/metric_halo/

You pay for these, but what the hell? It;s the single most important part of the chain IMO. I have an RME Fireface, and it's solid, but the Metric Halo Pres are supposed to sound really good!

nate_D · Post by **nate_D** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:11 am

i love my tascam fw1884. i've got all my midi/audio shit hooked up and ready to go at all times. it handles business.

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:09 am

MOTU and RME are pretty much rock solid as far as I know from my experience running macs at work and many mac owners I know (I run PC at home).

Pitch Black · Post by **Pitch Black** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:39 am

I run an RME Fireface400 live, at 5ms latency. It's processing stereo analog audio input, plus another 8 channels of incoming digital audio via ADAT lightpipe, while receiving MIDI CC's from 4 MIDI controllers simultaneously.

Rock Solid.

It doesn't have 8 mic pre's, as per your spec, but I would suggest that theFF400 + 8 external mic pre's inputting either via analog or lightpipe would be very stable.

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 2:19 pm

Most of the guys on the Abletonlivedj forums use MOTU Ultralites for live use, dead solid, no issues.

tjwett · Post by **tjwett** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 2:29 pm

agree with OP on the Saffire. i have it and hate it with a passion. i'm looking at the Korg Zero. tweakage is amazing but i can't get a solid answer on the quality of the pres etc. i know a lot of people with Presonus and are real happy with them.

beatpoet · Post by **beatpoet** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 2:33 pm

Tarekith wrote:Most of the guys on the Abletonlivedj forums use MOTU Ultralites for live use, dead solid, no issues.

+1

never had an issue

freshdrumma · Post by **freshdrumma** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 3:01 pm

avoid m-audio firewire interfaces, had bad experience with both tc. and focusrite...
presonus fireboxit's my choice for live, solid cheap, and sounding very good! never left me down in 2 years
i use motu 828 in the studio...

LDT · Post by **LDT** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:03 pm

I have an update to my positive comment on Presonus Firestudio: I had to upgrade firmware in order to get midi to work but the new firmware is a screwup. Then I discovered that LOTS of users are having problems with their software and firmware.

I also discovered the whole Agere firewire chip issue. At some point Mac went from TI chips to Agere, and from there a lot of problems came with audio interfaces. F.x. it is not recommended to use RME FF800 with a Macbook. Apple may have gone back to TI now though.

Right now Metric Halo looks tempting. I just want really low latency and no more of that using-the-customers-as-beta-testers BS.

kberanek · Post by **kberanek** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:47 pm

I got a firepod for super cheep, not bus powered but works great, excuse me, worked great until that airport update. I think thats the problem, if I turn up the buffer size it goes away, but I'm gonna fix this for real when I get off work today.

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 4:08 pm

Yamaha 01V/96 with the MLAN card.

Rock-solid, 16 24-bit/97kHz ins and outs and MIDI down a single Firewire cable makes it a great choice for a band. Gig AND record with it.

It may seem pricey, but considering you're getting a hugely capable digital mixer, Firewire interface, MIDI controller and the fact that it's built like a brick shithouse (unlike the Chinese plastic crap), I think it's great value for money. And as they've been recently discontinued, you can find discounted prices.