What audio interface(s) do you performing Live users use?

[Warrior Bob]

Hi everyone. In short, I'm looking to upgrade my audio interface and want to avoid expensive mistakes.

I'm currently running on a 2010 Macbook Pro. I've been happily using Live on this computer at home for several months, using an M-Audio Fast Track Ultra. It seems to work pretty well, but every once in a while, I'll get a kernel panic or a crash, and in the crash report, there's mention of the M-Audio drivers. I can work around this at home("in the studio"), but I would like to start taking this laptop out in public to do the whole laptop DJ/musician thing, and I don't feel that I can trust it if my interface might cause a crash in the middle of a performance.

I'm interested to know, what audio interfaces do performing laptop users actually depend on? Every performer has to worry about stability and latency, and I'm finding that it's quite difficult to get a good sense of which interfaces hold up in these categories from just reading reviews. I figure what works for you guys will probably work for me.

I'm particularly looking for:
- Low enough latency to play instruments through (10 ms roundtrip would be great)
- Stability & durability
- At least 4 ins and 6 outs
- Firewire (to save a USB port)
- Small size (half-rack units and desktop interfaces are plenty small for me)

It'd be nice to have good preamps and interesting features, but I realize you can't necessarily have everything. I'm expecting to spend $400-$500 US, but I realize it might be necessary to spend more.

To give you an idea, some units I've looked at are:
TC Electronics Impact Twin
Focusrite Saffire 24 DSP
Echo Audiofire4
MOTU Audio Express

Do any of you have any experience performing with things like these? What would you recommend?

[8O]

Hi, with the 4-ins, 6-outs requirement, that's mono, right? so 2 stereo in, 3 stereo out?

I've had my MOTU Ultralite (Mk1) for years and it's been rock solid - great build quality & sound quality and have never run out of inputs and outputs. Gigged with it a bit and it's never let me down - I consider it the most robust part of the set-up.

[hacktheplanet]

+1 for MOTU Ultralite.

[agent314]

Any significant differences between the Ultralite mk1 and mk3?

[Warrior Bob]

Hi, with the 4-ins, 6-outs requirement, that's mono, right? so 2 stereo in, 3 stereo out?

That's correct - either 2 stereo ins or four mono ins, or some combination of the two. Having a combination of XLR and 1/4" would be nice.

Thanks for the Ultralite recommendations! What kind of latency are you guys seeing through it, and what kinds of projects are you doing? DJ work? Lots of MIDI?

[Dragonbreath]

I have the saffire pro40 and I have not gotten any problems...

The pres sound great and I get 10ms latency easy... I manage to bring it to 4,75ms

[hacktheplanet]

Thanks for the Ultralite recommendations! What kind of latency are you guys seeing through it, and what kinds of projects are you doing? DJ work? Lots of MIDI?

Macbook Pro 13", 2.26 C2D, 4 gigs of RAM. Live 6, Ultralite MK1.

About half the time I'm doing multitrack recording (8 channels at a time at the most). The other half is MIDI, soft synths, 4 track, and running loops and effects and stuff... All to various degrees. Not near my interface right now, but I usually keep it between 3-12ms depending on what I'm doing.

[Khazul]

Currently NI audio kontrol 1 or NI audio 8 dj.
If I need more io in the future probably get an rme babyface and connect it to an adat io box as I have an rme ufx and that seems stable at 48 samples.

[8O]

Hi, with the 4-ins, 6-outs requirement, that's mono, right? so 2 stereo in, 3 stereo out?

That's correct - either 2 stereo ins or four mono ins, or some combination of the two. Having a combination of XLR and 1/4" would be nice.

Thanks for the Ultralite recommendations! What kind of latency are you guys seeing through it, and what kinds of projects are you doing? DJ work? Lots of MIDI?

Latency: can't remember off the top of my head, but think I run it at 6-8ms total and that's with a bit of margin to be on the safe side. Use the MOTU for DJing, but not Live, use Traktor instead. For Live livesets I tend to move everything from MIDI tracks to audio (to keep CPU down, a hang-over from Powerbook days), but also play with an external synth sometimes and the MOTU handles the outgoing MIDI and incoming audio with zero problems, as one should expect.

[3phase]

i use a fireface 400 but would prefer a motu on stage too because the inbuild dsp options to handle some external gear..

on the other side i wouldnt use anything without a rme or motu logo on it... maybe an edirol..i hear they are usually pretty allwright too.

[LeifonMars]

RME HDSPe Multiface II

1. low latency is crucial to me (routing drums and vox via Live)
2. 8+8 analog i/o + ADAT 8+8
3. RME has solid reputation and the unit (now 2 and half years old) has been solid as a rock

[bicarbone]

Motu ultralite MKI is a good one, used it for 5 years without a hitch, took it on stage and all around the globe.

BUT ultralite MKIII appears to be faulty for many users, generating harsh digital noise eventhough nothing is connected. Do a google search. I ordered a MKIII to replace my MKI which had fallen on the floor. The main volume/power knob broke off (pretty fragile those little encoders, I knew it was the weakest point).

So, yeah, MKIII was a nightmare. One night, when setting the master to mute, the volume went all the way up all of a sudden, blowing up my ears and monitors. Heart attack. I sent it back and got my money refunded. So, if you go with the ultralite, be sure you have the option to return it if it's faulty. Plus I must add that the dsp in the MKIII didn't really impress me, EQ was fine, compression and limiter sort of ok-ish, but the reverb is the worst I've ever heard. Live's reverb sounds like a lexicon in comparison. Preamps got a beneficial upgrade compared with the MKI, though.

So I bought a TC Impact twin, a bit in a rush I must say. Good output quality for live gigging, better converters than in the ultralite, much better dsp (actually quite useable) but I don't like the preamps at all and the roundtrip latency is quite high. So I bought an Apogee duet to complement it for recording. That's three interfaces in less than a month, talk about AB-ing gear!

If I had the cash right now, I would buy a Metric Halo or a Prism Orpheus for the studio. Maybe in a few months. In your case, I would seriously consider RME. Better to invest in something that will last more than a year or two.

Hope this helps.

M

[McQ714]

RME HDSPe Multiface II

1. low latency is crucial to me (routing drums and vox via Live)
2. 8+8 analog i/o + ADAT 8+8
3. RME has solid reputation and the unit (now 2 and half years old) has been solid as a rock

i would've said +1 for this as that's what i have and i love it. however, unless he has a 17" macbook, he doesn't have the express card port to connect the MF2.
next vote goes for everything else RME.
UFX or Fireface 400 if you have to have firewire.
UFX or UC or Babyface if you can use USB. Babyface is your cheapest option here at about $750 USD and well worth every penny, I'm sure.

[LeifonMars]

RME HDSPe Multiface II

1. low latency is crucial to me (routing drums and vox via Live)
2. 8+8 analog i/o + ADAT 8+8
3. RME has solid reputation and the unit (now 2 and half years old) has been solid as a rock

i would've said +1 for this as that's what i have and i love it. however, unless he has a 17" macbook, he doesn't have the express card port to connect the MF2.
next vote goes for everything else RME.
UFX or Fireface 400 if you have to have firewire.
UFX or UC or Babyface if you can use USB. Babyface is your cheapest option here at about $750 USD and well worth every penny, I'm sure.

Yes, it's bummer nowadays. Damn Apple, forced me to switch to 17" as the unibodys came out.

[chrism]

Hi, with the 4-ins, 6-outs requirement, that's mono, right? so 2 stereo in, 3 stereo out?

I've had my MOTU Ultralite (Mk1) for years and it's been rock solid - great build quality & sound quality and have never run out of inputs and outputs. Gigged with it a bit and it's never let me down - I consider it the most robust part of the set-up.

Just played out with my MOTU Ultralite (MK1!) last night. Over the years I've considered changing it, but it looks like this revision is still the best. CueMix could be a little less hokey but once you get it set you can pretty much ignore it. I am down to very little hardware now, and I wish my other pieces felt anywhere near as indestructible and solid as the Ultralite.