Ableton Forum

This is more a question of overkill vs enough?
I realize the babyface is a better interface than the saffire 6

I bought an Onyx Blackjack and it's just WAY too buggy and it seems like a lot of people I've seen have the same issues I do.

Alright just to set the stage I'm not really looking for the cost effective option. But instead the best/low latency solution that won't screw up on stage ever. I think my ceiling would be around $1000 but if necessary I could push that just for the comfort of knowing the drivers aren't going to randomly crap out on me.

I don't really need that many outputs... Right now the most I'd be running would be 2 mics and a synthesizer plus some additional looping and vsts in ableton. I know I need at least 4 outputs so I can cue in stereo though I'll be running the mics through Ableton for effects and stuff as well. But I also know that both these interfaces come with onboard effects for purposes of latency free vocals and what not. So yea But I still want the option to run the vocals through some sort of Software DAW if I need to.

From what I can tell it seems like RME and Apogee are the big players of high end interfaces (but since I'm running windows Apogee isn't really in the running)

In the 200 dollar range people seem to have the least amount of issues with Saffire 6...

I don't really mind spending the $800 on the baby face come 2/9 but if it's just way useless overkill then I won't get it.

Just a quick background on my laptop in case that's just going to be the technological ceiling that makes the AI pointless
I'm running a dell D820

Processor, 80539, YONAH, T2300E 1.66, 2M
4 gigs of RAM
7200 RPM drive (I should probably swap this for a SSD)

I think those are the important statistics

If the Babyface has the I/O's you need, get it. I run a Multiface 1 and Fireface 400 in my live setup, and RME's rep for stability is well earned. Basically, it sounds great, is mega-stable, and runs at stupidly low latency. It does everything you'd expect and nothing you don't expect. Owned my MF1 for 8 years now, and I've never had a single problem with it. Worth every penny.

Pitch Black wrote:If the Babyface has the I/O's you need, get it. I run a Multiface 1 and Fireface 400 in my live setup, and RME's rep for stability is well earned. Basically, it sounds great, is mega-stable, and runs at stupidly low latency. It does everything you'd expect and nothing you don't expect. Owned my MF1 for 8 years now, and I've never had a single problem with it. Worth every penny.

Yea that's kind of the gist I've gotten from RME based solutions. Everyone seems to rave about the Multiface and Fireface so I'm hoping the babyface receives the same amount of praise. It's a little scary/exciting getting something so new without having proper global feedback but seems like RME is a pretty reliable company

I need it for a show on 3/3 so it should be enough time to stress test it a bit..
It's nice that it's USB powered as well seems like they've built something geared towards about the size of things I'm doing so yay for that.
Plus it's kind of awesome looking which is always important in a live setting

Thanks for the feedback

I'm not shure, but I think Dell notebooks and usb audio interfaces don't go well together. maybe it depends, but I have the Vostro 1500 and the babyface and until now it's crap. I can run it for 5 minutes then the dpc latencies stack up and audio goes mad. And if I add maschine or the Launchpad it's even worse.

Maybe it's just my setup, but the mods in the rme forum blame dell's bios.

mothergarage wrote:I'm not shure, but I think Dell notebooks and usb audio interfaces don't go well together. maybe it depends, but I have the Vostro 1500 and the babyface and until now it's crap. I can run it for 5 minutes then the dpc latencies stack up and audio goes mad. And if I add maschine or the Launchpad it's even worse.

Maybe it's just my setup, but the mods in the rme forum blame dell's bios.

Lame I didn't even think about that :-/
Just the general "cheapness" that sometimes goes into the hardware on laptops to get them under price marks....

I guess that's why people go with macs a lot in these situations cause of the single minded hardware design.

Did RME have any suggestions on the kinds of laptops they've seen work the best with their products?

from rme's forum:

Sorry, there is no list of working laptops. Consider buying from a specialized retailer for audio computers.

mothergarage wrote:from rme's forum:

Sorry, there is no list of working laptops. Consider buying from a specialized retailer for audio computers.

sad face

yea I actually just saw that as well..

Hunh I always thought it was kind of funny that Dr Dre was advertising those HP "audio laptop" but I guess there was really a good reason behind it..
:-/

this is all very educational

Now I have the DPC Latency checker running on my dell lets see what it does in terms of spikes and what not.... :-/

mothergarage wrote:I'm not shure, but I think Dell notebooks and usb audio interfaces don't go well together. maybe it depends, but I have the Vostro 1500 and the babyface and until now it's crap. I can run it for 5 minutes then the dpc latencies stack up and audio goes mad. And if I add maschine or the Launchpad it's even worse.

Maybe it's just my setup, but the mods in the rme forum blame dell's bios.

Sad I just got the babyface like 2 days ago and it seems like I'm experiencing this exact same issue :-/