Ableton Forum

I need to get a mobile interface for my notebook PC. I need something that's good for recording and DJing. The M-Audio Firewire Solo looks great for recording, but how is it for DJing? I would use the 1/4" line outputs for the master out of course. But can the headphone output be set for the cue in Live or is that output not assignable?

i believe the headphone out only plays back the same material coming from the main outs.

you may want to consider the Firewire Audiophile for DJing instead.

AdamJay wrote:i believe the headphone out only plays back the same material coming from the main outs.

you may want to consider the Firewire Audiophile for DJing instead.

That's what I though. The Firewire Audiophile would be ideal if I were only DJing, but it doesn't seem too great for recording.

Then maybe wait for the Focusrite Saffire.
if the drivers are stable, should be an all around winner.
price, features, portability.

AdamJay wrote:Then maybe wait for the Focusrite Saffire.
if the drivers are stable, should be an all around winner.
price, features, portability.

When will it be available for purchase? What's the price?

Focusrite Saffire
$399 . should be available sometime late June or into July i believe.

AU/VST EQ, Compression, Amp Sim and Reverb plug-ins are included, as it doubles as it has onboard DSP. so its more than just an interface, its a system really.
24bit/192khz a/d - d/a
2 mic ins with pre's, stereo digital input
8 analog outputs, stereo digital output.

the onboard DSP should reduce cpu usage of using a firewire interface.

i'm really looking forward to this one.

http://www.focusrite.com/products/saffire/overview.html

The Firewire solo has two stereo output busses that present themselves in Live as 1-2 and 3-4. The headphone out always echoes 1-2 and by default this is sent to the analogue outs and 3-4 to the digital outs.

Using the software controls, however, it should be possible to send 3-4 to the analogue outs and 1-2 to headphone and digital outs; then you'd just make Live use 3-4 as the main outs and 1-2 as the cue outs.

I think this would work.

-Paws

noisetonepause wrote:The Firewire solo has two stereo output busses that present themselves in Live as 1-2 and 3-4. The headphone out always echoes 1-2 and by default this is sent to the analogue outs and 3-4 to the digital outs.

Using the software controls, however, it should be possible to send 3-4 to the analogue outs and 1-2 to headphone and digital outs; then you'd just make Live use 3-4 as the main outs and 1-2 as the cue outs.

I think this would work.

-Paws

great idea. but i gave this a try on my firewire solo and no such luck. i was able to route the analog outs to 3/4 and the digital outs to 1/2, but the headphone out stays tied to the analog out. there's no option in the fw solo control panel to change the routing of the headphones.

Right. That was me not thinking. The headphone amp will obviously want an analogue signal, and there's only one DAC on the card. Sorry for the misinformation!

-Paws