Ableton Forum

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to get some advice on what soundcards and midi controllers you all prefer when using Ableton.

I know that M-Audio has always been a popular brand, especially with the Axiom series. What are your thoughts? Are these midi controllers any good? Do you recommend another brand?

What about soundcards that would allow you to hook up Ableton with your mixer and headphones? Which soundcard would you recommend? At the store, they recommended the Firewire 410 (also part of M-Audio), but another website had a bunch of bad reviews for this particular soundcard...

Any advice or help would be much appreciated!

DJ Mike Beeds

hey, welcome to our nightmare!

Ive not had any experience with the Axioms, but i remember lots of people with problems with them some time back. M Audio seems to have a dodgy name for soundcards outside their PCI range.

it all depends on what you need the soundcard for, what kind and number of inputs and outputs,and whether or not youre recording live instruments. If its just for DJing, then something like the Novation Nio (USB) is pretty good, and gives you options for outputting from the interface into a DJ mixer, and a separate channel for monitoring.

Im using the Presonus Firebox (firewire) and it works great for me, but has lots of ins and outs you may not need, but they make quality stuff.

It's old school but i still use my Indigo DJ on the G4 Powerbook i use for DJ gigs.

No matter Mac or PC , if you have a PCMCIA slot you can use it.

24Bit , 96KHz ! 2 x Stereo Outs.

I generally use it into a DJ mixer.

Or you can Monitor on one channel and output on the other...

Do any of you have any experience with the Presonus Firebox? I've heard online from different sources that it seems to do the trick for the right price

I tried an M-Audio firewire interface, I think it was the 410. At that time I was working with Sonar on pc but I turned around and passed on my frustrations with it to some poor soul on ebay. (I had disconnect issues and fubared an external firewire drive which was the final straw) If you get this device, DO NOT hot plug it and expect it to play nice.

I had an issue with the Axiom 49 not wanting to midi dump with a prior version of Live 7, but it works great as a midi controller and is probably about as much bang for the buck as you can find and isn't hard to configure.

I've had basically zero issues with drivers etc with 2 different Motu firewire interfaces with Live on mac.

For less of a budget, one of my best finds on ebay was a few years back when I got a Tascam US 428 on ebay for $60 that served me well for midi control and as my interface. I traded it away before I tried it with Live but it worked great with Sonar.

I haven't heard or used the Presonis Firebox.

I had a Firewire 410 for about a year but had too many problems with drivers (back in the days i was still on PC) so i flogged it off.

At home and for gigs with Ableton i use an RME Fireface 400.

I had a Motu Ultralite before that , the sound is better from the RME. Both are very Portable but i think both are a little bit more than you might be wanting to spend.

I might suggest you check out used Ultralites (and similar) on Ebay , they are finishing between $350 and $450 US at the moment.

I haven't had many problems with used gear especially audio interfaces.

If you take care to ask questions first you should be OK.

my friend has an axiom and its a little slut.
i've had to program it for him cause he couldn't figure it out.


i have an mpd 24 and its sweetness on a stick
from that i'd say the akai mpk49 and mpd32 are worth a good look

i've used the m-audio 4-10 with no issues
i've also used the firestudio and an motu pci 424
i have had minor issues with both but they both work good.

i'm very happy with the motu pci 424 w/ 2408mkiii
i can run soft synths and route vocals/out board synths through fx in ableton with out any noticeable latency.

A plus here for the often recommended Firebox. Apart from the AC adapter on which half a cable is broken (which is because I didn't take care enough & travelled too much with it) I have NEVER had any problems with it. Rock solid, stable, good sound, freakin' enough outputs for Live stuff.
As we are in the recommendations section obviously, let me shoot for a MIDI controller recommendation question.
I have a huge set containing of lots of scenes and single clips to start. Having a BCR2000, stable as well, but too few buttons meanwhile - is there a MIDI controller consisting either of loads of or even exclusively of buttons (and more than 16)?

http://www.faderfox.de

Great midi controllers - they do one for live that's ALL buttons! I use 2 x LV2.

I use a Novation nio 2|4 and it's great for my purposes (live laptop/dj sets).

Worth a look, it seems. The LX2 comes with buttons alone, which is what I am after. Only the price is less considerable (for me), comparing it to the BCR... thanks for the tip though!!

Novation Remote SL range of controllers are pretty sweet. I have the SL25 and love it. It works a charm with live.

Steve

I'm using my Audio 8 DJ and I'm getting some funky noise issues - I'm not sure why. May be a ground loop - I'm sorting it out.

I'm also using an MPK49 and it's working out pretty well for me so far, but the pads kind of suck.

im using m-box 2 pro with xone 3d

I used to have a lot of problems with my 410, but after they fixed the drivers it's been flawless, I also have an Axiom 25 and a 61. I also have an akai mpd32. got a behringer bcf-2000.

No problems with any of those.

I never did resolve the problems I had with my Novation gear. And the triggerfinger just didn't cut it for me with no transport control.

My soundcard is the MOTU MKII(USB)...sounds great, some drivers issues tho, but i think thats windoos related. Has a lot of ins and outs and can even be extended via ADAT. So another 8 I/O are available then. But my main purpose is recording in a studio enviroment.
I've got the Behringer BCF-/BCR-2000 for years now and they never let me down. I bought the Korg PadKontrol for additional trigger buttons. Works like a charm for me!