Which soundcard to get ?

[Hades]

if you want 8 ins and outs, you'll only find average soundcards for 500£ in my opinion.
If you can wait, save up a little more and get an RME,
if you can save up even more get the Ensemble.
If you must buy now and can't wait to save up, get an Echo Audiofire8.

I'm only suggesting what I have personal experience with.
I'd give the Echo soundcards a 7,5/10
RME are definitely 8,5/10 or 9/10
Apogee is 9/10
Anything 9,5/10 or 10/10 is beyond my price range.
(honestly, as far as I can tell, as soon as you go above the (plus minus) 1500€ range, you end up in the 3000 to 4000€ range which is usually reserved for the pro-studio's, it's like there's almost nothing inbetween)

also, how important is latency in your case ?
do you play in stuff live on your synths ?
do you need good pre-amps ?

[tone-def]

also the echo audiofire 12 is really good, it's got the same converter chip as apogee but without the preamps. if your only recording synths then it's a really good interface.

Most interfaces actually use the same AKM or Cirrus Logic converters, even cheap maudio cards. It is a false illusion to think that because the converters are the same that you are getting the same quality.

the accuracy of the clock and analog stages will make the difference

I gotta say I agree with this.
I don't know anything about the parts in either, but
I switched from 2 Echo soundcards to 2 Apogee ones,
and there is a very obvious difference.
Latency on my Echo's was way worse than on my Apogees.
In fact on my Apogees it's almost non-existent, or at least so small it ain't an issue anymore. With the echo's it really was an issue.
And soundwise there sure as hell is !

I also heard RME cards several times, and always found them far better sounding than my Echo's.

you guys know the echo range better than i do. last year i did a converter shoot out at uni and i was really impressed with the echo. we tested;


Apogee Ensemble
Digidesign 192
Echo Audiofire 12
RME Fireface 400 or 800
M Audio Profire 2626
MOTU Ultralite
Digidesign 003
Digidesign M Box 2

thats the order i rated them in.
the apogee and the 192 were clear winners. the 192 was more natural sounding but apogee sounded more hyped and better.
the echo and the rme were too close to call but maybe it's the price we liked more.
the m audio sounded a little better than the rest, which were all about the same.

[::BLM::]

also, how important is latency in your case ?
do you play in stuff live on your synths ?
do you need good pre-amps ?

I don't need any pre-amps at all. I play live and record the midi so I don't want any latency at all. I get a tiny bit with my maudio now, but only notice it when I record to audio.

I might buy a few and then send back the ones I dont like. I am split between the Motu and the echo audiofire 12.

[tone-def]

also, how important is latency in your case ?
do you play in stuff live on your synths ?
do you need good pre-amps ?

I don't need any pre-amps at all. I play live and record the midi so I don't want any latency at all. I get a tiny bit with my maudio now, but only notice it when I record to audio.

I might buy a few and then send back the ones I dont like. I am split between the Motu and the echo audiofire 12.

have a look at the steinberg MR816 X. it could be the best sounding interface for under £1500 and it's only £530.

i was reading this thread where people were dumping their Apogee Ensembles for the MR816.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-co ... tions.html

[Hades]

have a look at the steinberg MR816 X. it could be the best sounding interface for under £1500 and it's only £530.

i was reading this thread where people were dumping their Apogee Ensembles for the MR816.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-co ... tions.html

people were dumping their ensembles for the MR816 ?
no offence, but I've just quickly read that thread, and I haven't seen people dumping their ensembles.
If I remember correctly just one guy having both saying he preferred A for this and B for that.
And another guy saying he would get rid of his Apogee AD16.
I didn't actually read anyone getting rid of his ensemble.
But I could have misread of course.

But anyways, that doesn't really matter.

What bothered me a bit about that thread was this one guy saying
"AD/DA is better"
ok, but why are you so sure about that ?
(don't just say "yes", but say, "yes, because blablablabla", give some examples as to why you think it's better)

I mean, isn't this a very subjective thing anyway ?
A lot of all that depends of your whole system/setup in a way, no ?

anyway, it looks like a nice soundcard to look into.
but I don't know sh!t about that soundcard,
and I'm only gonna bother blablahing about the ones I've actually had myself or had enough experience with in other peoples setup.

[Hades]

I don't need any pre-amps at all. I play live and record the midi so I don't want any latency at all. I get a tiny bit with my maudio now, but only notice it when I record to audio.

I might buy a few and then send back the ones I dont like. I am split between the Motu and the echo audiofire 12.

I think that's probably the best thing you can do !
Buy a few, test them out on your wn set-up,
and then keep the one you like best.

After all, you can just get some opinions from other people on the net,
but in the end it's still gotta be you that makes the choice, right ?

good luck.

[MarkA]

http://www.gear4music.com/Recording-and ... erface/BTG

looking at this, any thoughts?

[gowans]

im looking for a new soundcard too.

i produce all my music from hardware and mix my tracks on a mixing desk so im just looking for a way to record my tracks in the best quality possibly to the computer. wont need a load of input/outputs just enough to record my stereo mix, and outputs for monitors/headphones. so i want something with really really good converters.

ive checked out the RME Hammerfall HDSP 9632 as they seem reasonably priced, anyone got experience with this? Also is the babyface worth getting? I quite like the portability of it but dislike the fact its USB its also a little pricey.