Audio Interface

a computer-related recording forum with user woes, how-to's and hints
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dgerch
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Audio Interface

Post by dgerch » Thu Dec 30, 2004 5:40 am

I got this computer. It's A dell laptop, inspiron. I wanna be able to record music onto it on the cheap. What kind audi interface/xlr input do you reccoment getting?

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kittonian
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Re: Audio Interface

Post by kittonian » Thu Dec 30, 2004 8:50 am

I don't know what cheap equates to in your budget but I would strongly suggest taking a look at the Lynx products. They sound great and have a feature called synchrolock. You can spend a bit and get one of these cards and it will serve you for a long time (even when you get more into things and decide to upgrade to better converters, outboard gear, and even a Mac).
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MusicEuphony
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Re: Audio Interface

Post by MusicEuphony » Thu Dec 30, 2004 1:42 pm

I also have this same predicament about choosing an audio interface. I have a custom PC setup that should be fine for recording (2.8Ghz, 1Gb PC3200 RAM, 160Gb HD) and since I'm interning at a studio now, I feel like I should be doing some of my own recordings.

I'm looking for a decent audio interface w/ at least 2 XLR mic/line inputs as well as at least 2 1/4" mic/line inputs. I've been trying to find one for ~$150-200 range (seems like the lowest price I can possibly pay for what I want) since I'm not being paid. I'm hoping I can scrounge up that much cash somehow (maybe stopping smoking for a couple months will do it...haha). I'll probably mostly be micing up my guitar amp as well as going direct from my guitar, but will probably find other things to record as well.

I was going to save up for an mbox, but apparently it is not compatible with windows 2000, which is just annoying. There's definitely no way of affording windows XP and I'd hate to install cracked versions that might be faulty (my version of Win2k Pro is cracked, but a friend had tested it out before I installed it).

Does anyone think that it might be worth getting an older digidesign interface like an 888 or something of that sort? Might they be cheap enough that I could get one in the $300-500 range?

EDIT: I would like the interface to either be USB or have a PCI card to hook up to, since I have no firewire (though if there's a good firewire interface, I might just get some firewire ports).

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kittonian
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Re: Audio Interface

Post by kittonian » Thu Dec 30, 2004 2:01 pm

dgerch:

I must apologize. I didn't see your post said "laptop". The Lynx products are PCI cards so that won't work unless you get an expansion chassis from Magma with the PCMCIA interface.

You will need a USB or Firewire solution (strongly recommend firewire if your laptop has the port).

-----------------------

MusicEuphony:

An 888 wouldn't be a bad idea but you need a PT|Mix system to hook it all up correctly. So, it really wouldn't do you any good. Since you are on a PC, look into the Lynx products and you'll find a nice solution that will sound good.

------------------------

Both of you bear in mind that although you might have an interface you will also need a preamp to get the mic signal into your system. MOTU's 896HD is a firewire interface that includes the pre's. That might be a cheapy solution although it's certainly a bit more than $200.
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MusicEuphony
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Re: Audio Interface

Post by MusicEuphony » Thu Dec 30, 2004 2:11 pm

Yea...that's another reason I wanted an mbox, so I don't have to buy a pre. I figure, though, that if i get an interface, I'll probably be happy enough just going direct for a while out of my guitar until I can buy a cheap 2 input pre or something. I'll probably end up spending way more than I'd intended, like how things always happen. I'll check out that lynx stuff and check back.

EDIT: I was looking at some of those lynx PCI cards you were talking about and they look good except there's no phantom power as far as I can tell and no 1/4" jacks (though it'd probably be easy to just use an adapter).

I'm looking at this ART tube V3 on ebay that's only one channel but is a pre/interface with phantom power and 1 in/1 out (XLR or 1/4") for ~$60 on ebay. Any thoughts?

I am also strongly thinking about buying this digi 442 + VSD sync on ebay. Two days to go and $50 for the set...then I can afford to get a nice little pre soon enough, I'd assume. The problem I see with this is that I don't know how it's going to connect to my PC...if it's got a PCI card or a SCSI connection or what...then I'd have to find the right type of SCSI PCI card to get. Then I don't know if he'll have the PC protools software for it, nor do I know if it'll all work with windows 2000 pro and what version of protools it'll end up being (I'd assume it'd be like 5.x). Any comments?

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Re: Audio Interface

Post by toastchee » Fri Dec 31, 2004 7:54 am

I promise I don't have any connection to Presonus further than being a happy user:

The firepod or firebox - the firepod little brother are awesome. Why bother with a USB pre? The way I understand it is that there's much less juice on the USB bus, resulting in compromised pres.

dgerch
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Re: Audio Interface

Post by dgerch » Fri Dec 31, 2004 10:40 pm

This is really sad, but how do you know if your computer has a firewire and if it does, is their a particular interface/website I should look at?

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MusicEuphony
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Re: Audio Interface

Post by MusicEuphony » Sat Jan 01, 2005 12:21 pm

Well a firewire port looks sort of like a USB port, but the connector's a bit different. You could take a look on the back of your computer and see if you see any connectors that look like this:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/9908/firewire.jpg

As for why I want a USB interface/pre, I don't have a very nice sound card (well, a Santa Cruz 5.1 card) and it's just got 1/8" jacks, so i thought it'd be good to get a USB interface so I wouldn't have to get a firewire PCI adapter or a 1/4" - 1/8" adapter. I ended up buying the M-Audio USB Mobile Pre for $130 + free S/H off of digitraxx.com...hopefully it'll be here in 3-4 days now.

I don't really see why USB would compromise audio quality. USB 2.0 has transfer speeds somewhere around 480Mbps, where USB 1.1 was around 12Mbps. I think would think that 480Mbps is enough to handle streaming 16 bit/44.1K.

toastchee
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Re: Audio Interface

Post by toastchee » Sun Jan 02, 2005 6:40 am

It's not the transfer speed that is compromised, it's the power to the pres available on the USB bus.

creature.of.habit
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Re: Audio Interface

Post by creature.of.habit » Mon Jan 03, 2005 3:35 am

im not one to give advice yet (very new to home recording) but, have you looked into the emu 1212?or even the emu 1820 if u want something wider...it has no pres, but u're gonna have to get one sooner or later right? and they're not that expensive if u look deep. this is prolly what im gettin in a near future.

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Re: Audio Interface

Post by spankenstein » Mon Jan 03, 2005 8:12 am

MusicEuphony wrote: I don't really see why USB would compromise audio quality. USB 2.0 has transfer speeds somewhere around 480Mbps, where USB 1.1 was around 12Mbps. I think would think that 480Mbps is enough to handle streaming 16 bit/44.1K.
I haven't seen any USB 2.0 audio interfaces.

I bought my Delta 1010 from digitraxx. It was a good experience.

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