Advice Needed!!

I've been using the big brother of the Fireface 400, (the 800), for about 5 years. Love it, can't complain about anything. Really good, clean card with great routing options through the included TotalMix software. The DigiCheck utility is also a really cool metering and analysis application.

I haven't used the Liquid 56 so can't comment on that one.

Q.

So is pci still preferred over firewire?

What?

Just wanting to get something with a little more flexibility - ins and outs. PCI or FireWire? What's the best?

I had the multiface...rock solid & sounds well beyond acceptable.

My saffire 56 is supposed to be here next week though :-) It's got pre's! 

About FW vs PCI: My $.02 is this, RME PCI stuff is solid...and as far as using FW with audio interfaces, do your research on the right FW chipset & you should be good. There does appear to be issues with the Saffires & non TI chipsets in the Firewire bus. I went ahead and bought a $20 FW card that's known to work instead of trying to use the internal FW on the mobo.

todd

I don't know about this. I use a pci card mainly because the Delta 1010LT that I'm using can be combined with more Delta 1010LTs and sometimes I need 18 inputs. But again, pic means that the card can't be used with any other system. But a FW is easy to connect to whatever system you want. You throw it in a bag with a lappie and you're good to go!

Thanks to all.

I checked under device manager in windows XP home and I have TI OHCI host controller - driver 5.1.2535.0 - it says it's on pci bus 4 - I think it also has a usb port on the same bus. Is that gonna work or should I get another Firewire card? thanks.

I use M Audio Profire 610, have no problems, great sound card

Hi Drumr,
 
There are great PCI/e, Firewire, and USB audio interfaces.
More important than which format (PCI/e, Firewire, USB) is your choice of specific unit.
 
If you have the budget, go with an RME unit.
Their PCI/e, Firewire, and USB units are all fantastic.
All have rock-solid drivers... and deliver low round-trip latency.
You literally can't make a bad RME choice (as long as it meets your I/O needs).
 
If your budget won't permit RME, the M-Audio FastTrack Ultra and Ultra 8R are good units (deliver low round-trip latency).
 
If you go USB or Firewire, you choice is more critical... as typical units don't provide low round-trip latency.
Typical Firewire and USB units use a large hidden safety buffer.  This helps ensure glitch-free playback... even under less than ideal circumstances.  But... it comes are the expense of much higher round-trip latency.
If you're wanting to play/monitor in realtime thru software EFX/processing, having low round-trip latency is paramount. 
 
If you go with a Firewire audio interface... (as usual) make sure it's connected to a good TI chipset controller.
 
If you go PCI/e, there are many good options
If you go Firewire, I'd stick with RME, MOTU, or Steinberg (all deliver low RTL)
If you go USB, I'd stick with RME or M-Audio FastTrack Ultra or Ultra 8R
 
FWIW, I used a Babyface (RME USB unit) for a 4-hour gig this past Friday night... playing soft-synths (Kontakt 4, Omnisphere, etc) at a 48-sample ASIO buffer size.  Not a single glitch...

Thanks Jim. Any thoughts on the existing FW driver I mentioned above that's with my computer?

drumr


Just wanting to get something with a little more flexibility - ins and outs. PCI or FireWire? What's the best?

what you need it for? music production?, multi-track recording?, with preamps?, with control surface integrated?
good realtime monitoring sistem,price range?

I had a maudio delta 1010 10in/out and freaking loved it.  Lowest latency audio card I ever had and the price was incredible - $200.00.  I miss that card.

Jim, I have a friend who has a FF800 he's offered to let me try. Should I remove the pci EMU before trying it out. Or can I just leave it in, in the case it doesn't work out for me? What cha think? THX.

 
Hi Drumr,
 
That is a good friend! 
I'd leave the Emu in the machine (but go to Device Manager and right-click/disable it).
 
Download/install the latest RME Firewire driver for the Fireface series.
Run the FUT (flash update utility) to make sure the FF800 is running the latest firmware.
(Download the FUT when you download the driver)
 
The Fireface800 is a great unit.
The Fireface UFX takes the Fireface series one step further.  The best audio interface that exists... with a price that reflects it. 

Jim, I checked under device manager and only the emu wdm driver is listed in there. I'm using asio driver? Any thoughts? thanks

 
It can be confusing.
The Emu driver is a Windows WDM driver.
With that driver install, you can have both WDM and ASIO components.
Disable the WDM driver in Device Manager... and the Emu (as a whole) will be disabled.