Best firewire interface for under $600

This is all my opinion of course - so take it however you wish.

MOTU - Avoid at all costs if you are on PC. I hear they work better with MACs
Mackie - 400f - Awesome pres, converters, etc. However, not very expandable since it has no ADAT. It would be best in class if it had ADAT
Presonus - A buddy has one and it is mediocre in every way. It works, but does nothing very well
M-Audio - Have heard that people have troubles, but I suspect that most people do not. Never heard that they were particularly great
Focusrite Saffire Pro - Heard great things about pres, converters, etc. Questionable stability. I am currently waiting for one to arrive at my house.

RME - Out of your range, but apparently very stable drivers and excellent conversion. Adequete Pres.
MBox Pro - Digi - What else can I say.... No ADAT

I am going to try the FOcusrite and see how that goes. Honestly, the best one I have ever had was the Mackie 400f. But I needed more inputs.....

Unsure of how many I/O's you need since you didn't give that information but none the less I'd take a look at the Echo Audiofire line. There's bound to be one that best suits your needs.

Yea I should have been more clear on my needs. I nedd at least 8 inputs. good idea on guitar center. I actually have bought a lot of my stuff there. I used to get pro account discounts but they have now pretty much gone to fixed pricing.

You could try one of the Edirol interfaces. I use a FA-66 with Sonar and it works great and Edirol has very good drivers for XP, Vista. Plus, drivers for 64-bit OS if ever decide to go that way...

* Edirol FA-66 Audio/MIDI Interface

* Edirol FA-101 FireWire Audio Interface

* Edirol UA-101 USB Audio Interface

* Edirol UA-25 USB Audio Interface

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series. Get Sonar 7 Power & Sound Forge 8 Power - Today! Go to: http://www.garrigus.com/ - http://www.musictechshop.com/ - http://www.cooltechshop.com/

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Edirol FA-101 or FA-66

Just depends how many inputs you require.

I know that some Sonar users have had trouble with them, but I've been using an Alesis io26 for about 9 months and it's working fine. 8 mic pres, ADAT litepipe inputs, 8 outs plus 2 headphone outs. MIDI connections, insert points on the mic pre channels.....
You said you need 8 inputs, but you didn't say whether that's mic inputs, or line level or what. FWIW I had a look at the link to the Edirol stuff and it looks like they have many inputs, but only 2 mic pre's.

If you're gonna buy from the Guitar Center for their return policy, you might give the Alesis a try. There's an extensive pro review done by Craig Anderton on the Harmony Central Forum.

ORIGINAL: CassidyGT

This is all my opinion of course - so take it however you wish.

MOTU - Avoid at all costs if you are on PC. I hear they work better with MACs

As the owner of two MOTU interfaces I'll call this comment somewhat off mark. It is true that MOTU seems to put most of their driver development and support towards MAC users, and that is frustrating. But the hardware for me has been rock steady reliable and of very good quality. Reliability isn't an issue here. (using an 986 hd with 8pre)

If the OP does not need individual outputs the Motu 8pre would be a very flexible platform.

(Hey, 1000 posts here!)

I have also been using MOTO 896 for a few years rock solid on PC @ 1.5 - 2.2ms.

In the recent sound on sound review the TC Electronic Konnekt 6 was described as having the best audio quality of any of the audio interfaces tested (using test software, rather than someones ears, although that was involved to) under £500 (approx $900). Although as you havent specified required inputs and outputs this might be not to your liking since its stereo ( or 2 mono) input and stereo output (with an additional headphone out). Also comes with a pretty decent reverb VST that you can use when ASIO direct monitoring.

I use the Focusrite Saffire.... I find it to be very nice...stable... I don't need to use a mixer.

You should first determine how many inputs you will need at the same time. Saffire has 2 audio inputs, midi in/out, 2 headphones out, and 8 programmable outputs. In adddition it has a transparent DSP software interface...which for me is a "set and forget" interface. I rarely touch it. Your inputs & outputs and compression & reverb & EQ are set up & controlled here.

Saffire is firewire, and latency is non-existant for all practical purposes.

Have fun...

Motu period
after that Echo

nothing else listed comes close to either

and ther are more places than GC to buy gear and be able to return it..

MOTU - Avoid at all costs if you are on PC. I hear they work better with MACs

FWIW, The MOTU interfaces (both Firewire and PCI) are some of the best available.
I've installed scores of them without issue... (and use two of them myself)