Looking for suggestions for a good audio interface- Jim Rosenberry, feel free to respond!!

I have a pretty fast PC set up, but my soundcard (Toneport UX2) seems to have problems with low latency settings on my system. I am looking for an inexpensive 2 channel interface with mic pre's that can jive with Win7 64 bit.

I am also looking at Rig Kontrol 3 and possibly purchasing a 2 channel Mic Pre to run through it's line inputs. Any thoughts on it's performance?

Focusrite 'Saffire 6 USB' around $200. Good sounding pre-amps. Good drivers/features. I use one when I'm mixing on the go.

Okay this should rock the foruim a bit.

I have a lot of interfaces (read my history for further info)

Based on the number of channels you say you need, and without any other needs cited, hands down the 'best' interface is the Avid Mbox3

#1 Win7 64 fully supported
#2 The ONLY interface at this price with onboard DSP
#3 Good sturdy construction
#4 Comes with some other DAW that I can't remember it's name

-D

nathen ebay  m-audio firewire 410/610 its more than most
would need.. except if your tracking live drums..200.00 or
less.. firewire too..

+1 for the Echo Layla 3G. Pricey, I guess, but with the pre's and 8 channels I was able to box up my audio mixer.

Works exceptionally well with Windows 7 64.

haha yeah this shohuld get moved to hardware lol

http://www.americanmusica...4OyY66YCFdtx5QodkS27CA

Lanceindastudio


 Also, their drivers are always excellent, the pres sound damn good for interface pres, and they play nice with W7 (they are always on top of the latest drivers)

This is the best advice. Make sure to get quality drivers. This is more important than interface specs or price.
 
1) Quality of drivers
2) Interface specs & performance
3) Price
 

Focusrite Sapphire Pro 24 (Firewire) works beautifully once all the drivers are updated.  Very solid piece of audio equipment.  Under $300 on the web. 

he's been recommending the M-audio Fast Track Ultra as his top recommendation.

 
If you need a lower cost audio interface that provides preamps and has low round-trip latency... then it's hard to beat the FastTrack Ultra... and it's bigger brother the Ultra 8R.
 
Many of the interfaces listed above will work/sound fine... but many of them have higher round-trip latency.  If you never intend to monitor in realtime thru software processing/EFX, then it doesn't matter.
If you do want the ability to monitor in realtime thru software processing/EFX (ie:  Running a DI guitar/bass thru an AmpSim and listening to the results while playing), then getting an audio interface that provides low round-trip latency is paramount.
 
Round-trip latency is the sum of the following:

• A/D and D/A converters
• ASIO input and ASIO output buffers
• The driver's hidden safety buffer

The wild-card that you have no control over is the driver's hidden safety buffer.
If your audio interface uses a large hidden safety buffer, it'll suffer from high round-trip latency... and there's nothing you can do about it.  (Doubling the sample-rate roughly cuts round-trip latency in half... but at the cost of doubling the load on the system.)
Some interface manufacturers choose to use a large hidden safety buffer... because it insures glitch-free playback under less than ideal circumstances.  That's fine and good... but it comes at the expense of high round-trip latency.  If you're running a recent make well configured DAW, it can handle running substantial loads at a 64-sample ASIO buffer size (or less)... completely glitch-free.
 
To sum it up:
If you want a unit that provides preamps and low round-trip latency, your options are few.
If you're not concerned with low round-trip latency, you have numerous good choices.
BTW, There's a Nathan Barton who lives two houses down from me.   

Sorry no experience with Rig Control.  I'm basing my recommendation on my experience with my Fireface 800 and RME's reputation in general: for what you want I would seriously consider the RME Babyface.

RME Babyface

10 Input / 12 Output channels

2 x Analog Input

4 x Analog Output

1 x ADAT I/O or 1 x SPDIF I/O optical

1 x MIDI I/O

1 x USB 2.0

2 x Mic Preamp with digitally controlled gain

1 x Hi-Z instrument input

TotalMix FX (with EQ, Reverb, Echo)

     

it applies mostly to softsynths (latency).  the problem is not going to be, however, for playback - playback is not an issue with high latency.  the issue is trying to record MIDI while using the softsynth as your MONITOR.  in other words, if you have DimPro set up as a softsynth in your project and you're playing a keyboard as input to the MIDI track and dimpro is the output and you're listening to dimpro as you play;  that's when latency needs to be as low as possible.  when you have high latency there will be a delay between the time you hit a key and the time you hear it.  that makes playing in time difficult

SF_Green

Beagle


it applies mostly to softsynths (latency).  the problem is not going to be, however, for playback - playback is not an issue with high latency.  the issue is trying to record MIDI while using the softsynth as your MONITOR.  in other words, if you have DimPro set up as a softsynth in your project and you're playing a keyboard as input to the MIDI track and dimpro is the output and you're listening to dimpro as you play;  that's when latency needs to be as low as possible.  when you have high latency there will be a delay between the time you hit a key and the time you hear it.  that makes playing in time difficult

Now that's an understatement!  At least for me.

seriously!  I have a hard enough time playing in time WITHOUT a delay!!

nathan217


Yeah, Yeah, I know...the hardware forum. I just figured if I posted in the x1 producer forum I'd get more hits.

Anyone have any experience with Rig Kontrol 3? any thoughts?

Like I said no Rig Kontrol experience, but I'll throw in that I have Komplete 7 and NI is one of my favorite companies.  They do things right in general.   I do use and like Guitar Rig 4, although I have to admit I go to my Line6 products first just because I had them years before I got GR4 so am more familiar with them.   As far as getting some feedback on the Rig Kontrol, have you tried Gear Slutz or NI Forum ?