Can anyone compare the Fast Track Ultra with the VS-100 interface re: latency/drivers and

just overall ease of use, problems or no problems. I don't have money to waste (though sometimes I do waste it...) and I really, really want to get something in that price range that will not give me the least trouble I've just used direct monitoring of audio in the past and have not used much midi. However, I plan to jump into the softsynths and Session Drummer. So I want a GOOD (fir the money) audio interface and am also looking at the Roland A-500 Pro midi controller or an Axiom, whatever will work best and easiest with X1.
 
Right now I am running an i5 laptop with an internal 7200 RPM HD and 8G of RAM... if I need more I have a friend who will help me build a CPU with whatever processing power I need. This computer has USB 2.0 and eSATA, no firewire. It has both a video out and HDMI so I plan to use it's screen along with another I have... and get a 24" if I need more space. So, that is sort of where I am. I probably wont be using a lot of midi tracks or plugs... mostly audio tracks.
 
I'm also enjoying the thread on monitors. I was at the store Friday and had a listen to the KRK Rokit 5 monitors. I thought they sounded good but did not compare them. I will be looking more. This forum is a great help to those of us who really need it, thanks to all who help so much.
 
Julien
 

I can't give a direct comparison of the Fast Track to the VS-100 as I have not tried the fast track. I've used several M-Audio Delta series cards in the past, and I did like them. They tend to have good driver support and sound good.
 
Last year I moved to a VS-100, and I like it a lot. What the VS-100 will give you over the Fast Track is a control surface. The transport is seamless and although I still tend to mix with a mouse, it's nice to arm/mute/solo from the surface when working on a particular track. For my workflow, what I enjoy most about the VS-100 is the footswitch capability. Being a guitar player, I like to start/stop by footswitch, and better yet - punch in/out via footswitch. Sure, Sonar has great auto-punch capability - but I'm old school and find it really fast and easy to just punch in/out on the fly. Latency does not appear to be any issue, however I do monitor directly through the hardware. Someone else may have a better answer in that regard.

The pre-amps also sound very good in the VS-100. I believe they are the same as the ones used in the 700, but if I am wrong I hope someone will correct me. I'm not familiar with how the pre's sound on the Fast Track. However the Octane pre's get good reviews, and you do get four of them on the Fast Track, as oposed to just two on the VS-100.

With the Cakewalk/Sonar name attached to the V Studio's, I would like to believe that support will be strong over the years. However, Cakewalk P/A 9 was attached strongly to the Peavey StudioMix, and that didn't last very long :) However Roland and Cake seem to be joined at the hip right now, so I think the support should be strong if the marriage stays together.

I also own an Axiom 49 controller (I only mention it because you bring it up). When I first bought that I thought I could use it for transport but it was not easy to setup with Sonar in that way. It required a dual setup that is quite complicated. Once I got the VS-100 the transport was so seamless I never looked at the Axiom again - other than for what it is, a keyboard controller. For that it works just fine.

Just my 2 cents on the subject. Sorry I couldn't offer a direct comparison!

BlixYZ


im having amazing luck with the ART dual channel usb.  so cheap and sorock solid.
also, as far as monitors go, in the rockit 5 price range, the yamahas are the BEST by far.
i also have the  maudio mobile pre and it is fine.

Thanks, i'll take a look at the ART... those Rokit 5 Monitors do sound good so i'll have to check the Yamaha and the others in the same range. Thanks.
 
J

Can't say about the fast track, tho there are several threads about them.  Do a search.

I did have the vS-100 in for review and it was quite nice.  Good sound and worked well with sonar.  The stand alone recorder mode was nice, too.  It is a nice bang for buck item, and USB worked well on my old desktop.  Comes w/ VS software, a light look-alike, precurser to SONAR x1.

It is hard to beat the vs100 for SONAR use at the price.

@