help buying an audio interface

 I know that Alesis did have a few problems with drivers for their audio mixer/interfaces.

 Presonus makes the 16.4.2 mixer and interface. This unit has won numerous awards. More than just a mixer married to an interface, it has compression and limiting on each channel plus really nice effects although it goes for around 1400.Mackie makes a similar thing with less features but is less expensive.

  There are some really decent mixers with a less expensive usb interface built in. You can only track two channels at a time with these but they are much less expensive. Zed,Allen & Heath and even some of the lower ended mixers like Behringer offer a simple two channel inteface built into some of their mixers.

 

 I'm not familiar with the tascam 144 so I can't comment on it. The cheaper usb mixers allow for an acceptable 16 bit 44khz on two channels.16/44 is CD quality audio.

. Zed and Allen and heath and Mackie are good mixers. Personally I would steer clear of any Behringer mixer if I could.

 The A/D converters are not as good on the cheaper audio interfaces.

Everyone whose used the A&H seems to like it.  You can use the eq going in, and during mixing (along w/ any external hardware).

I don't know what the exchange rate is, but if it was me I'd look at the Steinberg ms816 by yamaha or the TC Konnekt 48.  I bought a 48 when they were cheap and it is very good sound quality.  They have the drivers working well, now, so the old complaints about them don't apply.  Both those units would be a half step above the maudio etc. soundwise, although I haven't done a side by side comparision.

If I was spending that much money and needed more i/o's than I could afford w/ a lynx, those or an RME would be the way I'd go.

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Hey Tap, You can't go wrong with A & H, they may quality stuff, but are you looking for a combo Mixer - Interface?  I guess it would help to know how many inputs and of what you plan on recording at once and what equipment you currently have, such as microphones, pre-amps, instruments, etc.  


I would prefer a combo Mixer -Interface but im thinking about the sound quality also. Planning on recording arround 4 -6 inputs at once maximum. I am also going to buy a new micorphone for recording vocals. Right now I have an MXL mic. I dont have any preamps, i used to use the gain of my analog mixer as a preamp, but now i want to upgrade. For recording guitars, i have a good marshall guitar amp, but i also do a lot of recording through the boss gx700 guitar effects prossecor. I really like that one! I have 3 electric guitars for recording, a Gibson les paul custom 1979, a fender Helecatser and an epiphone. I record acoustic guitars with a combination of the MXL condencer mic and a Shure 58A. Im happy with that sound. I also record bass direct in with my bass guitar. The rest of the instruments like synths and pianos and keyboars are recorded with my midi keyboard using sounds from the sonar plugins.
Thanks!

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Hey guys thanks for your replies!! i think i will have to look into the audio interfaces!! do you people know what kind of audio interfaces professionals use?

  The tascam looks like a decent home recording mixer.  The usb interface would absolve you of any firewire conflicts. 16 channels of I/O built into the mixer is good. The fader throw looks short to me but maybe this isn't an issue.

  The pros tend to go with RME and the higher end apple stuff like apogee and make frequent use of digital clocking. I have used MOTU which I consider to be middle ground and am now using presonus which I recommend if you have the right FW connections.......of course a "pro" can probably make the consumer stuff sound good.