I have an RME UCX (same as UC but it has built in FX). I love mine. I would definitely get the UCX over the UC myself. I use those FX when mixing live.
 
If anything happened to my UCX, I would immediately replace it with another RME.
 
It can record two musicians with vocals with built in Pres (2 for mics, 2 for line ins).
 
I hook up an Audient ASP880 to mine. I also have an RME Quad Mic Pre to serve as a pre-amp for the additional 4 analog line ins on the back. It kinda makes it like a UFX, taking up a full 1U rackspace (1/2 for the Quad Mic Pre and 1/2 for the UCX). If I'd had the money all at once, it probably would have been better to go with the UFX.
 
But as it is, I can plug in my old Tascam 2488 to the UCX SPIDF port (this adds 8 more) and record 24 tracks at 44.1. That's enough for me. I need to borrow mics to get there. :-)
 
And I have often tossed it in my backpack and pedaled to a friends house with everything I need for a jam. :-)
 
When shopping, I suggest using the 'get quote' feature available on a number of pro audio sites to find out what they are actually charging for the UCX. You might pay less for a UCX than you might for a UC if you shop around.

Hi John,
 
FWIW, I wouldn't use the headphone outs to patch to a mixer (as they're unbalanced).
Babyface is an excellent low-latency performer.
The new MOTU Ultralite AVB is also an excellent low-latency performer.
Both achieve 4.9ms total round-trip latency with the smallest buffer size at 44.1k

I just checked this at 44.1.
My UCX gets
3.7 msec round trip at 48 sample buffer.
4.5 msec round trip at 64 sample buffer.
5.9 msec round trip at 96 sample buffer.

GEAR LUST 


 

rumleymusic

then why does usb3 exist?

especially if no one is using it?

 
I use it all the time with hard drives.  I love the "speed."  Of course speed is not the right term.  More data at once (bandwidth) is more accurate.  I can run 30+ channels of 192kHz audio with my RME UFX on USB 2 at low latency.  It would not be any faster with USB3, Thunderbolt, Ethernet, or Magical Voodoo.  
 
RME does use USB3 with their 394 channel  Madiface XT.  That one probably needs it, so they used it.  
 
That is what is great about RME.  They don't try to trick you with gimmicks like two channels of thunderbolt audio, they just offer practical, high performing gear.   

A bit OT but the UFX is such a great unit. Early this year I sold my two FF800s and bought a UFX + remote. Totalmix is an awesome piece of driver software to go with it.

Thanks gswitz and Jim. I didn't think that using the headphone outs sounded like a great idea - but I'm sure I've seen the headphone outs marketed as "additional analog outs" ;-)
 
I don't really need the internal FX - but I'll look closer at the fireface UC and UCX then, and also the MOTU Ultralite AVB.
(There was another thread where Jim was talking about this - which seems to have disappeared...)

In addition to the FX on the UCX it has an 'AutoLevel' feature on 4 channels which is nice.
 
@Mike V., make sure you check out RME DigiCheck. You get that as well as TotalMix.
http://www.rme-audio.de/downloads/driver/digicheck.php
 

Thanks a lot for the advice - I'll do some homework ;-)

Do people use the headphone outs (on the Babyface) as "normal" analog outs? (into a mixer for example?)

 
 
It can be done, even if it is not recommended as a general practice due to balancing and impedance issues.  The quality of the DA on RME's headphones has always been equal to the rest of the box and the amps are very good.  Many companies skimp.  Low latency is not a problem, at least as far as the hardware goes.  

When speaking of low latency with the Babyface Pro / Ultralite AVB - is it assumed that most are referring to low latency with modest vst usage? I can get decent low latency on my IT if the above is true. Otherwise, once the track count w/vst's start accumulating, then getting low latency requires disabling a lot of vsts. Curious to know if an interface with better drivers can overcome modest vst count.