Good afternoon,

I am on the PC Platform (Intel i7-6850k, Gigabyte x99P-SLI, 32 GB Corsair LPX RAM, Apollo 8 Quad TB) using Sonar Platinum on Windows 10. I use almost all virtual instruments to create my music, and I record vocals/acoustic instruments through a Slate VMS. I purchased the Apollo 8 Quad Thunderbolt and am unable to get it to a latency low enough without the audio engine constantly dropping out. My computer has more than enough fire power to execute this. I've checked the UAD forum and it seems UAD is more focused on stability than lower latency. So they recommend 512.

So that leaves me with selling the Apollo 8 for other viable options. My concerns are I/O, converters, and low latency drivers so I am able to play my many virtual synths and record through the Slate VMS in realtime. I previously had a Delta 1010 and was able to do this with no issue, but I recently upgraded my PC and it doesn't have PCI-Legacy slots. 

I am trying to decide between one of the newer MOTU interfaces (leaning towards the 1248 if the latency is low enough) or an RME UFX. Turning to my fellow 'slutz for advice, particularly those running pro level studios with virtual instruments. Looking for something where I could get an Apollo Twin later to take advantage of the Pres(but not be my main interface)

Thank you in advance,

I can only say I've been really happy with my Fireface UCX and have never got a MOTU interface to work (as) problem free on my PC. Lowest (roundtrip) latency is I can get is 2.9ms over USB but most of the time I don't need it to be that low and for VIs you don't need roundtrip anyway. Also, RME TotalMix is in my humble opinion the most flexible and powerful routing app available.

I don't run a full time professional studio, I play keys for a living and produce maybe 30 percent of my time, most often on location with live vocals and lots of in-the-box production. I use my UCX with Sonar and Ableton and lots of VIs. Just to give an indication of my background.

Hi. I can only comment on RME, but I am very pleased with my Uxc. It is very stable, and low latency. And the TotalMix is a beast of its own. It has given me zero problems this past year and a half I have owned it.
Can recommend RME with all my heart 
All the best.

Good day,
I too am/was in the same situation as you. My story goes similar that I had the delta 1010 which I absolutely loved but had to upgrade due to the lack of a legacy PCI slot in my new desktop. I initially purchased the Presonus 192 which was one of the first usb 3.0 interfaces. I thought surely it would work in my studio. To my dismay it was worse especially when it came to using VIs which I exclusively use for drums and keys. I had to bump my block size up so much when using VIs that there was no way to record live vocals or instruments due to the lag (30ms+ RTL) . There was however a recent update for my desktop which was specifically for the USB drivers that added some improvement. I was able to drop the block size down to give me around a 14ms RTL but is still not very good when recording live. In the meantime I had purchased what was to be a mobile alternative the focusrite 6i6. As an experiment I installed the 6i6 into my desktop and have had no issues with it at all. My RTL with VIs is around 9ms and thinking of purchasing the focusrite 18i20 to replace my presonus 192. The sound quality is great and have had no complaints. Now some presonus users have reported they have had nothing but success with the presonus 192 but I have a feeling it is on a case by case basis of success vs failure. Good luck 

Definitely RME, and you should really take a look at Antelope audio. I've owned both and they're both great.

Good luck,
Dean

+1 for RME. I have tried many interfaces  (including an 828mk3) and currently use a Fireface UFX on my main daw. As an indication of how good the company is, I had an old PCMCIA RME system called a Multiface that I bought in 2001.  I gave it to a friend years ago and he is still able to download current drivers and is running it under windows 10 on a desktop with a pcmcia adapter. It is 16 years old and going strong.

Well I guess I'm old school but to get around latency I use an external mixer... its always Zero latency issues.  going back to my Delta 44 up to my Tascam 1800 recoding 14 mics of drums to a backing track. is this an old trick is there a reason one would not want to do this? 

11Dreams
Well I guess I'm old school but to get around latency I use an external mixer... its always Zero latency issues.  going back to my Delta 44 up to my Tascam 1800 recoding 14 mics of drums to a backing track. is this an old trick is there a reason one would not want to do this? 

An old school solution indeed! Pretty foolproof way to get your tracks down, but you will introduce noise from the desk and your audio interface latency will still come into play if at any stage you are going to use midi and vst synths/fx.

RME.

Another vote for RME here. I've no complaints at all about my UFX, and can get sub-10ms round trip latency at quite heavy cpu loads, getting sub-10ms 'outgoing only' which is what counts with software synths is usually no problem at all.