Amicus717
 
 
As for the OP, I have to echo what was suggested in the thread -- consider an RME interface. I bought my first one a few months ago (a used Babyface unit), and I'm now a total believer. They are as good as their reputation. It is the best interface I've ever owned, and works like a dream with Sonar.
 
 

Hmm, I don't quite have the budget for RME though...but thanks.

RME Babyface Pro sells for $750 - $800 US at various places (Sweetwater, etc). I have the original version, which is awesome, and by all accounts the newer Pro unit improves on the original in every way.

Take a look at the Zoom UAC-8.  USB 3 and delivers ridiculously low latencies.
 
Not many reviews out there, but it's little brother is selling well with good reviews.

The TASCAM US 20x20 is a nice-sounding, full-featured pro unit (Word clock, various Digital in/out, good softmixer, etc.).  Great quality and bold features for a great price.
 
As to the latency, the latest drivers improved things somewhat - I'm down to 9 ms roundtrip on USB 2 (older, win 7 computer - I'll check with my newer one running USB 3 when I get a chance).  By no means top-of-the-class but usable.  Over a 1/3 of that is getting sound in and processing - the output latency solo is 5ms or so.  That is what you'll get w/ softsynths to work with.
 
And, for what it is worth, TASCAM has in-house driver writing now and the US line (2X2 on up) use the same drivers so I expect new ones to continue to come out.  Of course, I've been wrong before and I would never buy hardware if I could only use it in the future with more work (been there and done that) but I find the latency is OK for my work.

Another one mentioned is a MOTU UltraLite AVB which is $50 more than the Presonus unit.  BTW you could wait for one of those discounts from MF or GC.  15% can mane the MOTU or Babyface much closer to your budget.
 
Not a fan of Presonus or Tascam. 

MOTU is never in the M/F % discounts.  I just bought an MOTU 896mk3 Hybrid and it was not in the 4th of July 15% off promotion. The rep said MOTU does not participate in their promotions.  But I got them to match B&H's price which knocked $50 off the price.
 
 

fireberd
MOTU is never in the M/F % discounts.  I just bought an MOTU 896mk3 Hybrid and it was not in the 4th of July 15% off promotion. The rep said MOTU does not participate in their promotions.  But I got them to match B&H's price which knocked $50 off the price.
 
 

 Oh that's right.  Sometimes they work with RME.  It must be a MOTU thing like Bose and Apple, even on the phone a rep can knock 10% off but must not be the case here.

kitekrazy1

fireberd
MOTU is never in the M/F % discounts.  I just bought an MOTU 896mk3 Hybrid and it was not in the 4th of July 15% off promotion. The rep said MOTU does not participate in their promotions.  But I got them to match B&H's price which knocked $50 off the price.
 
 

 Oh that's right.  Sometimes they work with RME.  It must be a MOTU thing like Bose and Apple, even on the phone a rep can knock 10% off but must not be the case here.

You gotta wait until you find an *unrestricted* coupon/discount, I somehow landed a 15% on non-sale item coupon at GC and used it to buy a new Behringer X-touch, which nobody is discounting, (although they are a great buy vs a Mackie MCU anyway).

Order a Studio 192 from a place like Sweetwater which has a liberal return policy and decide for yourself.
Personally when I think of Presonus hardware the words "barge pole" come to mind.
Their software is a different animal and is quite nice.

When i was in the market for an interface, Presonus pretty much scared me off when I discovered that they were implementing monitor mixes and FX within their USB drivers on their VSL models. That's a pretty damn clever hack to short-circuit & sidestep a bit of latency (vs echoing all the way to and back from the daw) and mooch off the PC's processor - clever, but foolish. Foolish in that it's easily broken if MS decides to redo their driver architecture, foolish in that it's essentially stealing time from the daw. Foolish on you if you paid extra for essentially plain interface with a hacked-up driver. YMMV