StevenMikel
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USB Interfaces
I know this question has been asked several times but,I'm going to buy a new audio interface and want suggestions and opinions.I'm looking realy hard at the Line 6 UX2 and I've heard good things about the Focusrite Saffire 6,they're both at the top of my price range.I want something between $100 and $200.I can get the UX2 and the Saffire6 for $199 each.I'm familiar and comfortable with Line 6 stuff and,I have PodFarm2.I'm also considering the M-Audio Fast Track USB.
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StevenMikel
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/20 16:25:10
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My top 3 picks are;Line 6 UX2,Saffire6,and M-Audio Fast Track Pro.
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StevenMikel
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/20 17:57:44
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What about the Cakewalk UA-4FX?
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ohhey
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/21 12:13:22
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StevenMikel
My top 3 picks are;Line 6 UX2,Saffire6,and M-Audio Fast Track Pro.
You want something with good drivers and good ongoing driver support. I don't think Line6 has earned that reputation yet. M-Audio is good and Focusrite seems to be doing a good job also that would be my pick in this catagory. I'd go with the Saffire 6.
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StevenMikel
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/21 12:27:05
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ohhey
StevenMikel
My top 3 picks are;Line 6 UX2,Saffire6,and M-Audio Fast Track Pro.
You want something with good drivers and good ongoing driver support. I don't think Line6 has earned that reputation yet. M-Audio is good and Focusrite seems to be doing a good job also that would be my pick in this catagory. I'd go with the Saffire 6.
I've never had a problem with Line6,I do however think the Fast Track Pro and Saffire 6 are better quality units.I am very familiar and comfortable with Line6's gear though. I rarely hear or see anything about Tascam and not much about Presonus,how are their interfaces compared to the ones already mentioned
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AT
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/21 12:36:09
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I don't think PreSonus has a USB - I may be wrong. I've used a few of their devices and never had a problem (except when Yamaha changed the mLan drivers years ago). Great bang for buck interface.
If you like Line 6 I'd stick with that for peace of mind.
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http://www.bnoir-film.com/ there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. 24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
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StevenMikel
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/21 13:04:22
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A
If you like Line 6 I'd stick with that for peace of mind.
@
Thats how I feel but,I know some people question Line6 quality and I'm looking for a good solid argument as to why I shouldn't buy the Line6.It also seems like there isn't a big difference in quality from unit to unit in this price range.
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ohhey
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/21 13:10:57
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StevenMikel
ohhey
StevenMikel
My top 3 picks are;Line 6 UX2,Saffire6,and M-Audio Fast Track Pro.
You want something with good drivers and good ongoing driver support. I don't think Line6 has earned that reputation yet. M-Audio is good and Focusrite seems to be doing a good job also that would be my pick in this catagory. I'd go with the Saffire 6.
I've never had a problem with Line6,I do however think the Fast Track Pro and Saffire 6 are better quality units.I am very familiar and comfortable with Line6's gear though. I rarely hear or see anything about Tascam and not much about Presonus,how are their interfaces compared to the ones already mentioned
I don't consider Tascam or Presonus to be in the "good driver support" category. Both has let their customers down.
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mgh
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/21 13:13:38
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you're not gonna notice much in the way of difference at that price range. i guess you're a guitarist, you can invoke pod farm and get near-zero latency using the ux2, so i'd go for that. if you do much vocal work, the focusrite prob has the best preamps.
if low round-trip latency is important for you, then another option is a pci card like the m-audio 2496 or emu 0404 and a small mixer.
but given you already use pod farm, the ux2 is maybe the best option.
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StevenMikel
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/21 13:28:10
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mgh
you're not gonna notice much in the way of difference at that price range. i guess you're a guitarist, you can invoke pod farm and get near-zero latency using the ux2, so i'd go for that. if you do much vocal work, the focusrite prob has the best preamps.
if low round-trip latency is important for you, then another option is a pci card like the m-audio 2496 or emu 0404 and a small mixer.
but given you already use pod farm, the ux2 is maybe the best option.
You're right,I'm a guitarist.I won't be recording any vocals but,if I find the right singer,that'll change.I use PodFarm, Guitar Rig 3LE and some free amp sims,I plan on using 2 different amp sims on each track.I'm leanig towards the Line6 just because I'm familiar with their products.
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Junski
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/21 15:29:53
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Many of those 'good' brand USB audio interfaces comes with not so good drivers (especially ASIO low latency capability is missing). I would check 1st if the model of USB audio interface can be found listed here. BTW, if you or anyone need a PCIe type of 8 I/O system ... ESI ESP1010 price is now dropped dramatically (maybe becomes discontinued or something). Junski
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StevenMikel
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/21 15:59:41
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Junski
Many of those 'good' brand USB audio interfaces comes with not so good drivers (especially ASIO low latency capability is missing). I would check 1st if the model of USB audio interface can be found listed here.
BTW, if you or anyone need a PCIe type of 8 I/O system ... ESI ESP1010 price is now dropped dramatically (maybe becomes discontinued or something).
Junski
The Line6 comes with ASIO drivers,I've checked.Actually I think M-Audio and Focus rite does too.
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Bonzos Ghost
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/21 16:09:54
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There's not many USB interfaces that will give you good low round trip latency.
This has nothing do do with being able to dial it down to run @ 2.8ms or less. That's only half the story. It's the latency added on to that.
I think the M-Audio Fast Track Ultra is probably the most affordable USB devise that will give you good RTL. (or so I've heard)
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StevenMikel
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/21 16:19:58
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I can't spend over $200 so,I'll have to deal with the latency.The Line6 UX2 has tone direct monitoring so,I won't notice the latency that much.
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Jim Roseberry
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/21 19:41:20
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I think the M-Audio Fast Track Ultra is probably the most affordable USB devise that will give you good RTL. (or so I've heard) This is true... 
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StevenMikel
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/21 20:28:02
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The Fast Track Ultra is out of my price range.
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Junski
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/22 00:01:05
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What 'bout Presonus Audiobox USB (it's listed on Usb-Audio's site).
Junski
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Junski
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/22 00:02:18
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<duplicate>
post edited by Junski - 2010/12/22 00:07:53
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Junski
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/22 00:02:56
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<duplicate>
post edited by Junski - 2010/12/22 00:04:16
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Jim Roseberry
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/22 01:38:35
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The Fast Track Ultra is out of my price range. I understand... I just wanted to make sure you know what you were getting into. FWIW, If you're primary focus is recording guitar, go with the UX2. If you want to record other sources and use soft-synths, you'll do slightly better with one of the other units. Not to beat a dead horse, but many inexpensive USB units have total round-trip latency of ~18ms at a 64-sample ASIO buffer size/44.1k. If you could swing a used FastTrack Ultra, you'd have an effective total RTL of 5.5ms... which makes playing/monitoring thru software EFX possible. With the UX2... and many other USB units... the high RTL takes that option off the table.
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Guitarhacker
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/22 09:08:13
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I have a Saffire that was $300 at the time. I love it and if it dies I will get another Saffire/Focusrite product.
The Saffire has nice specs and latency is not a big issue for me.
The Focusrite Saffire 6 USB is a 2 in / 4 out USB audio interface. It uses the same award-winning Focusrite mic preamps as the rest of the Saffire range. This makes it the best value, and best sounding interface in its class.
My website & music: www.herbhartley.com MC4/5/6/X1e.c, on a Custom DAW Focusrite Firewire Saffire Interface BMI/NSAI "Just as the blade chooses the warrior, so too, the song chooses the writer "
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sandman5000
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/22 19:20:12
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StevenMikel
I can't spend over $200 so,I'll have to deal with the latency.The Line6 UX2 has tone direct monitoring so,I won't notice the latency that much.
sounds like you are getting advice from people that have never tried that interface. The ux2 is a great choice and has very low latency drivers. you will deff be able to play soft synths live and record with fx. And Line 6 makes excellent drivers.
post edited by sandman5000 - 2010/12/22 19:21:30
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zgraf
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/22 22:07:04
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Jim Roseberry
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/22 23:10:38
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The ux2 is a great choice and has very low latency drivers. you will deff be able to play soft synths live and record with fx. And Line 6 makes excellent drivers. The only time the UX2 provides low latency monitoring is if you're recording/monitoring thru it's onboard "tone direct" processing/EFX. For playing/monitoring in realtime thru native EFX/processing, the UX2 is a poor choice. 12+ms total round-trip latency is *not* "low" by any stretch. You'd be able to play soft-synths OK... where you're dealing with one-way (playback) latency, but playing thru native EFX/processing where you're dealing with round-trip latency would be very sluggish. Round-trip latency can easily be measured using an analog to analog loopback test. - Cycling 74' provides one that works under x64
- Centrance provides one that works under x86
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Bob Oister
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/23 01:05:46
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sandman5000: "sounds like you are getting advice from people that have never tried that interface. The ux2 is a great choice and has very low latency drivers. you will deff be able to play soft synths live and record with fx. And Line 6 makes excellent drivers."
+1 for the UX2, I've been using a UX2 for over three years to record Guitars, Vocals, Bass and Midi Keys without ever having a problem. The drivers are rock solid and updated frequently through the Line6 Monkey software.
Bob
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sandman5000
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/23 02:16:34
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Bob Oister
sandman5000: "sounds like you are getting advice from people that have never tried that interface. The ux2 is a great choice and has very low latency drivers. you will deff be able to play soft synths live and record with fx. And Line 6 makes excellent drivers."
+1 for the UX2, I've been using a UX2 for over three years to record Guitars, Vocals, Bass and Midi Keys without ever having a problem. The drivers are rock solid and updated frequently through the Line6 Monkey software.
Bob
exactly. sounds like people have not actually used this unit. you can deff do low latency fx monitoring and play synths in real time (with fx). maybe not high latency fx, but then those type of fx would be a problem with any sound card. for $200 its an awesome choice. a few videos: http://www.youtube.com/wa...Xk&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/wa...pA&feature=related im sure there are better videos. but just from a quick search. Great little unit. And again, for $200, hard to beat.
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Jim Roseberry
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/23 02:55:47
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you can deff do low latency fx monitoring and play synths in real time (with fx). Post a screen shot of Sonar's reported round-trip latency for the UX2.
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sandman5000
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/23 03:31:45
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Jim Roseberry
you can deff do low latency fx monitoring and play synths in real time (with fx).
Post a screen shot of Sonar's reported round-trip latency for the UX2.
I already posted video that shows you can do low latency monitoring with fx. the OP is familiar line 6 product. the unit has solid drivers. Sounds like a good fit for the OP. Got another suggestion for $200?
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Jim Roseberry
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/23 04:31:18
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I already posted video that shows you can do low latency monitoring with fx. The UX2 is what it is... A low-cost solution for overdubs... providing low-latency monitoring *while* using the supplied/modeled EFX. The unit is absolutely fine for this purpose. However, if playing/monitoring in realtime thru native EFX/processing is a priority, the UX2 is not a particularly good choice (because it suffers from high round-trip latency). A simple screen-shot of Sonar's reported round-trip latency will tell the tale. No argument required... If you have an audio interface that provides low RTL (5-6ms RTL), you can perform the following test (to hear/feel the effect of higher round-trip latency): - Setup an audio track with a non-latent plugin inserted in the EFX bin.
- Add a Delay plugin to the EFX bin (one that allows setting the delay time in ms increments)
- Disable the Delay plugin... or set it to 0ms to hear/feel the effect of 5-6ms TRL.
- Now, dial in the Delay plugin to add 6-7 ms of additional delay (simulating RTL of 12ms) and enable it.
- Finally, set the Delay plugin to add 12ms of additional delay (simulating RTL of 18ms)
Monitor at 6ms RTL, then 12ms RTL, then 18ms RTL Bounce back and forth several times to absorb the differences. Now... which setting is more effective/comfortable for realtime recording/monitoring (thru native EFX)? The difference isn't subtle. If the OP's budget is $200, I'd consider looking for a used interface that provides low RTL... Or... I'd look at an Audiophile 192 paired with a small/inexpensive mixer (assuming the OP isn't running a laptop). Even if it's not currently a priority, I'd want the option of low RTL. Six months down the road, what happens when Company X releases the "Mother of all native amp-sims"... and you want/need to be able to comfortably/effectively use said plugin? With high RTL, you're SOL (or deal with very uncomfortable lag) unless you buy a new interface. With low RTL, you're all set.
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sandman5000
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Re: USB Interfaces
2010/12/23 10:10:33
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still sounds to me like you have not used this unit. You can deff monitor with fx. The videos show it. If those fx are not good enough for you. then thats a matter of personal taste.
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