Matt,
  I'm leaning heavily towards the Saffire Pro 40.  Do you know of any issues with the Asus P9 family of motherboards? If no issues which one would be better, the W/S, pro, deluxe or would you recommend another brand of motherboard?  Scott, if you could chime in on these questions as well that would be great.  Also, I would like to thank ALL of the people for the information and the help that has been provided so far!  You are all awesome!
 
 
August 

August. If Matt doesn't get a chance to come back you could always email Focusrite support with any hardware compatibility issues. That's what I did before buying my Scarlett 18i6. By the way... I really think you're on the right track with the Focusrite stuff. The more I play around with mine the more I love it. You can check out my real time review here... (Warning: Epic thread) http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2593692

a word on focusrite:
AD/DA is good. mic press very decent for the $
lots of i/o ability with adding Ad/da via adat
low lantency not so good.

in that price range (450ish) one of the better. however if you need low latency (usually guys doing sample libraries which you are not)
best to keep looking.

Scott,
  What would be your suggestion?

Interface Manufacturers:

M-Audio

MOTU

Focusrite

Roland

Presonus

Mackie

Tascam

RME

Digidesign

Steinberg


There are more but those are probably the better brands to be looking at.

And I wouldn't discount that Saffire yet. That is a very nice looking box. Look around for user reviews regarding latency. With a nice system you should be able to get the latency down pretty low to the point it isn't noticeable which is all that matters. Also my unit has a "Zero Latency Monitoring" feature where the signal going into the box is sent directly to the main outs while still sending the signal to the DAW for recording. The only drawbacks to this is if you are using any software effects like on a guitar track they won't be applied to the monitored signal. The other drawback being it obviously doesn't work for VSTs being played with a MIDI controller. But really if you are just recording live band stuff I doubt you'll have any problems and you likely won't even notice the latency. Once you start getting under 25ms round trip latency it really doesn't have much of an audible effect unless you have Superman ears. Cheers.

looking around for user reviews?

fact is its NOT a low latency interface. none of the focusrites are, same with most Dice II chipsets with very few exceptions.

low latency
RME
Motu
Steinberg
Presonus VSL series (but have buffers added to make round trip not the best)

here is a great list. i agree with most of it. some things have changed for the better like the Steinberg USB and the Presonus..

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/7856057-post276.html
 
OP the question is do you need super low latency? (32-53 buffer) based on your workflow i dont think you do. punch in is one area you might need it but even 256 buffer is usually ok for that.

@jschild... Certainly not disagreeing but as you said the ultra low latency stuff probably isn't necessary for what he's doing. I'd imagine the biggest thing for recording a live band would be quality mic pres which from most accounts the Focusrite stuff has. But as I said earlier if I had the money I would have gotten a MOTU. And as far as user reviews whenever I'm looking to pick up new gear I check out as many reviews as I can and I find user reviews on sites like Amazon, Sweetwater, Newegg, wherever very helpful. Some people really go into a lot of detail and don't hold back about potential problems. BTW I really wish I could have afforded one of your systems. Maybe next time around or if I ever have enough money for a decent laptop. Cheers.

jcschild


looking around for user reviews?

fact is its NOT a low latency interface. none of the focusrites are, same with most Dice II chipsets with very few exceptions.

low latency
RME
Motu
Steinberg
Presonus VSL series (but have buffers added to make round trip not the best)

here is a great list. i agree with most of it. some things have changed for the better like the Steinberg USB and the Presonus..

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/7856057-post276.html
 
OP the question is do you need super low latency? (32-53 buffer) based on your workflow i dont think you do. punch in is one area you might need it but even 256 buffer is usually ok for that.

are you saying focusrite interfaces are not low in latency?

I think he's just saying you are probably not gonna get 2ms latency like some other devices but to me I'm just happy if the lag isn't noticeable enough to throw off a performance. I'll be pushing the limits of the 18i6 in regards to buffer/latency over the next few days. Currently I just have it cranked all the way up as that is the default.