ekral

Beepster
The Roland unit mentioned is nice but more expensive for what you get and personally at that price point I'd be looking at a MOTU instead who are probably a little more reliable of a company than Roland at this point.

 
Please give us any reference that supports your statement about Roland and MOTU. Personaly I think that Roland QUAD-CAPTURE is really worth the price and Focusrite and also Motu and others are also nice option. But I just would like to say, that I am just happy QUAD-CAPTURE user and it is the best audio interface I have ever used.

I said they are nice units and they are. I wasn't slagging your suggestion, just stating that they are more expensive (true) for what you get (true) and that the company has had a bit of turmoil lately (debatable). I would also say in regards to drivers they do seem to keep up with the QC end of things but have dropped the ball on other devices (control surfaces) and they are no longer linked to the Cakewalk brand.
 
By all reports they are indeed excellent interfaces. I'm just offering my suggestions based on what is practical for a young lady wanting to make music problem free and a father who is looking to get something good within a specific price range.
 
If money were no object I'd be interested in a Roland QC. Excluding connectivity and price it likely is a better interface than my Focusrite simply for the low latency factor (but I have never had a problem with latency). However at that price point I do think I'd prefer a MOTU... knowing me though I'd likely get one of the higher end Focusrite products because I know I'd be getting a durable/quality product and a buttload more connectivity/feature set for the price.
 
Please don't be offended by my opinions. Believe me I'm envious of your interface as I would definitely like to own one for an alternative set of pres (and the QC has always been touted as having good pres... but so does Focusrite) and almost non existent latency (they are supposedly very powerful) but in the real world and based on my personal usage/experience/research Focusrite is a damn good company who makes a damn fine product. They're nice guys too.
 
Cheers.

How about that, Beeps...   The last time I was researching interfaces the QC was first on my list!   But just as you mentioned it was the total cost that first brought Focusrite to my attention, and your good experience with the 18i6 that helped with the final decision.   And absolutely no regrets at this point.
 
If I had the $$ I'd actually like to try the Studio Capture.   
 

Another vote for Focusrite. I just got the Scarlett 18i20 and it is awesome. Easy to install, has mix control software and excellent tech support when/if needed.

I am another SONAR user that is happy with the Focusrite brand.
 
I have a couple-year old Scarlett 18i6 interface and it has proven to do everything I and SONAR demand of it, easily, with power to spare.
 
I ain't gonna tell you any other brand or model is crap, but I will tell you that I've been dabbling in this electronic music making/production thing since I got my first Twelve Tone Systems Cakewalk Pro software sequencer back in the very early 1990s - and my Focusrite is just as fine an interface as any I've ever used over the years.
 
Just make sure: If you ever want to use a microphone (and it sounds like your daughter will) then it will be best to decide up front if it is dynamic or a condensor model that you want/can afford. If it is a condensor model, your interface (whatever brand/model) will have to have 48v phantom power on at least 1 input for that mic. Dynamic mics do not require phantom power.
 
Also make sure that the interface that you choose will connect to your laptop - if you buy one with either a FireWire or USB interface, your computer will need to have a FireWire or USB interface to plug it into. (I've seen folks complain online that they didn't know their computer didn't have FireWire *after* they bought a very pricey FireWire-only interface).
 
As to external drives: Get what you can afford. USB works fine. eSATA works fine. FireWire works fine. Unless your daughter starts doing 96 track film score projects (in other words, HUGE project & audio files), the transfer rates of the various HD interfaces will be difficult to perceive with smaller projects. I personally use several-year-old plain old USB external MyBooks from Western Digital and they work just fine. I just used one to download my X3 upgrade to (multiple GBs), from my desktop computer, before copying it to my laptop computer for its unpack and install.
 

stevec
How about that, Beeps...   The last time I was researching interfaces the QC was first on my list!   But just as you mentioned it was the total cost that first brought Focusrite to my attention, and your good experience with the 18i6 that helped with the final decision.   And absolutely no regrets at this point.
 
If I had the $$ I'd actually like to try the Studio Capture.   
 

Man, that was so early on in my digiaudio "career" and I had so little experience with the unit that taking my advice was probably a real gamble (and in many ways my advice should still be taken with a grain of salt) but darned if that bugger didn't install in NO time and just immediately work. Like ZERO fiddling or screwing around. I installed it, pointed Sonar to it and have never even had to think about it once since (aside from adjusting the buffers if I started adding a million tracks to my project).
 
I'm just glad it worked out for you (well, both of us). I would have felt like an arse if you took my advice and it turned out to be a lemon. But really... it's just a solid rig and I didn't exactly walk into it blindly. I was getting suggestions tossed at me from everywhere and the Focusrite stuff was kind of a fluke. It got mentioned a couple times but everyone else was talking about the MOTUs and Fastracks and QCs or whatever and FR had JUST had some kind of driver issue the year before with Win7 (that they corrected almost immediately but the freakouts were still out there on the forums... including here) so it was a, as a total newb, a bit of a roll of the dice. BUT there were people everywhere signing the praises of the pres, stability and once you filtered out the noise from that little driver blip almost ALL of it was positive. Not a single other interface in that price bracket (and even most in the higher ranges) had such a good vibe and darnit... it all worked out amazingly.
 
Score one for the good guys. ;-)

Before you buy anything...
 
What about a mike? You didn't mention that you have one yet, nor did you say anything about budgeting for one.
Part of that £300 should definitely be earmarked for something like an SM-58 or an AT-2020.
If she starts gigging sometime down the road, the SM-58 (by Shure) will be suitable for taking on the road. I don't know about the new ones, but back in the day (as they say) you could bang in nails with those suckers. They wouldn't look great after that, but the sound was totally unaffected.
 
As for the AT-2020 (by Audio Technica) it's a studio mike and best left in that environment. It needs phantom power (+48 volts mentioned above).

Wow thanks guys for all your input. I haven't been on the forum in ages and I forgot how helpful everyone can be.

I'm going to have a look at the scarlets 2in2out for her. There is a package deal including mic, leads and stand for £198 from Anderton. I checked out the video for setting it up and it had a young girl singing and playing acoustic guitar which is exactly what maddie does.

I've got a USB 3port on the laptop and that's a great tip about a clean install for it.

Again thanks for the great replies everybody.

Si

As far as dynamic mics the classic SM58 is... well a classic but I found the Beta57 is REALLY nice for clarity and higher end vocals (I used it for melodic/screecher stuff and would be great for live female vox I'm assuming) but still has all the durability and body of the 58 (which I found to be a little muddy/boomy in comparison). They are a little more expensive (last time I checked) but man I wish I had access to one again.
 
http://www.shure.com/americas/products/microphones/beta/beta-57a-instrument-microphone
 
 

SiTheMon

I'm going to have a look at the scarlets 2in2out for her. There is a package deal including mic, leads and stand for £198 from Anderton. I checked out the video for setting it up and it had a young girl singing and playing acoustic guitar which is exactly what maddie does.

Good luck!    The Scarlett package deal looks like a good cost to performance ratio. 
 
And it's kind of weird that you mentioned Maddie... which happens to be my daughter's (nick)name as well.  
 

Yeah I think it's really good for the money. I've just ordered it. Got to keep my maddie happy. She did the dishes, walked the dog and made me a drink. I think she knows what's coming haha