I wanted to throw out that Sweetwater and Guitar Center and others are selling the Maudio Profire 2626 for $399. It's a good unit... 24 bit/192 khz... It's rock solid and if firewire goes the way of the wild dodo, u can use the lightpipes to connect to other interfaces.

travismc1


I wanted to throw out that Sweetwater and Guitar Center and others are selling the Maudio Profire 2626 for $399. It's a good unit... 24 bit/192 khz... It's rock solid and if firewire goes the way of the wild dodo, u can use the lightpipes to connect to other interfaces.

+1


Good point Travis!


More and more, and now with USB 3.0, Firewire is dwindling away...

Still don't have any USB 3.0 Audio Interfaces yet...will be interesting to see where it goes...

usb 3.0 is what I want to see come out before I buy anything else as well.

Also, if you enter 'SAVING200' in Guitar Center's online code it will take off $10 off $49, $100 off of $499, and $200 off $999 or more.... this goes through Oct. 3. +1 for Sweetwater payment plan too. :)

It might be wise to hold off any final decision until the real world availability (and quality) of Win8 drivers is known. Just a thought....

cclarry

 

JonD,


The Track16 is BOTH USB AND FIREWIRE 400...you obviously ddin't read the entire description (or posts)

...
If you've ever used any of Motu's MK3 units there drivers are pretty solid...
and their reputation is pretty solid as well..

...

Fair enough - I stand corrected.  Still, I'd be hesitant to recommend a new-on-the-market $300+ interface based on the company's past drivers.  Chipsets, suppliers - heck, even programmers, change all the time.... In short, quality of drivers can turn on a dime (No pun intended).
 
Seriously, I'm surprised you didn't recommend the Quad-Capture since that is what you have.  From what I've read, it's a solid unit... and of course, it's made by Roland, CW's parent company.  I would've bought one, but was leaning toward FW, so got the TCE Impact Twin instead.  So far, it's been rock-solid.  Not getting the ultra-low latencys I hear the Roland units get with Sonar, but close enough for my needs....
 

Presonus makes pretty noisy gear, at least any preamp I've used of theirs was a wet blanket compared to other products...and there's generally no way to truly bypass the circuit...its a isolation barrier design flaw they've never invested in overcoming (Behringer has this same disease as well as mackie)

Motu is a good company (except on the customer support model...its long and murderous not worthy of their products)...but they tend to the high side of cost and if you are going to commit that much payola you might as well go with Lynx or Prism, or Apogee...

I suspect firewire has maybe 3 years of life left, thunderbolt is starting to replace it

Anything USB 2 will have some future since anything else on that bus will probably be backwards compatible...

Saffire is good...

I'm going to throw this out there not meaning to step on toes, but I don't foresee any new gear coming out of USB3 in the near future and even if it is introduced at the next NAMM how long will it take to bring the product to market, would the ASIO drivers be mature enough when it gets here to handle the changes without hickups in performance or workflow? Also something to think about, since most of us here use the ASIO model, how long will it take STEINBERG to model the Windows 8 ASIO drivers if the sound i/o is as drastic of a change as Windows XP wdm to Windows Vista WASAPI was? I can honestly say that I am extremely satisfied with the stability Win 7 Pro and the current hardware schemes of FIREWIRE or USB 2.0. Since FIREWIRE was the love child of Apple and Apple no longer puts that on Macbooks, FIREWIRE will die, the question is... HOW SOON? Can you even buy a high end PC laptop with firewire? OR a PCMCIA slot to accept FW adapters? Most USB 2.0 equipment does not handle LIGHTPIPE. Steinberg and MOTU have just introduced medium-end hardware in the last year that can handle LIGHTPIPE. Where do we go from here?

JonD

cclarry

 

JonD,


The Track16 is BOTH USB AND FIREWIRE 400...you obviously ddin't read the entire description (or posts)

...
If you've ever used any of Motu's MK3 units there drivers are pretty solid...
and their reputation is pretty solid as well..

...

Fair enough - I stand corrected.  Still, I'd be hesitant to recommend a new-on-the-market $300+ interface based on the company's past drivers.  Chipsets, suppliers - heck, even programmers, change all the time.... In short, quality of drivers can turn on a dime (No pun intended).
 
Seriously, I'm surprised you didn't recommend the Quad-Capture since that is what you have.  From what I've read, it's a solid unit... and of course, it's made by Roland, CW's parent company.  I would've bought one, but was leaning toward FW, so got the TCE Impact Twin instead.  So far, it's been rock-solid.  Not getting the ultra-low latencys I hear the Roland units get with Sonar, but close enough for my needs....
 

JonD,


I HIGHLY recommend the Quad-Capture to anyone using USB.....the Quad is ROCK SOLID....and has incredibly low latency and incredible Digitally controlled Pre-Amps....VS Pre-amps...the same as in Rolands flagship VS-700.  For the money, IMHO...it's the 
best USB interface in the price range.

I had a V-Studio 100, which I loved, but had to sell due to some cash flow issues a few years ago...it, also, is a brilliant piece of 
hardware.

I am a HUGE Cakewalk fan...but I don't let my "fan-dom" sway a "balanced" opinion, as most fanboi's do....objectivity is key.