I am giving myself a headache trying to choose a new audio interface.
 
I am currently running a Mackie 1202VLZ into my NI Traktor Kontroller S4 (which acts as my soundcard), but this causes me too many problems
 
I need to have 4 synths connected with a spare or more inputs.
 
My shortlist so far in probable order is

1. Edirol/Roland M-16DX
2. Behringer Xenyx X1622USB
3. Allen & Heath Zed 14

Pros for the M-16DX are 48Khz and 24 bit, Room compensation(very nice touch),Finaliser function,Intergration with Sonar X1
 
Cons are few.... No XLR outs for my monitors(its the way I prefer to connect them) and Rotary faders
 
The pros and cons for the Behringer and the Zed 14 are really the opposite to the above (although I understand the Zed 14 works as a controller for Sonar?).
 
Any help please appreciated, particularly if you own any of these devices(cost between the 3 is not a factor).
Will be working in conjunction with my Roland A-800Pro midi keyboard.
 
Thanks 
 
 

some members here have the zed mixers and can comment... I have (too many) hw synths and have the behringer 1622usb.. its a fine 2 bus mixer with balanced inputs, low noise and works well for synths (one monitor bus and one record bus).. decent mic preamps etc ahd its usb audio performance is decent enough but can certainly be bettered...
ultimately i added a NI Komplete audio 6 as an audio interface...and a tascam lm8-st for 8 stereo balanced input pairs.

Hi Mystic 38,I'am interested in the N.I. Audio 6,as a USB interface upgrade,from my cakewalk UA25-EX,which works well enough,but it is only USB 1.1,and the Audio 6 apparently gets gets good marks for decent low latency performance.

What's the lowest you can run it with your listed setup,and still get decent performance?

Thank You
Bob

Jason R.,

I can only offer advice regarding the Allen & Heath ZED 14. I have been very pleased with mine... as an analog mixer.

Thankfully, I purchased it with the main purpose of using it as a mixer, with the thought that it would be a pleasant coincidence if the USB interface met my standards. I'm sorry to say it did not.

As a mixer, it would be very difficult to find something comparable for the same price. Its USB interface left a lot to be desired.

Once I discovered there was no ASIO driver written for the ZED, and I would have to either rely on the Windows generic USB audio driver or try using ASIO4ALL drivers, I was bummed. But I gave it a chance, and tried every possible configuration  (seriously). The interface WORKED, but the noise floor - of the USB interface, not the mixer circuitry - was too high for my use. I got a lower floor from a ("low-end") Alesis io2 Express box than I was ever able to get from the ZED.

I eventually bought a Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 as my interface (wonderful piece of kit), and run the output of the ZED14 into the line inputs of the 8i6. It works great for my purposes, but it sounds as though a similar scenario might not work as well for you.

SO... while I would highly recommend the ZED 14 as a pro-quality compact mixer (6 excellent mic preamps, smooth long-throw faders, 3-band swept-mid EQ, etc.), if it is crucial that it double as a primary interface, I would disqualify it.

Cheers!
Joel

Thanks for the replies.

That kind of rules out the Zed 14. I can see now its only USB 1.1 compliant and found this blurb
 

"At present, Windows 7 treats the USB audio device as a microphone source instead if a line input, so

set the device volume level much lower, we found setting to 3 is ideal"   

which is far from ideal, I really want to be able to record straight into Sonar via usb and without going through audio cables as well.

Mystic 38, can the Behringer be used as a control surface in any way, ie Faders on mixer control the X1 faders, and is the latency low enough not to cause any recording or playback problems (I am happy enough to sit at 16 bits as most of my stuff is bounced to mp3 anyway).

Pros for the M-16DX are 48Khz and 24 bit, Room compensation(very nice touch),Finaliser function,Intergration with Sonar X1
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Hello.

Fyi: The Roland M-16DX is capabel of doing 96 khz.... i do have one...

Are you happy with the unit, does it do everything you require.

I am trying to understand about the finaliser option, can you play a bounced down track from Sonar into the M-16DX with the a Finaliser setting and record this back into Sonar with it Finalised?  Is this routing possible.

Yes, this is possible.
You only have to choose the input channels 17/18 (normally Main/Mix OUT) in Sonar preferences to record the finalised ouput.

Regarding the XLR Monitor-Outputs, the Main-Outs of the M-16DX are XLR, so you can also choose these outs to connect your monitors.
The Room/Monitor-Outputs of the Mixing/Console are indeed TRS-Connectors, but they are symmetrical, too.

Im not using the M-16DX in my active recordings.
When i was recording with regular microphones ( on the M-16DX ) the sound was "colored".
It was most unsatisfying... that´s the main reason why i decided to get me another recording gear.
 
But it still not a bad "entry level" mixer...
When your skills increase, so does the hardware requirements...
As i said... its not a bad mixer, it just doesnt live up to my demands....

Given the choice what would be the best option that anyone would choose.

1. Roland M-16DX
2. Roland Octa-Capture
3. Behringer Xenyx X1622USB

I only record one input at a time so multi recording is not really needed for me, but I do like to have my 4 synths/devices connected for quick playing during a project.

Anyone help me in making a decision please.

One thing I must add is that a number of searches reveal that room acoustic eq (a function I quite like the idea of and is a big plus in the M-16DX) is not ideal for putting across your master buss and interfering with the monitors, I do have treatment in the studio such as foam and bass traps so would I need this function at all.