Sonar 4 - what soundcard w/ preamps to get?

I've been looking around at a number of soundcards and also perusing a number of forums to decide on what soundcard to get. I know that the soundcard I need will definitely have to have WMD drivers for Sonar compatibilty. I would like the preamps for two mics for recording and possibly 4 inputs for simulatneous recording. Also would like to do firewire. I did visit the FAQ on this site for Pro-sumer cards such as M-audio, MOTU, Presonus Firepod/firebox, and still am lost. I thought thePresonus firepod or firebox. Some have sworn by the MOTUs. I wish I could spend thousands of $s but need to be a cost conscious. Someone had recommended Digidesign Mbox but I saw in the FAQ there were issues using with Sonar.

Any opinions would be appreciated. I guess I just want to be steered in the right direction.

Also, computer setup AMD Athelon, MAxtor 80GB SATA drives(RAID), ASUS board, 512MB RAM (with another 512 on the way).

Thanks for anyone's opinion on this.

I use the Echo Layla 3G. I like it, but it connects to the computer by PCI card, not by firewire. For firewire I would recommend the MOTU 828 MkII: http://www.motu.com/products/motuaudio/828/body.html/en

Check out this thread: http://www.cakewalk.com/forum/tm.asp?m=400431

Don't assume WDM is the only way to go. Try it. If it works, fine; if it doesn't work so well, then try ASIO. It's pretty hard to know ahead of time which will work better for you. (In my own case, WDM works better than ASIO, but plenty of people have had the opposite experience).

I'm looking more and more into the Echo you mentioned and I'm kinda turned on by it. I could forego firewire and go PCI (not to be a snob to PCI). Thanks for mentioning it. It will definitely be a toss up between the Echo and the MOTU 828 MkII at this point.

Thanks for your help and your advice on this Joe.

hi,i run a delta 1010LT,with wdm,it has 8 audio ins which is great as i play and record live drums.they are very cost effective and sound just the same as my mates digi002(at a fraction of the price)

The John Hardy's are just wonderful i would check those out if you are looking for a great pre.

Sonar will work with Asio or WDM!

M-Audio would be my choice if just starting out And by what you are descrbing the M-audio Firewire 410 would be perfect for you.

Hi,

I've been researching the same subject for a long while now and I've read many many posts here on this issue. I also liked the Echo products and was considering getting one but in the end I got the MOTU for the main reasons of its flexibility, quality and reliability. You can use the 828MkII with or without the computer. You can use it with more than one computer including your laptop and you're not tied to running XP. It's expensive but there are good deals if you look around especially in the 'dings & dents' sections of the major on-line etailers or their 'open box' and other such listings.

I like the fact of its high quality and reliability and as far as a front end goes only the RME offers better pre-amps ( as far as I have read ). I consider that the MOTU is an investment in quality and will be the focus of my recording whatever happens to machine and software upgrades in the future. In an environment where there can be quite a few unknowns I like to feel that one of them at least is eliminated by having a quality piece of equipment such as the 828MkII at the front end.

Good luck with your purchase whatever you decide to get
Kind regards
Phillip

The mention of delta 1010lt by anton harris reminds me, Conley Shepherd (screen name guitarmech111) has a delta 1010lt he is trying to sell, having recently upgraded to RME. Might be worth a look.

Conley Shepherd (screen name guitarmech111) has a delta 1010lt he is trying to sell,

It is a Delta1010 with the breakout box. Not the Delta1010LT. If you are interested, let me know.

$325 plus shipping to continental US or Canada.

(thanks Joe)

MOTU 896HD if you can. I've used the Delta1010, Aardvark Q10, Presonus Firepod, tascam US428 and have finally settled on the MOTU 896HD. Quick rationales for abandoning my previous units:

Delta 1010 - good reliable unit but no integrated Pres. If you have a mixing board or something that you don't mind the pres on, this is a good unit for the price...especially the one that Guitarmech is selling :)

Aarvark Q10 - Horrible driver support...oh yeah, and the company went out of business two weeks before my Q10 broke which turned it into a paperweight. Go with reliable companies....(*grumble*)

Tascam US428 - USB interface makes for high latency...not great sounding either.

Presonus firepod - Good sound but it has no software mixer. Remember that...it's a big deal. With the firepod you must direct monitor either EVERY channel or NONE. So if I have a mic plugged in to the first in, and a keyboard plugged in to the 3/4 in and I want to direct monitor the keyboard I'll need to unplug the mic first or have it feed back when I turn up direct monitoring to hear the keyboard. There is NO WAY to selectively mute inputs. Also, the lack of software panning means you cannot effectively direct monitor a stereo pair (no panning = 2 mono inputs instead of a stereo pair). While all of this works fine when using input monitoring, it becomes a real pain when you just want to direct monitor.

MOTU 896HD - solved all the problems above. Sounds great (I like it better than the presonus, but that's up for debate), has integrated pres, good drivers and absolutely phenomenal direct monitoring software....oh and hopefully MOTU isn't going out of business any time soon. Only complaint is the lack of SPDIF, but I can live with that. Also I'm going to pick up a Focusrite octopre to use with the ADAT interface on my 896 and that will mean 16 in, 8 of which are focusrite :). Oh and meters on the front are really cooler than they have any right to be...I never thought it would be a big deal until I got them and now I love them.

Good luck
Dean

I have been looking into this extensively for some time. AFAIC, there are 3 contenders in the sub $1000 interface market. The EMU 1820m ($500), The Presonus Firepod ($600) and the Motu 828 Mk II ($750). The EMU has the best bang for the buck but it is currently suffering (to varying degrees depending on who you ask) from driver issues. The Presonus seems to be solid especially if you need 8 mic pre's. The motu has the most flexibilty. If EMU got its act together it would be a slam dunk but right now I am leaning towards the motu because of its versatility and the ability run 18 simultaneous mic inputs via the adat interface.

AFAIC, there are 3 contenders in the sub $1000 interface market. The EMU 1820m ($500), The Presonus Firepod ($600) and the Motu 828 Mk II ($750).

For a couple hundred more, you can get a RME Fireface 800. It can be up to 56 channels. (So they say)

I am not sorry I got mine. I am sorry that I had to spend an additional $700 to upgrade my computer to get it working though. But in the long run and a few thousand dollars later. I am happy with my setup.

I just got rid of a MOTU 2408mkii and it was the biggest headache I have ever owned. I thought it would be nice, as MOTU has a good reputation, but it was slow, crashed a lot and the converters sounded very bad. I swear the converters in my old BF ADAT sounded better.

I bought an RME Hammerfall and I love it. The ASIO drivers would not work in S3 no matter what I tried (firmware update, RME's Sonar fix, etc...). Works like a charm in S4 Pro though.

The RME sounds amazing compared to the MOTU. The converters are better, it's more stable and the word clock is easier to set up.

For a pre I am using a UA 610 or some older Neve modules. I have an Avalon as well, but don;t use it all that much.

I really like my E-MU 0404 card.

The RME sounds amazing compared to the MOTU. The converters are better, it's more stable and the word clock is easier to set up.

Yeah, I realize the RME converters are better but you pay xtra for it and $750 is at the extreme edge of what I'm looking to spend. Actually the EMU converters are its most attractive feature but the driver issues have scared me off (are you listening EMU??). How severe were your stability issues with the Motu? Most of what I have read has been extremely positive.

Greetings,

I've been using a MOTU 24i for a long time and I'm very happy with it, but I'm looking for something smaller on tiny gigs, so I'm thinking about the MOTU 896HD coupled to my HP Pentium 4 notebook. My notebook is fast enough to handle some pretty serious mixdown, so I'm pretty confident that it can record a measly 8 tracks at a time. I really like the idea of only having to carry one box with mic pres and adc, but I wonder about 2 things: the preamp quality and the firewire compatibility of my notebook computer.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the 896HD preamp quality?

Does anyone have any experience with the firewire on an HP Pavilion ZE5478CL?

Regards,
David

P.s, has anyone tried to mix a live gig with the MOTU CueMix application?

Well guys. I'm glad I started this post and then I'm wishin I didn't. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate every reponse from all of you on this post but my problem is I am the type of fruitcake that sits down at a restaurant and takes about an hour to look at the menu. I guess my problem is I always want someone to decide for me.

So many choices. I have narrowed it down to the Echo and the MOTU. The Echo I've seen a few non-issues but the MOTU a number of people love and a number of people have had software/driver issues. However, I do like that phillipthorne mentioned the MOTU works without the computer.

It may take a coin toss to settle this.

Thanks for all your opinions and input. Keepin rollin my brothas.

I wouldn't go with the Presonus Firepod. The drivers are not finished and by the last date modifed it looks like development is "frozen" and they never will get finished. I have one and it will not respond to a sample rate change by the host software. Great sounding unit but not finished.

look at it this way if you buy from a Guitar Center or some other music store you always have the option to return it.

ORIGINAL: sfripp

Sonar will work with Asio or WDM!

M-Audio would be my choice if just starting out And by what you are descrbing the M-audio Firewire 410 would be perfect for you.

I am just starting out, and M-Audio was my choice. I'm buying at Guitar Center, so I did return a Tascam US-122 before getting the M-Audio MobilePre USB. Firewire may be better, but I never have more than 2 in and 2 out and USB hasn't caused me any problems yet. What has bugged me, a little, is that there aren't enough hardware knobs--you need to use the M-Audio software for basic volume controls. The other thing is that I have to crank the volume up full to get enough gain from my M-Audio Nova condenser mic.

On balance, I think I like the M-Audio (low-end Tascam has a bad sound quality rep on the Internet, but not as bad as low-end Behringer; and not as bad as the bad manufacturing quality rep that Alesis has). I'm coming up on my 30 days to return the MobilePre, so I'll have to decide soon.

I'm using ASIO with the Mobile Pre and SONAR 4 SE, by the way. As I said, no problems.

/alastair/

Another audio interface to add into the mix... if you can wait until May for it, is the Focusrite Saffire.

4 in; 10 out. It includes DSP chip with some nice looking effects, but haven't heard of any reviews yet. I'm keeping my eye out for more info as it sound like pretty much what I'm after

Here's a link... Sound On Sound news

I have used several Echo products with Sonar and they have all worked flawlessly. I can't say enough about them.

Currently I use the Tascam FW1884 but that might have more bells and whistles then you are looking for.

I say go for the Layla.

Good Luck!