I hear RME are great. I have a Focusrite Sapphire pro 40 I can not understand the negative comments here about the drivers.
I have had mine for 2 years and I have not had one issue with drivers nor the hardware, so far.
Very Happy. Upgraded from a Yamaha I88x that was a nightmare for drivers.

 

Last edited: Mar 11, 2017

very good. one thing to note is that audient didn´t open the sale of their interfaces for pc
befor they where sure everything was alright. not too many companys do that.

besides that if you look into the second hand market you could get a multiface pcie interface
for about 400, or a firwface 400 (fw+usb depending on model) around the same. they even released the Arc interface
wich acording to boss works perfectly alright with all the older interfaces too.

that means for around 400 bucks

1)rpm 2mics + 4rca io + 2TRS outs+ midi io, 1heaphone
2)multiface 8trs+adat i0 spdif+midi io, 1 hedphone
and they need xtra interface (like pcie or expresscard) but totals @about 400
portable but with power needs

and the new arc is 150 i think
From rme:
And because it communicates with TotalMix FX (via USB) it is compatible to all RME audio interfaces that are detected and supported by TotalMix FX. This goes back to RME interfaces released 2001!
Pretty cool!

like above
1)ff400 same as mf but busspowered - + 2di - + 2micpres + wc io
f2)f800 everything more + more expensive (6-800 moneys)

if firewire, they need at least good firewire. not the best but good. (not like tc gear)

and even audient gets a little cheaper but like rme not by much right now.
about 150 -100 less

but saw antelope tour as low as 1100

Listen before (previous post). i didnt list the expensive gear to mock you or anything
but to let you know what is realisticly out there. since this is a significant investment wich you probably only do once in the next years
even doubbleing your current budged isnt too far fetched. from my view at least, my gear works since 2001!

all the vendors i mentioned (exept the "young" antelope) have a long history to proove my point.
even now merging supports up to 11.2mhz or 384khz. i would be suprised if that changes anyttime soon heheh

i leave you with the audient latency questions answered in vids

but as always a good optimized system will yield better results, always test and optimize even with all the other brands!

@midi-man
People probably/either didnt do their homework or hardware incompatibility, wich happens.

 

Last edited: Mar 11, 2017

compressor tasks? I connect in my studio a spl goldmic, a Warm audio WA76, a pre 73 and a eq 73. through adat (mackie) to the babyface. Works flawless.
I can use them as inserts or track with them.

 

RME Babyface Pro - that's too old
Focusrite Clarett 8Pre - nothing better expect more I/O
Apollo Twin - fuck all UAD shit!
Audient stuff - made in china, that's all!

if portability is important buy zoom u44 that has battery power support

 

The Babyface Pro is actually about a year younger than the Claret 8Pre, I believe.

 

I have naby interfaces and RME just works and as I know RME is the only that make new drives for old gear, Its future proof and rock solid.
Be aware that adat is something that can disappear in near future because NET interfaces can be shared with multiple interfaces, computers and have longer cables. But also you can run with multiple interfaces...
iconnectivity have interesting products that you must think about. I have an RME UFX and their midi interfaces are tasty!

 

@ovalf rme are not the only ones to maintain support for older gear, but there are very few that do!

they came out the same year.
maybe @m9cao falsly asumes babyface and babyface pro are the same thing ;)

 

heard many things about the babyface, also that it sometimes breaks

I prefer motu interfaces as you can drive a car over them and they will work just fine afterwards

 

You said you have a company, right? So you can buy ex VAT, right?
Either way, the UC does not have the build in effects the UCX has. So the compression and reverb etc for the monitoring. If you don't need that, it's not really of any use to pay for them, I guess that's true..

 

When the Babyface first hit the street many years ago there was a jogwheel issue within a single run of the Silver colored version that somehow squeezed through their extreme vetting in regard of their quality control procedure (which color I happen to have). Mine is now 7 years old and is as good as new. I trust RME to deliver the goods.

 

If external compressors are are important to you then the Audient looks like the one you should go with. I've haven't read anything negative about it and the price is right.

 

Last edited: Mar 11, 2017

Did you travel with it a lot? Also is it a bbf pro?



Just saying, the portable motus are built like tanks. If they made music in warzones thats what you would use there. Its sevensixtwomillimeter full metal jacket

 

Last edited: Mar 12, 2017

For that kind of money is either Apollo twin (which also offers dsp performance) or RME babyface.

Anything less and you're losing value.

Personally, i'd go with Apollo and never look back.
They are simply amazing sound cards.

 

ua is only intresting if the whole dsp fx is in his path.
and only with a quad i would say. since 2 neve unison or 2 nice neve comps and its over with a solo.
they are good cards. but are you really amazed with the hardware? but i was with 33609 plug ;)
i dont think you would loose more with audient, and value is lost either way

but io count +cost. audient seems a better fit
its not my decision Jmho

 

Still better than anything else out there (RME is also great but imho, apollo wins because of DSP and amazing plugins) and the only one that offers DSP.

Having some DSP is better than having no DSP.

Being not able to afford it doesn't mean something less expensive should be better, correct?

I just think, if you're going to spend 300-400 why not just buy the best?

 

ADAT means alesis digital audio tape and is the standard interface for digital multitrack audio transfer. No processing whatsoever.

 

not when its more than double the price for just a little dsp.

and better would be actually antelope. this gear actually sounds better + the fpga simulation
is tremendous for such a short development time. as i see it. theyre going the slate route in the near future.

for the other dsp future. if i want ua
i would partner up with someone who wants to buy a bigger apollo
and hope they do another promo ala "get a satelite free" deal ;) (like the last 2 years)

.ps
and the io needs fit with the audient

 

Last edited: Mar 15, 2017

What is the problem with the Focusrite drivers? I only have a Scarlette 6i/6. The only bug I have found has been while changing my sample rates, while working on win7pro. Now my m-audio firewire solo now that originally had some crap drivers before the last firmware update.

 

Wow!

I feel a bit overwhelmed. Thank you guys! I remember my budget top is 900€. As much as I would like to buy an antelope (one day, baby, one day...) or a RME UCX It's not an option price wise.

So I did some more prospecting and:
- I tend to discard the Audient due to NO MIDI In/out (what were they thinking?)
- UAD is out as I have seen several videos that show that the number of instances of effects is very reduced. I don't want to buy something for the plugs and then I can use only a reduced number of them.

Now I am more between 8pre and RME stuff (bbf pro or UC, as ucx is away from my league and couldn't find any 2nd sellers around).

As I said I obviously don't want to be upgrading anytime soon so I kinda ended up between this:
- RME Babyface Pro (Portable and upgradable)
- RME UC (that "stupid" X costs more 300€ )
- Focusrite 8Pre (big but decent features)
- please bare in mind that even when multitracking I will need a BBFPro+ADAT vs FC8pre vs UC!

What do you guys reckon?
Thank you so much,
D.

 

Last edited: Mar 16, 2017

This is interesting, but a wild budget appeared!