recommend me a firewire audio interface.

I've heard good things about the focusrite saffire, though have never seen it in the flesh.

I strongly discourage you to buy a lower-end m-audio f/w card (can't speak for the more pricey ones) I have an m-audio firewire 4/10, the controls are clunky and low resolution- particularly the volume which tends to jump to speaker crunching levels when you try to turn it down. also I worry that i'm going to break the plastic i/o's whenever I plug a lead in. An old housemate had a similar m-audio model with similar problems, it also caused processing noise through one of her monitors.

good luck with your search

Aid

FA-101 is rather solid for ~$300-350 with 10 i/o (2 preamped), up to 24/96
and MIDI i/o. As a bonus it is compact and runs off of fw power (on mbps
only). Ua-101 is its usb counterpart, somewhat more expensive, but also
supposedly has better 0-latency monitoring mixer. We have 15+ of them in
DISIS and they are quite solid. We particularly like them as they work with
Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Ivica Ico Bukvic, D.M.A.
Composition, Music Technology
Director, DISIS Interactive Sound & Intermedia Studio
Assistant Co-Director, CCTAD
CHCI, CS, and Art (by courtesy)
Virginia Tech
Dept. of Music - 0240
Blacksburg, VA 24061
(540) 231-6139
ico@vt.edu
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/bukvic/

> -----Original Message-----
> From: maxmsp-bounces@cycling74.com [mailto:maxmsp-bounces@cycling74.com]
> On Behalf Of Aidan Taylor
> Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 7:18 PM
> Subject: [maxmsp] Re: recommend me a firewire audio interface.
>
>
> I've heard good things about the focusrite saffire, though have never seen
> it in the flesh.
>
> I strongly discourage you to buy a lower-end m-audio f/w card (can't speak
> for the more pricey ones) I have an m-audio firewire 4/10, the controls
> are clunky and low resolution- particularly the volume which tends to jump
> to speaker crunching levels when you try to turn it down. also I worry
> that i'm going to break the plastic i/o's whenever I plug a lead in. An
> old housemate had a similar m-audio model with similar problems, it also
> caused processing noise through one of her monitors.
>
> good luck with your search
>
>
> Aid

I've also had good luck with the Edirol (FA-101); I bought it based
partly on Ico's
advice. The dacs (especiall a-d) may be a bit harsh on the high end
according
to People Whose Ears I Respect, but I'm old and played in loud punk-
bands
when I was younger.

brad
http://music.columbia.edu/~brad

On Dec 17, 2008, at 8:24 PM, Ivica Ico Bukvic wrote:

> FA-101 is rather solid for ~$300-350 with 10 i/o (2 preamped), up to
> 24/96
> and MIDI i/o. As a bonus it is compact and runs off of fw power (on
> mbps
> only). Ua-101 is its usb counterpart, somewhat more expensive, but
> also
> supposedly has better 0-latency monitoring mixer. We have 15+ of
> them in
> DISIS and they are quite solid. We particularly like them as they
> work with
> Mac, Windows, and Linux.
>
> Ivica Ico Bukvic, D.M.A.
> Composition, Music Technology
> Director, DISIS Interactive Sound & Intermedia Studio
> Assistant Co-Director, CCTAD
> CHCI, CS, and Art (by courtesy)
> Virginia Tech
> Dept. of Music - 0240
> Blacksburg, VA 24061
> (540) 231-6139
> ico@vt.edu
> http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/bukvic/
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: maxmsp-bounces@cycling74.com [mailto:maxmsp-bounces@cycling74.com
>> ]
>> On Behalf Of Aidan Taylor
>> Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 7:18 PM
>> Subject: [maxmsp] Re: recommend me a firewire audio interface.
>>
>>
>> I've heard good things about the focusrite saffire, though have
>> never seen
>> it in the flesh.
>>
>> I strongly discourage you to buy a lower-end m-audio f/w card
>> (can't speak
>> for the more pricey ones) I have an m-audio firewire 4/10, the
>> controls
>> are clunky and low resolution- particularly the volume which tends
>> to jump
>> to speaker crunching levels when you try to turn it down. also I
>> worry
>> that i'm going to break the plastic i/o's whenever I plug a lead
>> in. An
>> old housemate had a similar m-audio model with similar problems, it
>> also
>> caused processing noise through one of her monitors.
>>
>> good luck with your search
>>
>>
>> Aid
>
>

I've used the Presonus Firebox (4in/6out) for a few years and have been happy with it. It's small, sturdy, clean (and loud) sounding, simple to use and has a software routable headphone output (in case you want to dj with it).

Good luck,
S.

I've been using a motu 828mkII for years and never once had a problem. Their newer products have a lot more features and portability, and if they are as stable as the mkII then I would definitely recommend them!

I've also heard a rumor that motu has a policy of simply replacing any of their units if they can't fix them, even if out of warranty. I haven't actually had a problem, so I can't confirm this.

thanks for all the advice.
my local dealer told me he had not very good expiriences with edirol and only sells them on order. he always gives me very good advice. so i think i won't go with edirol, altough it is very cheap.
i think motu is a bit out of my price range. but i'll have a look at that.
i think max/msp doesn't care wich soundcard you have right? they're all compattible?

wit skrev:
> thanks for all the advice.
> my local dealer told me he had not very good expiriences with edirol and only sells them on order. he always gives me very good advice. so i think i won't go with edirol, altough it is very cheap.
The FA-101 is the exception to the rule regarding Edirol, wit. I can
vouch for the usefulness and coolness of this device. Everything is
neat, even the headphone amp is nice and loud. I run it both off bus
power (desktop) and off the adaptor (laptop) and never have any problems,

I've used it for a while now, and have wanted one ever since I read the
glowing reviews in the tech magazines some years back.

Andreas.