Audio/Midi interfaces for home studio

C

Cheesesailor77

Veteran
Can anyone recommend a good, small firewire interface for my macbook pro? I'm really leaning toward the Presonus Firebox, but I'm not sure all that's out there.

Thanks!
 
i'd use it with my macbook pro so it has to be pretty portable. I'm not sure what you mean by control surface. I don't need a 24 track with faders and everything if that's what you mean. Don't know what cart work is either. I will be using it for my band and well as for music and VO for movies. I'm pretty sure Pro tools is not in my future. Garageband for the time being, followed by Digital Performer most likely. I need both audio and midi, electric guitars and mics. I need to be able to record AT LEAST 2 intruments at the same time, preferably more. And under $500.

Firebox seems to fit the bill, but i was wondering if any of you guys had other suggestions.
 
the alesis fw mixers are nice according to ptalsky. He uses boom recorder with it and has good results. I can't speak for him, but if he says it is good, it is!
 
I would second the Alesis vote. They have very respectable mic pres and all the flexibility of an actual mixer. And they are in your price range with room to spare. Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) also have a number of interfaces that would work, but I would definitely go with a mixer with faders and EQ for what your doing. THe 12 channel version is small enough to be portable, about the size of a Mackie 1202 - not much bigger foot print than your Mac book, and runs around $300. The 16 channel is not that much bigger and runs around $400. If you just wanted to set up in a coffee shop and cut tracks you would probably want to smaller but your recording a band. Two tracks you will grow out of faster than you think. If you do much you WILL want to grow beyond Garage Band, but that can wait till you do.
 
btw I returned my firebox because FCP hated it and the pops and clicks were impossible to fix~

I now have the tascam fw1082 and it is a dream!
 
thanks for the tips, keep'em coming.

I'm looking into these suggestions. Just so you know, My close friend has a nice studio in his garage, pro tools, control room, 80 fader board, probably $10,000 in mics. So while I don't want to waste money, I'm not worried about "out growing" whatever is most convenient. This is mostly to get the best demos i can and then take the team to my buddy's house when it's time to do business. :)
 
Do you plan to take any of your work to your friends?

If so, you might as well spend $600 and get an MBOX II Pro. It comes with pro tools and it can be used with Performer, FCP. It's the one purchase that will give you more flexibility then you can imagine.

ADR, record music, track vocals, guitars, bass - mix your movies, mix your songs.
 
hmmm, twice as much as the firebox. I was thinking about MOTU's Ultralite which is in that same price range. Plus, I had heard some not great things about the new mbox. I'll look into it though, I have a couple more days before I'm making the purchase. Firebox is still in the lead though.
 
If your looking to use this mostly with Apple products you might also look for core audio support that doesn't require a driver. MOTU is not a native core audio box and has some limitations because of the driver. I like Pro Tools a lot but Digi and Apple are at odds because Digi was bought by Avid and well... Anyway the result is that every time Apple makes a change it takes Digi 6mo or so to catch up. So if your not running Pro Tools I would stay away from Digi. But I would still say your missing the boat to go for a small two channel box when you can get a 12 channel mixer for the same price. But you pays your money you picks the tune.
 
The rme Fireface 400 is the best. Its more then your budget but it might be worth it in the long run. You get decent converters and preamp. Thats something you wont get with the other products.
I get real time monitoring with effects on a macbook. Very low latency.
It will work with a battery so you can use it in the field and even as standalone converter.
 
Fireface is definitely outside my budget at $1000-$1200.

Also, thought i'd mention that the Firebox both need no drivers and is bus powered, in case people didn't know that. All the reviews I've read have commended it for it's no latency routing, also.

Can you point me towards some Core Audio interfaces? Any other suggestions?
 
I own the firebox (I'm running it on a pc with cakewalk) and I have to say that I've been happy with it. The low latency performance is very good and the pres are pretty transparent. The only negative thing I have to say about it is that the gain on the pres is a little low. It goes from 0db - 45db and it also has an internal +9db switch. The gain control is only usable up to about 40db or so before you start getting some hiss and the +9db is totally unusable as it adds noise to the signal. This however is only a huge problem with low output microphones like the sm58 and sm57.

-Jon
 
The Firebox looks like a decent interface for the money. I don't know that using the generic Core Audio driver in OS X should be seen as an advantage over interfaces that use dedicated drivers though. A company like RME can squeeze every last ounce of performance out of their interfaces by writing their own drivers. I'm not familiar with any of the Presonus interfaces, but I do own a pair of their Eureka channel strips, and they're an excellent value for the money.

Another alternative no one's mentioned is M-Audio. They have a couple of firewire interfaces in your price range. The 410 is about the same price as the Firebox, and the 1814 runs a little over $400. The 1814 is nice because it has an ADAT interface which allows for expansion down the road if you end up needing more I/O. Anther nice thing is that Digi sells a version of Pro Tools for M-Audio interfaces (Digi bought M-Audio a little while back). That option can come in handy if you ever have the need to learn PT, and can also make life a little easier if you ever need to shuffle stuff back and forth between a pro studio that utilizes Pro Tools.

The MOTU stuff is usually decent quality for the money. I had an 828 a number of years back that did the job. They always seemed to favor the Mac side over the PC as far as drivers were concerned, so that's a plus for you.

I know you said the RME Fireface was out of your price range, but you do get what you pay for. I owned a ton of different interfaces that I was never really satisfied with before I finally picked up a Fireface 800. They really do have superior hardware compared to the under $500 interfaces you're looking at, and their drivers are second to none. If you can save up the extra money for an RME box I'd highly recommend it.
 
The Fireface 400 does look badass. 8 line inputs, core audio, bus powered, better pre's, other bells and whistles. It's easily 3 times the machine, but I'm just not willing to spend 3 times the money right now. It's gotta be be something that will meet my needs, and be sub $500 (the more "sub" the better). If in a year or two, I decide to upgrade to a $1000 box, I'm not going to regret that horrible mistake of spending $300 on something instead of waiting a year and saving up. However, I don't want to waste money either, I want a box that does what I'm looking for, and then just picking the best in the price range.

I've ruled out M-Audio stuff since every comparison I've read prefers the Firebox. The only people who have suggested the 410 over the firebox are Pro tools users.

RME doesn't even have a sub $500 box, so I'm still looking. Any more thoughts?
 
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