The Doom Room: ILF Edition

[AxAxSxS]

He is afflicted (as are many here) with a severe case of G.A.S.
He also has Gigantism of Amplificatio. this disease also seems to be rampant in these parts.

[HeavyXIII]

I could easily pick up a second hand USB based one, as they appear to be EVERYWHERE now. The real issue is that I recently acquired an older Presonus Firebox (free), but it doesn't play nice with my operating system, and that's not so easy to fix. I've heard the firewire based interfaces have less latency issues and have a higher transfer rate, but they seem to be less and less common nowadays.

Anybody with the USB types care to comment on latency?

[AxAxSxS]

I could easily pick up a second hand USB based one, as they appear to be EVERYWHERE now. The real issue is that I recently acquired an older Presonus Firebox (free), but it doesn't play nice with my operating system, and that's not so easy to fix. I've heard the firewire based interfaces have less latency issues and have a higher transfer rate, but they seem to be less and less common nowadays.

Anybody with the USB types care to comment on latency?

Latency will be largely affected by your pc, turning things off can help. I got in the habit of never monitoring while recording. I mean I can hear the damn amps allready and it eats processor power. I know ableton has a way of measuring latency where you basically create a loop, ableton creates the signal, and then measures how long it takes fr the signal to return. You then enter this value in settings and TADA! no more latency issues. I got a new pc last year and never bothered doing this with the new setup as it was a non issue/not percievable. My OLD computer it was a problem until I figured it out.

I can def recomend the scarlet stuff. Way better than the m audio I had before. And very reasonably priced.

[whiskey_face]

He is afflicted (as are many here) with a severe case of G.A.S.
He also has Gigantism of Amplificatio. this disease also seems to be rampant in these parts.

gooddeal envy

ya nick I sold it unloaded to a dude that was gonna load it with emi delta 12s and use it for bass.

he had a pretty sweet hoard. trust me, it went to a good home.

and unlike me HE GIGS so it will prolly see a stage again.

[Kacey Y]

Also, does anyone know anything about PC/Mac recording interfaces?

What specifically do you want to know about? There's a lot to choose from, depends on what you're using it with and what you want out of it.

I use Focusrite interfaces with Logic 9 on my iMac. I like their quality, features and their built in preamps are decent quality and pretty neutral sounding (which I personally like). If you're just looking for one of those simple 2 input simple interfaces, there's a lot of products out there and it's a constantly evolving industry. There are a lot of products that also get some lukewarm to negative reviews, then update their firmware/drivers and are suddenly flawless, but the old reviews still linger around, so it can be confusing. So finding something that has been out a while and has had all the bugs in the audio drivers for the digital converters worked out is pretty essential.

There's a lot of updates to USB and Firewire in the last couple years, but those innovations tend to get to interfaces WAY late (they don't do major updates very often to products). Based on my personal experience, I prefer Fireware based interfaces over USB. I've only owned one USB based one (M-Audio I think?) and it had tons of latency, it was basically unusable for me. That was about 5 years ago though, If there are products with some of the newer USB based connections, it may be different now.

Your computer and your DAW settings will probably have a bigger effect on latency in the end. That's why I use Logic, because it's native based, no external DSP, so I can get pretty low latency with the right settings. Personally I'm starting to butt up against the limit of my processing power with my current computer though, because I'm constantly doing bigger projects and more elaborate mixes, with more plugins over the years.

[odontophobia]

Also, does anyone know anything about PC/Mac recording interfaces?

What specifically do you want to know about? There's a lot to choose from, depends on what you're using it with and what you want out of it.

I use Focusrite interfaces with Logic 9 on my iMac. I like their quality, features and their built in preamps are decent quality and pretty neutral sounding (which I personally like). If you're just looking for one of those simple 2 input simple interfaces, there's a lot of products out there and it's a constantly evolving industry. There are a lot of products that also get some lukewarm to negative reviews, then update their firmware/drivers and are suddenly flawless, but the old reviews still linger around, so it can be confusing. So finding something that has been out a while and has had all the bugs in the audio drivers for the digital converters worked out is pretty essential.

There's a lot of updates to USB and Firewire in the last couple years, but those innovations tend to get to interfaces WAY late (they don't do major updates very often to products). Based on my personal experience, I prefer Fireware based interfaces over USB. I've only owned one USB based one (M-Audio I think?) and it had tons of latency, it was basically unusable for me. That was about 5 years ago though, If there are products with some of the newer USB based connections, it may be different now.

Your computer and your DAW settings will probably have a bigger effect on latency in the end. That's why I use Logic, because it's native based, no external DSP, so I can get pretty low latency with the right settings. Personally I'm starting to butt up against the limit of my processing power with my current computer though, because I'm constantly doing bigger projects and more elaborate mixes, with more plugins over the years.

As an Apple guy, through and through, I agree with literally everything said here and probably couldn't say it better myself.

Different interfaces and their price points are going to differ based on what you want them to do -- and the ultimate word to the wise: IF YOU RELY ON A SPECIFIC PIECE OF HARDWARE/SOFTWARE -- DON'T UPGRADE YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM UNTIL IT IS CONFIRMED WORKING VIA MANUFACTURER.

I spent several hours helping this poor bastard who had upgraded to OS X 10.9.1 and couldn't get his Tascam interface to work any longer.

[Ancient Astronaught]

I spent several hours helping this poor bastard who had upgraded to OS X 10.9.1 and couldn't get his Tascam interface to work any longer.

Don't even get me started on this EXACT problem.....


UNLESS you have a fix. I'm just glad my old macbook couldn't upgrade past 10.6 but it doesn't have enough processing power to mix dense albums....

[Kacey Y]

Also, does anyone know anything about PC/Mac recording interfaces?

What specifically do you want to know about? There's a lot to choose from, depends on what you're using it with and what you want out of it.

I use Focusrite interfaces with Logic 9 on my iMac. I like their quality, features and their built in preamps are decent quality and pretty neutral sounding (which I personally like). If you're just looking for one of those simple 2 input simple interfaces, there's a lot of products out there and it's a constantly evolving industry. There are a lot of products that also get some lukewarm to negative reviews, then update their firmware/drivers and are suddenly flawless, but the old reviews still linger around, so it can be confusing. So finding something that has been out a while and has had all the bugs in the audio drivers for the digital converters worked out is pretty essential.

There's a lot of updates to USB and Firewire in the last couple years, but those innovations tend to get to interfaces WAY late (they don't do major updates very often to products). Based on my personal experience, I prefer Fireware based interfaces over USB. I've only owned one USB based one (M-Audio I think?) and it had tons of latency, it was basically unusable for me. That was about 5 years ago though, If there are products with some of the newer USB based connections, it may be different now.

Your computer and your DAW settings will probably have a bigger effect on latency in the end. That's why I use Logic, because it's native based, no external DSP, so I can get pretty low latency with the right settings. Personally I'm starting to butt up against the limit of my processing power with my current computer though, because I'm constantly doing bigger projects and more elaborate mixes, with more plugins over the years.

As an Apple guy, through and through, I agree with literally everything said here and probably couldn't say it better myself.

Different interfaces and their price points are going to differ based on what you want them to do -- and the ultimate word to the wise: IF YOU RELY ON A SPECIFIC PIECE OF HARDWARE/SOFTWARE -- DON'T UPGRADE YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM UNTIL IT IS CONFIRMED WORKING VIA MANUFACTURER.

I spent several hours helping this poor bastard who had upgraded to OS X 10.9.1 and couldn't get his Tascam interface to work any longer.

Yeah, the thing about digital audio recording interfaces is they run sort of contrary to other electronics. It's all about driver stability and computer compatibility, so they really don't come out with updated designs that much. At most they add a little feature here or there or come out with a new model with more inputs. The most popular interfaces are the ones that have been around a long time, new ones tend to get terrible reviews because it takes a while to iron out all the driver issues. That's why I bought my Focusrite interface, all the hardware and features were well reviewed, but the early reviews complained of driver issues, then they changed the drivers and blammo, everything worked perfect and it got great reviews. It had already been out a while, so the price had dropped some and I could get a good deal at a place like B&H. The newer stuff is always more expensive and more buggy. Hell, the most popular Pro Tools interfaces on the used market are ones that are like 10 years obsolete. It's sort of counter intuitive to people who are used to buying computers and consumer electronics. There's not much technical innovation to be had, so it's pretty much all about software/firmware stability.

[D.o.S.]

Hey, while we're here, I'm in the market for a better interface, but I have zero interest in using something that's computer dependent--my type-y machine is pretty much exclusively for "real work," and is pretty underpowered as far as interface stuff goes.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[Ancient Astronaught]

Hey, while we're here, I'm in the market for a better interface, but I have zero interest in using something that's computer dependent--my type-y machine is pretty much exclusively for "real work," and is pretty underpowered as far as interface stuff goes.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Zoom H4N, its got two built in mics and two XLR inputs. Can record 4 tracks at once with pretty decent quality onto an SD card that you can then transfer via USB onto your comp. They run about 125$ used.

[John Matrix]

Hey, while we're here, I'm in the market for a better interface, but I have zero interest in using something that's computer dependent--my type-y machine is pretty much exclusively for "real work," and is pretty underpowered as far as interface stuff goes.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Zoom H4N, its got two built in mics and two XLR inputs. Can record 4 tracks at once with pretty decent quality onto an SD card that you can then transfer via USB onto your comp. They run about 125$ used.

BACKED. This little thing yields some surprisingly great recordings. The two stereo mics on top are great for recording band rehearsals and field recording.

[D.o.S.]

Swag. I've used those before for the real job, but only the onboard mics. I didn't really realize they had XLR ins. That's cool.

I was actually thinking more about replacing my venerable Fostex eight track? Something self-contained like that. Do they even make those anymore?

[odontophobia]

I spent several hours helping this poor bastard who had upgraded to OS X 10.9.1 and couldn't get his Tascam interface to work any longer.

Don't even get me started on this EXACT problem.....


UNLESS you have a fix. I'm just glad my old macbook couldn't upgrade past 10.6 but it doesn't have enough processing power to mix dense albums....

I mean -- I have some ideas and I have some solutions...

Most of them are just backing your data up, performing an erase and install and manually moving data back in to the necessary folders.

That's what I ended up doing for the guy I was helping. Fortunately he had upgraded from OS X 10.8 so most of his stuff was pretty recent, etc.

[doctorpoopenstein420]

Swag. I've used those before for the real job, but only the onboard mics. I didn't really realize they had XLR ins. That's cool.

I was actually thinking more about replacing my venerable Fostex eight track? Something self-contained like that. Do they even make those anymore?

Check out the Zoom R series. Self contained, records to SD, or you can use it as a USB interface. I had the R16 until I sold it for a Sunn rig. Loved that thing. 8 xlr/1/4" ins, sixteen tracks, built in effects and shit and a stereo pair of mics all built in. 16 tracks, sounded pretty dope for an all in one, portable as fuck unit. Dug the faders and shit too.

[Krosis]

This picture from the Olympics could be a doom album cover:
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/performers ... 32713.html