Basic Audio Interfaces For A PowerBook

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I'm looking at getting a new audio interface, specifically for my PowerBook (i.e. it needs to be FireWire or USB). It will be purely for live work, so there is no need for more than:

- 1 good quality input (TRS ideally, line more important than XLR)
- 1 good quality output, to a mixing desk
- 2 MIDI ins (outs optional)

Anything more is a nicety, but the aim is to be as cheap as possible.

Currently I'm looking at the Tascam US 122, but this only has 1 MIDI in/1 MIDI out. I'm also looking at the MOTU Fastlane USB, but this is only a 2 in/out MIDI interface.

Interstingly the PowerBook has the optical out jack, but this is a bit risky as it depends on being able to plug optical cables into the mixing desk wherever I am...

Any suggestions?

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Thursday, 24 November 2005 12:20 (nineteen years ago)

As a side question, what is the analogue jack out on the PB like? I somewhat expect it to be awful.

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Thursday, 24 November 2005 12:21 (nineteen years ago)

tisspy i'm actually looking for something very similar, albeit with slightly reduced specs:
- 1 good quality input
- 1 good quality output
- USB2.0 (i don't have firewire)

so let's make this thread do our research for us, ha

― nervous (cochere), Thursday, 24 November 2005 14:36 (nineteen years ago)

i use an edirol ua-25. it was pretty easy to set up and it sounds good. unfortunately it only has one midi in/midi out, but i normally do my midi input via USB

― jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Thursday, 24 November 2005 21:17 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, I only realised last night that 1 in/1 out is what I need MIDI-wise, as one of my keyboards has a usb connector...

In that case, the UA25 looks like exactly what I'm looking for. Cheers Jim!

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Friday, 25 November 2005 09:36 (nineteen years ago)

glad to help! they're as light as hell and sound better than any internal sound card i've ever heard

― jim p. irrelevant (electricsound), Friday, 25 November 2005 09:58 (nineteen years ago)

Are there even interfaces on the market that have less than two ins/outs? That pesky standard called "stereo" seems to have influenced everything already.... ;)

― martin m. (mushrush), Saturday, 26 November 2005 19:15 (nineteen years ago)

Ah, I was counting 1 in/out as a stereo pair :)

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Monday, 28 November 2005 13:32 (nineteen years ago)

seven months pass...

What's a good audio interface to use for both recording and live use? I'll be needing one soon, and will have a price ceiling of approx. $250. Right now I have a Roland Juno 106, an MC-303 groovebox, some pre-MIDI Boss drum machines, some Casio SKs, and an analogue mixer (also used to have a Casio CZ, which I'm looking to replace). I would like to learn Cubase and/or Ableton so useful bundled software is a plus. So basically, I need a few inputs and at least one stereo output. For live use, I'll likely have everything playing off of the computer minus the Juno, which'll be played live.

-Should I get one that includes MIDI, or spring for one of those $30 USB MIDI interfaces?
-Are there any that come with (Mac) Cubase or Ableton Live bundled?
-Will USB be good enough, or should I try for FireWire? (Is there a significant difference wrt latency?)
-When playing live should I run the outs of the interface into my mixer, or mix on the computer and go straight to the PA?

― naus (Robert T), Saturday, 8 July 2006 05:02 (nineteen years ago)

-Should I get one that includes MIDI, or spring for one of those $30 USB MIDI interfaces?

This doesn't matter a great deal. A MIDI interface is a MIDI interface, whether its built-in or stand alone. What *does* matter is the manufacturer. In my experience, M-Audio MIDI is sloppy and terrible. I've found RME and MOTU to be much tighter.

Are there any that come with (Mac) Cubase or Ableton Live bundled?

No idea about Cubase. The proper version of Live isn't bundled with anything. Some manufacturers(M-Audio and Behringer off the top of my head)do bundle Live Lite, which is a cut down version with pretty restrictive limitations. On the plus side, you can upgrade Live Lite to the full version for quite a bit less than buying it straight off.

-Will USB be good enough, or should I try for FireWire? (Is there a significant difference wrt latency?)

'Good enough' depends on what you want to do with it! I have found Firewire much better though. With my old M-Audio USB interface I had to put up with 10-15ms of latency (depending on how hard I was hitting the CPU). I've got an RME Fireface now, and that consistenly goes down to 1-2ms without any problems.

-When playing live should I run the outs of the interface into my mixer, or mix on the computer and go straight to the PA?

What mixer are you using? If it's decent quality and you need to adjust levels during the performance, then go with it. If not, it's just extra uneccesary weight to lug around. Bear in mind that you'll need more outputs from your soundcard if you intend to mix externally.

I'm not really sure what to recommend for sub $250. I've been down the cheap sound-card route and found it a waste of time and cash. You'll just end up wanting to upgrade much sooner. If I were you, I'd save up a bit of extra cash and go for something like the MOTU Ultralite. It's worth it in the long run.

If you must go cheap, I've heard that the Presonus stuff and the new Focusrite Saffire LE are pretty good - although still a bit over $250. The key in my experience is just to avoid M-Audio like the plague.

― jng (jng), Monday, 10 July 2006 12:58 (nineteen years ago)

I knew about M-Audio's bad monitors and keyboards, not sure why I thought their interfaces would be any better... But yeah, I was thinking about the Ultralite, just because the only interface I've used before was an 828 that worked flawlessly. I have heard good things about Presonus, but their most cut-down one (the Inspire) seems pretty weak.

Thanks for all your advice!

― naus (Robert T), Tuesday, 11 July 2006 01:01 (nineteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.