What Audio Interface To Buy?, For 500$ or Less Options

[zachwass2000]

I am an amateur musician who plays guitar and wants to start recording onto my PowerBook G4. I am looking for an audio interface that will be good to use to record my songs. I would like an interface that has at least 2 1/4 inch inputs and includes good recording software. What would you recommend? I have looked at things such as the MBox 2, FireWire 410 and the FireBox. My budget is $500 or less initially, but I am willing to spend more later if I wish to expand. Thank you for any help.

[lepetitmartien]

I'd look for the Presonus Inspire, presonus are serious guys, it's coming with software (Cubase LE) or I'd go the M-audio/M-powered route, or better, the Mbox/Pro tools LE route.

The cheapest solution seems to be the Inspire.

Note that a decent amount of RAM and an external hard drive is a good idea too.

Do you need more than 1 guitar and 1 vocal inputs?

[zachwass2000]

The Inspire seems pretty good, but I noticed it doesn't have a MIDI input, which I should have put in my original question. I'm not necessarily looking for the cheapest setup, so what would you recommend as the best in the $500 or less range?

[cliffmoon2]

Check out Presonus Firebox. Great sound for $300 and it comes with Cubase LE. I don't believe there are any audio interfaces at that price that rival it's sonic capabilites.

Moonie

[rickenbacker]

Yeah, in that price range, probably the Firebox. Maybe the Focusrite Saffire, too. I don't know the price of the new MOTU UltraLite, but it looks nice and is guaranteed to be a quality item - check that out.

[transientattack]

ultralite is $550 on sweetwater.

[coldharbour]

Maybe the Focusrite Saffire, too

Anybody have experiences in this machine (Focusrite Saffire), it looks superior to Firebox, not zero-latency though?

Ultra-Low-Latency Firewire400 Interfacewith onboard-DSP, 4 Inputs: 2x Focusrite preamps and 2chn. S/PDIF; 10 Outs: 8x analog/sym. und 2 chn. digitalOut S/PDIF; 2x headphones; 24 Bit / 192 kHz A-D/D-Aconverter, midi I/O; Saffire-DSP-powered plug-ins:compression, eq, amp-modelling und reverb for themonitoring path, Focusrite-software for five independentstereo-mixes for all incoming and recorded tracks;plug-ins also available for other platforms like VST/AU;Cubase LE included

[rickenbacker]

I've had both on my desk at one time or another and they're both good interfaces. Most of my complaints with the Saffire were cosmetic or software interface-related, which I believe Focusrite may have corrected with the recent v2 release. I liked the Firebox, too. Very loud headphone amp, which is good. Ultimately, I preferred the small horizontal format of the Firebox over the vertical Mbox-style Saffire. YMMV.

My personal audio interface search is over now, though: I bought Metric Halo's ULN-2. Awesome.

[MrModern]

My personal audio interface search is over now, though: I bought Metric Halo's ULN-2. Awesome.

Have been considering the RME Multiface II, but the proprietary i/o might be a problem in the future. Just looked at the specs for ULN-2, and it looks like a great unit, very similar capabilities as the Multiface. Any comment on latency? Just wondering how little there might be.

Dave

[rickenbacker]

I was tempted to give a two-word answer, starting with "f" and ending in "all".

Instead, I'll simply say very, very little. MH did a great job with the routing/mix software interface. And the sound of the unit is really terrific.

I've heard people say good things about RME, for sure, but I have absolutely no regrets about choosing the ULN-2. If you're feeling flush, you might even consider the ULN-2+DSP which has onboard signal processing, utilising MH's widely-respected channel strip plug-ins.