Firewire Audio Interfaces For Os X, Which one to buy ? Options

[snuupy]

Hello everybody,

I just bought one of the new 800MHz iBooks (my first Mac) and I´m planning to buy a FIREWIRE Audio Interface that operates under OS X.

Is there anybody who could recommend a specific product and/or help me with my decision ?

This is what I want to get accomplished with my new "toy":

As a jazz-piano player I´d like to record rehearsals and demos with small ensembles and burn them on CD - I think that 8 audio input channels should be enough for this task. (?)
E.g. bass 1, piano 2, voc 1, sax 1, drums 3 channels.

I don´t expect true professional quality - I simply want to get things done/check things out on my own instead of depending on booking a studio all the time.

My budget allows for approximately 900$ / 900 EUROs.

Until now I took a look at the

- MOTU 828 and the
- M-Audio Delta 1010

MOTU828s two XLR jacks look pretty good to me, because I like to do things with as few technical stuff as possible... Looks to me like you could even just plug in two mics without any adaptors to record a piano/voice duo. Am I seriously mislead about that ???

OK - pretty long post

I´m looking forward to your experiences/suggestions.

snuupy

[snuupy]

hello damann,
thanks for your advice !

well, er, ahem, my only experiences in recording so far are in the MIDI field with CUBASE on ATARI1040ST...

is your question aimed at possible incompatibilities between audio software and the 828 ? i thought that a properly installed (correct drivers etc.) interface would work with any recording software like CUBASE or LOGIC. wrong ?

or did you have the OS 9/OS X driver situation in mind ? (i read about that in other forums around here...)

doesn´t the 828 come with some audio software included (audio desk), that might do what i want to do ?

well - i´m planning to buy the 828 around spring/summer 2003 anyway, so i *hope* that OS X drivers and software will be ready by then...

a personal question: damann, do you use the 828 yourself ? in a live or studio situation ? do you know other frequent mac-music visitors who use their equipment for "live" (i mean on the road, mike the band and record a whole 50minute set) recordings ?

Thanks again so far

snuupy