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  • Designing a new system - audio interface questions

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     I'm planning a new system based on a new MacPro desktop. Currently I have a MOTU 2408 interface. I'm considering purchasing another of these for my MacPro, but am wondering about other options. Specifically I'm wondering about the RME Fireface 800 and some combination of Apogee products - - e.g. the Symphony card and Rosetta 800. I would also consider a PCIe version of the RME 9652 card and Multiface. Is there, in anyone's personal experience a significant difference in audio quality between these units that justifies the large price differentials - - in terms of sample playback? The MOTU 2408 is attractive because it is enormously flexible. It does not have, at least currently, the software "loopback" capabilities of RME products, but it does allow for physical loopback. You can also have up to four 2408 breakout boxes attached to one PCI 424 card and MOTU drivers for MAC OSX have, in my experience, been consistently timely as far as their release and reliable. The FireFace 800 is attractive because I could use it with both the MacPro and with a MacBook Pro, but is a firewire based audio interface as reliable as a PCIe based interface? The price differentials are enormous - one could, for example buy a MOTU 2408 and the new MOTU 828 mk3 for just a little more than the price of a single FireFace 800 - - and for significantly less than the price of an Apogee Ensemble. 

    Another consideration is the time frame for the release of 64-bit, OSX compatible, versions of VE 2 and VE 3. Is this a year away or 3 months away? I could envision a system consisting of a MacBook Pro running Logic with the MacPro running Vista 64 and the 64-bit Windows version of VE3 - - in which case the choice would be between the RME FireFace 800, the new MOTU 828 mk3, the Symphony Express card with a Rosetta 800 or an Apogee Ensemble for the MacBook Pro with audio transmitted via Ethernet from the MacPro desktop. 

    Finally does anyone know if the software accompanying Apogee interfaces has "loopback" capability?  
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    Hi Stephen, I happen to have 3 of the interfaces you're asking about. I have a set of 4 2408's, the RME Fireface 800, and the RME 9652. My take is that the 2408's are great for anything digital (I use them as a digital submixer for my slave computers to get to Pro Tools). However, the AD converters on the Fireface seem to my ears to be far superior - I use it as the convertors for recording any live instruments into my rig. I use the 9652 as a digital output from one of my slaves to the 2408 system. I've got friends who love the Apogee products but I can't comment on them personally. I love the Fireface for the flexibility it gives regarding analog inputs, but if you're living purely in the digital world I feel the 2408's are a hard to beat bargain. There's nothing like the flexibility of all of those ADAT ins and outs (24 channels per unit). I don't hear any difference regarding the audio quality of the digital connections between the 3 different units, but I definitely do in the AD converters. So, if you need analog ins I'd recommend the Fireface; if you don't I think you can save some money and stick with the 2408 or 9652. Hope that helps! Dave (ps- Sorry about the lack of paragraphs - I can't remember how to get them to work in Safari!)
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    Dave:

    Thanks very much for taking the time to offer your experience and insight. It's very trick to make judgements as it's hard to find situations where one can simply A/B two interfaces playing the same thing. In January I heard - - at a VSL demo session with Paul Steinbauer in New York - -  various examples of music made with the Vienna Instruments Library played on a system consisting of a MacPro with an Apogee Symphony card attached to an Apogee DA 16 which was, in turn, attached to a Dangerous Music D-Box Summing/Mointoring system - - and it sounded really great. But whether this was a function of this equipment or of some other factors such as the acoustic treatment of the studio I can't tell. (For example, a friend recently told me that he improved the sound and imaging of his speakers many times by mounting them on Primacoustic RX9 Recoil Stabilzer pads.) 

    What is obvious is that, not counting the MacPro, the Apogee/Dangerous Music setup costs about 6 times ($5560) the price of a MOTU 2408 and is, in some ways less flexible (although it does allow for loopback functions in the software that accompanies the Symphony card). I think I'll start with ordering the MOTU 424 PCIe card ($295) so that I can use my current 2408 mk3 breakout box with the MacPro and see how things sound.

    Incidentally, using the primitive loopback system I described - - with an ADAT cable running from the ADAT output of Bank C on the 2408 to the ADAT input of the same 2408 - -  does work - although introduces some latency). However this latency can be significantly reduced in Logic by the insertion of the "Helper" I/O plugin into the AUX channel which sends the output of Bank B to outputs 1-2.  
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    Hi Stephen: No problem - hope my opinions are helpful. I think the $295 investment in the 424 PCIe card is a good choice - not a lot of outlay and it gives you the opportunity to see if the 2408 will continue to work for you. All the best, Dave
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     Dave:

    To get paragraphs on this forum, download Firefox and use it as the browser for this forum - - then you don't have to remember anything. 
  • M
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     Stephen,

    Thank

    you

    very

    much!  [:D]

    Dave