#306

Actually I thought that macsales had a thunderbolt 3 dock that includes firewire but I don’t see it anymore, I may have imagined it!

#307

Looks like the one I have is discontinued…

You could always run the thunderbolt to FireWire 800 adapter into a FireWire 800 to 400 cable, I’ve done that ok…

#308

Firewire is very dead. I would not be investing in a firewire interface now. USB is as reliable as anything else these days, is much more universal, and will be compatible long after firewire dongles are no longer available for whatever interface is the next standard. Thunderbolt is great but for fewer than 40 channels there is no need at all for it. As with everything, avoid cheap hubs and don’t put the interface on the same port as storage.

Edit: by no means knocking firewire interfaces. They work fine. I would not advise acquiring one, is all.

3 Likes
#309

Took the dive and got an Ultralite Mk4 and MAN, I am really enjoying it. All the ins and outs have made sending stuff from live to pedals an absolute dream.

1 Like
#310

Considering grabbing an ES-9 for vcv rack and ableton cv tools, m4l, etc… Anyone have one? Any thoughts on it?

2 Likes
#311

I have an ES-8 and I’m seriously considering the upgrade. The workflow is great already, but the extra IO would make it even better.

1 Like
#312

Just make sure to budget in your dongles! I had to spend an additional $100 in cable+dongle when I switched from usb to thunderbolt. I think I’ve mentioned above my io is es-8+ultraliteAVB+16A. Motu 16A is the master and when I plugged the others in I had to use thunderbolt to get the bandwidth.

2 Likes
#313

Hmm this sums it all up pretty nicely. Guess I will have to save up a bit to get an 828 Hybrid

#314

Too many damn interconnect interfaces in too short a time.

1995 Firewire 400
1996 USB 1
2000 USB 2, USB Mini-A, USB Mini-B, USB Micro-B
2000 Firewire 800
2008 USB 3
2008 Firewire “declared dead” by Steve Jobs
2011 Thunderbolt 1
2013 USB 3.1
2013 Thunderbolt 2
2014 USB-C connector rises from the dead and joins all of the above USB connectors
2015 Thunderbolt 3 (adopts USB-C connector, too)
2017 USB 3.2
2019 USB 4

I purchased—with reservations—a pair of Thunderbolt 2 interfaces this Summer from Presonus. The interfaces were a good fit for my plans, but immediately necessitated a Thunderbolt 2-to-Thunderbolt 3 converter dongle thing, because Macs have shipped with Thunderbolt 3 for the last four (4) years. Why is Presonus still releasing brand new Thunderbolt 2 interfaces? Probably because the licensing and approval process for Thunderbolt 3 remains ridiculously expensive and time-consuming. (You may note that Thunderbolt 3 has been “current” for four years, but actual Thunderbolt 3 devices have been slow to arrive, remain fairly rare, and tend to cost $$$$.)

3 Likes
#315

Anyone here used the Soundcraft Notepad series? I have the MTK 22 and have enjoyed using it for a couple years now, and I had another Soundcraft before so I’ve been pretty happy with my past purchases, but since this is a newer more budget oriented line I’m wondering how they fare. The 22 is going to be too big for my studio situation for a while and unecessary, so I’m looking at the Notepad to downsize, have something more portable for when I need it, and can do simple 2 channel record/usb playback. The Allen Heath ZED 10 offers a bit more but is double the price and looks way less portable.

#316

Yes, but haven’t you found that the need to upgrade the connector tends to time nicely with the desire to upgrade the interface overall? I’ve had 4 interfaces in the past 20 years, not bad really. PCI with Rca ins, then usb, then FireWire, now thunderbolt. Each time I was ready to upgrade regardless of connection type. More inputs, better preamps, etc. Of course, the lifespan of interfaces is much shorter than most equipment, but you could pretty easily get away with a new one every 8-10 years so long as you are looking at function and not requiring the latest and greatest. No?

#317

Definitely. My current batch (an older Firewire one that I never use the FW part of, now that it’s been promoted to a pure A/D/D/A converter to ADAT and back, and a USB 2.0 one that’s got ridiculously low latency and great audio specs - which the FW one streams audio in and out of via the ADAT ports) will probably be the last I buy for a good long time, and if I upgrade, it’ll be for a very specific reason. At that point I’ll get whatever makes the most sense for the studio, regardless of the interface connection (hell by then it could be Dante, for all I know).

#318

still using firewire 400 & 800 interfaces with thunderbolt adapters without issue, just to add a data point here. i have had issues with the usb-only motus, but my old hybrids are still rock solid. recently brought them out of retirement to use abletons cv tools, works like a charm.

1 Like
#319

Hi,

I hope you folks can help me with a decision buying a new audio interface.

I am hesitating between a RME Fireface UC, a Motu Ultralite MK4 or a Motu 624 AVB.
I know that the audio dropout problems with the 2018 Macbooks (T2chip) seems to be gone but still I try to make a decision that is for the next years as this is a hell lot of cash for me to spend.

After having experienced immense problems with my Ultralite Mk4 I sold it and bought a UAD Arrow which is super nice, but I definitely need more ins and outs. The Arrow though never dropped out once which is making me tend to the 624 AVB. On the other hand… RME drivers.

Thanks in advance
KZA

#320

In your situation I’d choose whichever MOTU has the ESS DACs. Those are extremely nice. If you had the choice of a used RME UCX and not UC, it would be probably in favour of the UCX (I own one and LOVE it, but would not pay full price for one), due to the incredible flexibility and on-device implementation of RME’s totalmix (I’m not a fan of MOTU’s webserver-on-your-interface implementation, personally). But either way you’ve got some great choices here. The AVB bus is nice, but it’s rather MOTU-specific (the market seems to be largely going in the direction of Dante, not AVB, sadly) so the utility of expanding things will be relatively limited and it’s really up to where the market whims go. On the other hand, ADAT will always be useful, so my money would say you’d likely find the Mk4 a more versatile interface well into the future, even if it’s not as theoretically expandable.

#321

I use a Notepad 12FX. Bought it a few months ago and happy with it so far. To my non-professional ears it sounds excellent - no noise introduced by the mixer. I especially like the small size and ability to record 4 channels thru USB to my computer. I mainly record my modular synth and sometimes a mic or other synth. The FX are ok but nothing special.

2 Likes
#322

I know many have talked about the functionality of this but does anyone have any thoughts on the conversion and preamp quality of the K-Mix? Seems like a good mixer for my setup and I like the amount of ins and outs but don’t really want to have that AND an interface if possible.

1 Like
#323

So I’ve been thinking about ways to multi-track a live mix. Most hardware mixers with direct outputs are too big/crammed with features that I wouldn’t want to use, and ideally I’d want to buffer the signal so trying to avoid passive splits via an insert jack.

The simplest alternative I can think of would be some sort of buffered multiple for 1/4" cable signals with two ouputs per channel; one copy would go to live mixer and one copy straight to an interface to multi-track.

Does anyone know if a buffered multiple in this kind of form factor currently exists? I’ve found some rack-mount microphone splitters from Pro-Co but they use XLR (doabel but not ideal) and are relatively expensive for 4 channels ($300-$400…)

#324

Buffered and isolated splitters are going to be some investment. The good ones like Radial’s line and mic splitters (eg LX8, JS3) have good components.

You could also get an interface with low/zero latency monitoring with a software mixer. Also not cheap.

Alternative is just mixer like a soundcraft modded with direct outs.

There is no free lunch if you want it to sound good and be reliable.

But seems like you already figured this out!

#325

Is a Mackie 1202VLZ4 too big? You can go direct out on the first four channels + a stereo mix on the 3/4 bus. This is what I’m doing on my smaller setup.