#61

I do have the I/O for that, it’s similar to the second option I listed, though going through the DAW rather than just the interface. The main reason I’ve avoided this is because there is then more latency when using the effect while playing, since it has to go through the DAW - though this is less of a concern for things like reverbs that often have some pre-delay anyhow.

#62

Currently using a UAD Apollo Twin with an SSL Alpha Channel hooked up via SPDIF. Next step is getting that 500 series ADAT rack I mentioned earlier in this thread.

Yes so my workflow is basically as follows:

Dry track gets sent out from the Apollo Twin and into, for example, my SSL Alpha Channels EQ section(the Alpha Channel has a insert return so you can skip the preamp)

The output of the SSL goes back into the Apollo via ADAT(it skips the preamps) and gets recorded to a new track.

Once I have the printed track recorded I group it with the clean track to keep it nice and tidy(the clean track gets muted, but kept Incase I change my mind about the track with EQ).

You can do the same thing with any outboard. Just send the signal out and back in through the outboard gear.

Keep in mind that it takes time and patience to do this as you are recording in real-time. But it does keep your CPU nice and low!

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#63

Whoa hold up, is this a thing? Is it important to dedicate a specific USB port to your interface, rather than using a shared hub?

I’ve often plugged my Scarlett 2i4 into a powered hub, which I also share with a wireless mouse, keyboard, and maybe a midi controller or two.

I’ve had some latency issues (can’t get down to an acceptable rate for something like finger drumming on my quneo without lots of dropouts). Maybe not using a dedicated port is my problem. I’ll give it a shot!

#64

If it’s a Scarlett 2i4 first gen, the latency is likely in the interface. Those are notorious for rather high latency (I used to have one). Second gens should be comparable to anything on the market these days.

Adding hubs won’t noticeably increase the latency but it will reduce the available bandwidth - if other devices are also sharing the hub and putting traffic out there at the same time (like a hard drive, USB microphone, or MIDI devices). If the other devices send quite a bit of traffic this can definitely lead to dropouts.

That said, I noticed especially with the Scarlett that I used to have, that it wouldn’t behave properly unless it was given a dedicated host port regardless of other traffic on the hub or not.

Edit: Another thing I thought of: USB MIDI on the same hub as an audio interface is a really awful idea. USB MIDI is the lowest priority traffic on any USB bus and I have personally fought many many battles with it and timing and hubs, etc. which I’ve discussed in part on the Norns/Pi thread regarding the Keystep controller. While some users do have perfectly acceptable performance with some USB audio interfaces and hubs, I strongly recommend a USB audio interface be the ONLY USB 2.0 or 1.0/1.1 device on any host port (USB 3.0 devices don’t count as they use their own circuitry and are effectively completely in parallel to the USB 2.0/1.0/1.1 bus).

2 Likes
#65

Ah well will you look at that, it turns out I do have a first gen. Wow, I would love to see if a different interface would give me better results.

I’m running on linux with JACK. I think I’d be reasonably happy at a 48khz sampling rate, maybe 64 samples per period, 3 periods per buffer. But right now I need to ramp that 64 up to 256, and in fact I still get dropouts sometimes. And this is on a not-very-old Dell laptop with an i7.

Shame, because I’m reasonably happy with the Scarlett apart from that; feels pretty well constructed, nothing blatantly bad about the preamps, etc. I guess I could just suck it up and pick up a 2nd gen… but this sounds like a good time to look into the kmix or one of the MOTUs

1 Like
#66

In the end I decided to go for a Scarlett Focusrite 18i8, which is affordable, has 8 inputs, ADAT and is good enough for what I need to do.

I do believe it is possible to make good music on a budget nowadays.

Thanks anyone for the contribution to this post

#67

Great!

Yes it is definitely possible to make great music on a budget as it eventually all comes down to how you mix and there are plenty of ways to do that ITB.

And with ADAT you are now free to upgrade to high end pre’s if you wish to do so in the future!

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#68

https://www.google.it/amp/s/www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/choosing-audio-interface%3Famp

#69

Curious if anyone has experience with the Zoom LiveTrak L-12 — ticks a lot of boxes (especially the ability to mix on a physical board while simultaneously recording 12 tracks to SD!), but I’m wondering what the quality of the PREs is like with modular sources.

#70

I’ve had my MOTU Ultralite mk1 since before I had a Digi003 (really whenever it came out, since I bought it early on when it was released). I finally decided to simplify when ProTools opened things up to other interfaces and so I sold the Digi003. If/when my Ultralite dies/becomes obsolete, I’ll almost definitely go with another MOTU interface.

3 Likes
#71

This may seem least bit helpful but I do believe there are few studio items that one should never cheap out with …And among those r your monitors and audio interface…if you can spend over a grand on synths you can spend at least 3/4 of that on your interface…it may seem a boring just whatever does the job kinda piece but its not the kind you want to have to spend on hopefully for at least a decade unless your expanding your channel count.

In my experience its either MOTU or RME amongst the lower end of the scale.

#72

Well, I believe this is a subjective thing in the end. There are a few people here who were complaining about Motu as well and yes, if you spent over a grand on a synth you should really buy one of the best audio interfaces on the market…maybe. I am not that sure that expensive always means better quality, especially when quality is becoming more and more affordable.

#73

Well no manufacturer is immune from faulty stuff…Obviously Expensive does not mean quality but with certain brands it surely means you get super well engineered hardware that is made to last, has proven stable and intuitive software/drivers and most important for me at least wether the manufacturer is known to still support that product way past its production…RME still release drivers for their out of production equipment…Metric Halo are even giving hardware upgrades to keep their converters relevant for 20+ years.

Ive got my motu traveller mk3 that i purchased in 2008 and it still runs fine…the only thing that sux is firewire adapters. Now onto my first RME with a UFX2 and really loving TotalMix with its ability to easily route anything to anything. And when my laptop was on the fritz i was thankful to have the ability to setup and record multitracked direct to USB drive standalone.

2 Likes
#74

Looks like the issues are probably due to USB-C ports on the recent Macbook Pros, and seem to effect all USB RME & MOTU interfaces:

https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=26881&p=1

#75

I don’t have exprience with the L-12, but I do with the R-16, their older model in that space.

On the one hand, the R-16 has been a work horse: I’ve used it to record 6 to 8 tracks at a time onto SDcard during group sessions for about three years. The recording quality is in the same ball park os mid-range Audio interfaces. I’ve never used the on board effects. We run it so that it is recording the post-pre track signals, and then the post fader mix is sent to the house.

pluses

  • It just works
  • It once fell off a table during a live-stream, broke the power plug, but kept running without so much as dropped sample on batteries.
  • small, light, and easy to transport

minuses

  • The UI is awful, (but since I don’t use most of the features, whatever…).
  • The build feels very cheap - though see above.
  • The XLR-1/4" combo jacks are funky for 1/4" - super stiff (common complaint, not just my unit) - and don’t have enough strain relief. Some of my 1/4" don’t work anymore.
  • Some of my pre-amps seem to have gone out of calibration somehow and the gain settings are very uneven.

I’ve seen the L-12 at NAMM, and it looks like most of my minuses have been addressed - but it is also bigger.

1 Like
#76

Zero problems over here with my RME Fireface UCX on Mojave on latest Macbook Pro. It just reads some trolls to me tbh. Not using Ableton though, it seems that most complaints are about Ableton?

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#77

I have no personal experience with the L12, but would recommend reading these amazon reviews before buying one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/ROV06G0MZI4IE — tl;dr many customers have experienced bleed/crosstalk between channels 5-8 under certain conditions.

I considered getting an L12 for a while and it’s still on my list, but eventually decided that I’d rather have a simple analogue mixer with separate audio interface/recorder.

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#78

What does Ableton have to do with this?

#79

A lot of the comments I read in that thread were talking about glitches in combination with Ableton

#80

Has anyone with the MOTU avb interfaces had problems with the interface needing a reboot after the computer goes to sleep?