Audio interface for PC laptop

[Tommi]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a decent audio interface for my PC laptop. My laptop has
both a 4-pin firewire input and a USB input. My main needs are to be able to
record 4-6 tracks at once (at least kick, snare, and 2 overheads when
recording drums, for example) and be able to monitor via headphones any
pre-recorded tracks when overdubbing guitars, vocals, etc. The usual stuff,
I guess..

Anyway, the price tag should be somewhere around 300-550 $. This is why I
cannot take into account the MotU-stuff (Traveler, 896) which undeniably
seem nice. I'm even so greedy that I would still like to have 4 preamps
instead of the usual 2 that are present at least in the lower class of my
budget range..

So far, the best thing I've come up to is Alesis multimix 8 firewire, which
seems very nice.

http://www.alesis.com/product.php?id=40

However, Alesis does not clearly state how it does perform with the usual
studio overdubs when laying tracks one by one (latency perfromance, for
example). They just talk about it being a cool way to record and mix your
band's gig...Has anyone had any experience about the multimix firewire
series?

The price tag fits, and thus it seems like a good buy. However, if there are
any major shortcomings, I'd be interested in knowing. Of course, other
options that fit my purpose are also greatly appreciated.

Thanks to everyone, as always.

[Mike Rivers]

Tommi wrote:

> I'm looking for a decent audio interface for my PC laptop. My laptop has
> both a 4-pin firewire input and a USB input. My main needs are to be able to
> record 4-6 tracks at once

That probalby means an 8-channel interface. Do you intend to do your
mixing in the computer or do you need 8 outputs as well so you can mix
on a console?

> Anyway, the price tag should be somewhere around 300-550 $.

> So far, the best thing I've come up to is Alesis multimix 8 firewire, which
> seems very nice.

> The price tag fits, and thus it seems like a good buy. However, if there are
> any major shortcomings, I'd be interested in knowing.

It's too soon to tell. I don't even know if you can buy one yet. But
while with every generation of this sort of gear you get more for your
money than with the previous generation, you don't get what you don't
pay for. The trend among the "popular" manufactuers seems to be rather
than give you a better interface for what you'd have paid last year,
they give you a cheaper one with about the same performance, at least
in some areas. So it's really hard to tell without some tough testing,
and to do that, somebody's gotta buy one first.

How about you? Buy one if you can, try it, and if it doesn't do the
job, return it for a refund. Yeah, yeah, I know, you don't like to do
that, or they just don't do that in your country. Find a dealer who
will work with you. Or wait until the reviews are in. Or spend three
times your budget and get something that's been around long enough to
be proven.

[Sidhu]

Consider the Emu range of products. The1616m has nice converters, two
built in qulaity pres too... and very flexible routing. It is portable
to both PCI and Cardbus.

For an 8mic pre setup u can look at the presonus firewire range.

Cheers!
Sidhu


Mike Rivers wrote:
> Tommi wrote:
>
> > I'm looking for a decent audio interface for my PC laptop. My laptop has
> > both a 4-pin firewire input and a USB input. My main needs are to be able to
> > record 4-6 tracks at once
>
> That probalby means an 8-channel interface. Do you intend to do your
> mixing in the computer or do you need 8 outputs as well so you can mix
> on a console?
>
> > Anyway, the price tag should be somewhere around 300-550 $.
>
> > So far, the best thing I've come up to is Alesis multimix 8 firewire, which
> > seems very nice.
>
> > The price tag fits, and thus it seems like a good buy. However, if there are
> > any major shortcomings, I'd be interested in knowing.
>
> It's too soon to tell. I don't even know if you can buy one yet. But
> while with every generation of this sort of gear you get more for your
> money than with the previous generation, you don't get what you don't
> pay for. The trend among the "popular" manufactuers seems to be rather
> than give you a better interface for what you'd have paid last year,
> they give you a cheaper one with about the same performance, at least
> in some areas. So it's really hard to tell without some tough testing,
> and to do that, somebody's gotta buy one first.
>
> How about you? Buy one if you can, try it, and if it doesn't do the
> job, return it for a refund. Yeah, yeah, I know, you don't like to do
> that, or they just don't do that in your country. Find a dealer who
> will work with you. Or wait until the reviews are in. Or spend three
> times your budget and get something that's been around long enough to
> be proven.

[Laurence Payne]

On Wed, 30 Aug 2006 14:46:24 +0300, "Tommi"
> wrote:

>So far, the best thing I've come up to is Alesis multimix 8 firewire, which
>seems very nice.
>
>http://www.alesis.com/product.php?id=40
>
>However, Alesis does not clearly state how it does perform with the usual
>studio overdubs when laying tracks one by one (latency perfromance, for
>example). They just talk about it being a cool way to record and mix your
>band's gig...Has anyone had any experience about the multimix firewire
>series?

Latency is not an issue when overdubbing. Don't worry about it.

But if what you really need is outside your budget, stretch the
budget. Otherwise you're wasting ALL your money.

[Ethan Winer]

Laurence,

> if what you really need is outside your budget, stretch the budget.
Otherwise you're wasting ALL your money. <

Wise words indeed, and that applies to MUCH more than just audio interfaces!

--Ethan

[Rolo Tomassi]

Tommi wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I'm looking for a decent audio interface for my PC laptop. My laptop
> has both a 4-pin firewire input and a USB input. My main needs are to
> be able to record 4-6 tracks at once (at least kick, snare, and 2
> overheads when recording drums, for example) and be able to monitor
> via headphones any pre-recorded tracks when overdubbing guitars,
> vocals, etc. The usual stuff, I guess..
>
> Anyway, the price tag should be somewhere around 300-550 $. This is
> why I cannot take into account the MotU-stuff (Traveler, 896) which
> undeniably seem nice. I'm even so greedy that I would still like to
> have 4 preamps instead of the usual 2 that are present at least in
> the lower class of my budget range..
>
> So far, the best thing I've come up to is Alesis multimix 8 firewire,
> which seems very nice.
>
> http://www.alesis.com/product.php?id=40
>
> However, Alesis does not clearly state how it does perform with the
> usual studio overdubs when laying tracks one by one (latency
> perfromance, for example). They just talk about it being a cool way
> to record and mix your band's gig...Has anyone had any experience
> about the multimix firewire series?
>
> The price tag fits, and thus it seems like a good buy. However, if
> there are any major shortcomings, I'd be interested in knowing. Of
> course, other options that fit my purpose are also greatly
> appreciated.
> Thanks to everyone, as always.

No specifics in mind but you COULD look at a mixer with 4 pre's from the
Behringer (yeah, I know) range and a 4 or 8 ch interface without the whole
mic pre/eq side. That way you can use sends to drive the sound card whilst
performing a mix and you'll have a handy mixer for other times. You'll also
be able to chop & change the desk side of things as you go to suit whatever
setup you have whilst a decent 4 or 8 channel a-d will always do what it
says on the tin.

Might not work out any better in your case but just a thought.

Rolo

[Tommi]

"Rolo Tomassi" > wrote in message
. uk...
> No specifics in mind but you COULD look at a mixer with 4 pre's from the
> Behringer (yeah, I know) range and a 4 or 8 ch interface without the whole
> mic pre/eq side. That way you can use sends to drive the sound card whilst
> performing a mix and you'll have a handy mixer for other times. You'll
> also be able to chop & change the desk side of things as you go to suit
> whatever setup you have whilst a decent 4 or 8 channel a-d will always do
> what it says on the tin.
>
> Might not work out any better in your case but just a thought.

Hey Rolo, that was a good suggestion. However, I think I'll now settle for
Presonus' Firepod (which has eight preamps) since its price dropped about
250$ here in europe.

[peter]

"Tommi" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Hey Rolo, that was a good suggestion. However, I think I'll now settle for
> Presonus' Firepod (which has eight preamps) since its price dropped about
> 250$ here in europe.

Sells for $600 in the US.

On another note, I'm looking for something similar with four preamps. Any
suggestions?