Just got M-Powered and Audiophile 192

[LSRdigital]

I've been saying for months that I hoped Digi would make a firewire version of the mbox. I only ever record 1-2 tracks at a time, I'll be purchasing a Powermac G5 soon so my 001 has to go, and in my experience, audio over USB has been very sketchy. So, a two-channel FW interface would have been perfect for my needs. With no sign of Digi releasing such a device in the foreseeable future, I went to my local GC and paid for the 001 to 002R upgrade. The 002R is way more hardware than I need, but it was the only option. The NEXT DAY, they announce PT M-Powered. I read all the info on Digi's and M-Audio's sites, and read all the forum posts, and decided to take a chance on this. I went back to GC, and instead of getting the 002R, I got an Audiophile 192 card, and the M-Powered software, and saved a few hundred bucks. After spending the morning removing the 001 from my rack, (and it's pci card from my Mac) and rewiring all my other gear to the new card, I'm up and running, and I might even be perfectly happy now. So far there are three great things that I love about this new system:

- I can now have ALL audio from my Mac - PT, Logic, Live, Reason, iTunes, etc. - playing out of one interface AT THE SAME TIME!!!

- For the first time in 3 years, I can put my Mac into deep sleep!!!

- I didn't have to shell out too much money for hardware that I don't need just to migrate to a more powerful new computer.

I'm sure I'll find some issues with the new setup at some point, as we always do, but for now, I'd like to thank the folks at Digidesign and M-Audio for putting their heads together and doing something that makes so much sense.

[Loudnoize Ent.]

Hey LSR,

Glad to hear it's all workin' for you. Listen, I have a few questions...

- How is the latency issue with the 192? I hated the MBox regarding it and had hopes the 192 would certainly be way less.

- Does it sound better than decent? I understand we're not paying top bucks here but I heard sweet things about M-Audio's cards.

- I've read some saying it's not as much a CPU hog like the Digi stuff was. How does that compare?

Thanks in advance...

[LSRdigital]

Latency has been unnoticable so far. You can use the M-Audio Delta control panel to setup direct monitoring from either the digital or analog inputs, so you get zero latency. I have only recorded in through S/PDIF at this point, so I can't comment on how the converters sound, but just from testing out the analog ins, I'd say they are very good for the price. As for the overall performance, I haven't run any tests or anything, but my system feels more solid now than it ever did with the 001 running on OS X.

[whyered]

I am jealous of your experience hacing bough a 192 myself and having had nothing but trouble since. Playback is choppy one moment and then worse the next. Seldom is it the way it is supposed to sound. When it is fine, there is no rhyme or reason for it (and it does not last). I've emailed tech support and they suggested permissions and a reinstall but that has not worked to resolve the issues.

What kind of settings do you have set up in your sound control panel/audiomidi setup?

- I can now have ALL audio from my Mac - PT, Logic, Live, Reason, iTunes, etc. - playing out of one interface AT THE SAME TIME!!!

...

I'm sure I'll find some issues with the new setup at some point, as we always do, but for now, I'd like to thank the folks at Digidesign and M-Audio for putting their heads together and doing something that makes so much sense.

[Loudnoize Ent.]

Hey LSR, since you're last post how's everything been running? Any disappointments with the Audiophile 192 or other issues?

Give us the scoop... Thanks.

[LSRdigital]

Everything's running great. I haven't been online much in the last few days because I've actually been getting a lot of recording and mixing done. I'm not in front of my recording machine right now, so I can't post the details of my delta control panel settings or AMS settings, but I can tell you that I didn't spend any appreciable amount of time setting anything up in there. I just installed the drivers that came on the M-Powered CD, and I had to go configure the I/O inside PT to match up with the new interface. Since then everything has just worked.

[Loudnoize Ent.]

Thanks LSR... Sounds like you've got yourself a pretty solid system. Well, I went and did it too. Will recieve my PT-MP and AP192 tomorrow. I'm hoping my results will be as good as yours.

BTW, we'll probably see a lot less headaches with the M-Audio stuff as we've seen with the MBox. One major factor... Latency... Hallelujah.

[whyered]

Well let us know how it goes. I've been on the phone with m-audio tech suport again and it seems it may be related to the PCI slots on the 2nd gen 2 x 1.8 G5s (although unlike the 2496 where they have stated they definetely do not work with 2nd gen 2x1.8s the 192 is supposed to work).

Thanks LSR... Sounds like you've got yourself a pretty solid system. Well, I went and did it too. Will recieve my PT-MP and AP192 tomorrow. I'm hoping my results will be as good as yours.

BTW, we'll probably see a lot less headaches with the M-Audio stuff as we've seen with the MBox. One major factor... Latency... Hallelujah.

[Loudnoize Ent.]

[QUOTE]
Well let us know how it goes.[QUOTE]


After a few hours of examining the AP 192, my conclusion is it's a pretty good little work horse. The sound is not any worst than the MBox and I've noticed no hesitation or a million little pop up windows, ones we're all to familiar with. In fact, there were moments I thought it sounded way better than I imagined. The upside for me is the ZERO latency and that's amazing. How many of you can say you've actually played Audio Instruments with buffer at 1024 with NO latency. I'm smilin' folks, I'm smilin'... I will be doing further testing in a day or so and will give you more updates. You were right LSR, this thing is way cool.

[silverlode]

How has the m-audio hardware and drivers been working with Logic and other apps? I can't really use my 001 in Logic with less than a 512 setting. I'd think about m-audio hardware and PT MP if I could get some hardware to use with them all.