M-Powered Interfaces

[AlohaMoto]

What's the best interface for PTMP7.3.1? I need 8 or more inputs. Thank you so much.

[JrummerJ]

I have the M-Audio Firewire 410, and would eventually like to add more inputs. The best solution that I have come up with is to get the M-Audio Lightbridge as an ADAT interface, and then add the 8 channel preamp of your choice, something like the PreSonus FireStudio. This actually gives you the flexibility to up to 3 additional ADAT sources.

J

[kafka]

The 1814 probably gives you the most variety out of the box. 2 mic pres with phantom power, 8 unbalanced in, 4 balanced out, ADAT, S/PDIF, MIDI, 2 headphone outs.

[Maggotspawn]

I'll second the 1814. I'm using one with a Behringer ADA 8000 for 16 channels of input.
If I were shopping for an interface today I might be very inclined towards the Lightbridge though...

[southboundloco]

the lightbridge is just an interface thats it... u have no converters with it unlike the 1814, u have to buy that one separately...

[JrummerJ]

the lightbridge is just an interface thats it... u have no converters with it unlike the 1814, u have to buy that one separately...

I fully understand that, and agree that the 1814 meets the requirements of the thread starter. However, going with the Lightbridge as a qualifying M-Powered interface allows you to go with an ADAT mic pre that has 8 mic preamps (since M-audio doesn't have an 8 mic interface). It also gives you 3 more ADAT inputs that you could add some very nice single channel, or dual channel preamps to.

For $1250 you could get M-Powered, lightbridge, and the Presonus firestudio. As long as M-Powered meets your needs (and it does mine) then this option seems (to me) more appealing than getting a Digi-002 or 003 since you can still add addition ADAT devices for even more tracks.

J

[mcgirr]

M-audio Delta 10/10 rackmount is a premier interface.
8 in/ 8 out of pristine audio conversion.

These interfaces have been a mainstay for years.

They have no preamps, but... preamps and converters should NEVER be housed in the same unit anyway.

Best wishes.

[Bob Olhsson]

If you have a choice, a PCI card interface is what's happening in my experience.

[southboundloco]

whats the latency like with the profire lightbridge? is it useable when tracking? am not sure if u can do hardware monitoring from this interface before it goes into protools, because with the 1814 u can do direct monitoring which eliminates latency,u just mute the track ur recording onto in protools and u can track without latency

[dillon99999]

IMHO:
firewire has too many issues.

when i had 1814 it would make weird noises when i moved the edit window during playback (would have
to quit and restart pro tools). not a pleasant experience when a customer is sitting next to you!

pci is more stable - none of those issues stated above.

here is something to think about:

why is it that Digi doesn't make a FIREWIRE HD1 / HD2 / HD3 system???

probably because they know that Firewire isn't something a professional studio would consider.

perhaps they are working on such a solution, but for now, HD1 is PCI / PCI/e

firewire is good for people on laptops, because they don't usually have a PCI slot.

usb is even less reliable than firewire.

ymmv - take it for what it's worth - been there, done that.