new laptop soundcard

[bit]

Has anyone tried the E-MU 1616 card with Saw?
I need a laptop soulution for use live. I'm thinking of M-Audio Firewire 410 or the EM-U card. I'm a little nervous abuot using a firewire solution live. It has to be rock solid and uncrashable. (well).
I need at least four balanced outs. And I'm also thinking of using it for a small portable recording solution.

Bjørn

[jeromee]

Hey
I didn't have very good luck with the emu stuff before I was using saw. It did not work well with magix samplitude8 and I think several people on the forum have posted problems about them within saw. I am using an m audio fw1814 with the behringer 8000 as my laptop rig and it has been working perfectly, no hangups, no stutters just smoothe operations.
J

[Car 24]

I use the RME Multiface/Card bus setup. 100% reliable so far (4 months of use).

[Craig Allen]

I second the Multiface - I use it with a Toshiba Satellite to mix my band live and have been doing so for about 2 years with no issues.

[Tree Leopard]

Bjørn,

I'm in the process myself of looking at the latest boxes for mobile rigs. FWIW, today I have just been testing out the PreSonus Firebox.

On this particular model, I wound up the trim pots and I discovered a noise @ approx 2 kHz on both of the pre-amps - quite pronouced on the right channel - which was also transmitted across the line outs and the heaphone amp. Aside from that not much clean gain on offer. The headpone amp is noisy and the unit gets very hot as well. All up, disappointing - especially after a number of good reviews i'd seen.

I thought I'd mention these issues, since so many of these compact FW units in the US $ 250-400 range promise so much... blablabla ...

Anyway, I just checked in @ RME and saw this re: the Multiface II (http://www.rme-audio.com/english/hdsp/multifa.htm)


Regular firmware and driver updates ensure the Multiface II to stay at the top of today's audio interfaces. The latest addition, Disconnect mode, lets you use the unit as stand-alone AD/DA-converter, digital format converter, analog/digital mixer or submixer, and much more.They do their homework, don't they? If you can get a good price (quite a mark-up in this part of the world) it could be a v. good all round solution.

Andre

[Bob L]

There have been many issues of instability and audio glitches reported from users here and in my support email concerning the Emu... at this point, until their drivers are modified for the better (if ever), I would recommend something els.

The RME Cardbus and DigiFace or MultiFace systems have been the best I have seen for laptop use... I use them in all my live laptop rigs.

The drivers easily allow 2 x 64 buffer settings in MME mode, which is quite amazing.

Bob L

[Misha]

Lots of problems witht the Emu cards. I've got an 1820M that I'm selling so I can get something that works well with SAW. I'm somewhat discouraged with Emu's response to my support questions as they say there is nothing wrong with the card at all :confused:

[Mark Stebbeds]

The RME Cardbus and DigiFace or MultiFace systems have been the best I have seen for laptop use


I second this. They seem to very stable on many different laptops. I've used them on a DELL without any problems.

Mark

[mghtx]

I wouldn't get the EMU. I had one and was not happy with it. I finally got it to work (with SAW) but it was more hassle than it should have been. If you have the money go with RME.

[Zilla]

RME Fireface 800 with Sony Vaio & WaveLab5. In use for almost a year with no problems.

Have not encountered any yet with SAW, but I just got SAW last month.

[bit]

Thanks for advice guys.

So it's definately no EMU.
I think the RME solution gets a bit pricey.
But I have to think twicey.
Perhaps it will be firewire after all.
Has anyone of you using a m-audio firewire card ones had any embarrassing experience live?.....:o
Just tell me....:)

Bj***248;rn

[Pedro Itriago]

The only contact (if it could be called that way) with a M-Audio usb/firewire interface was just recently. It was nothing more tha a casual hearing of them. A powerbook with a M-Audio (don't recall the model) and the guy was using those white domelike JBL speaker. I really hope it was the speakers, but the amount of hiss coming from that setup was deafening (and the guy was editing in that, :eek: )

[Bob L]

Consider the RME Hammerfall Lite... it gives you 16 channels of lightpipe i/o and lists for only $500... you can get them for less... that a few Behringer ADA8000 can get you off the ground with a powerful setup...

Of course you can add the extender and better converters... but if your budget is the concern, the Lite and 1 or 2 Behringers can't be beat... and you still get the live latency and stable performance.

The next one up would be the new HDSP 9652... 24 i/o, midi... etc... lists for only $200 or so more.

Bob L

[bit]

Consider the RME Hammerfall Lite... it gives you 16 channels of lightpipe i/o and lists for only $500...
Bob L

Hammerfall lite? Haven't seen that. Do you connect it to the the cardbus card like the multi and digiface?

Bjørn

[TotalSonic]

Hammerfall lite? Haven't seen that. Do you connect it to the the cardbus card like the multi and digiface?

Bjørn


Info is here:
http://www.rme-audio.com/english/hammer/d9636.htm

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Bob L]

I'm sorry... you are talking about laptops... no good... it is a PCI self contained card which is a good inexpensive way into the RME experience... but for desktops.

The cardbus and MultiFace/Digiface combo is the laptop killer combination from RME.... otherwise... many have had good luck with the Firewire cards... but they are much more expensive... I have not had the pleasure of trying one of those yet.

Bob L

[Microstudio]

Bob you have mentioned The Behringer ADA8000 a lot, my question is: Do you really think it sounds good or is it a price thing?

[Bob L]

I have stated this many times in previous message threads... of course I think it sounds great... and I think it is a fantastic value for the price... and listening to the Lon Bronson mixes should speak for themselves... that project was completely done using the Behringers on a crowded Las Vegas Casino stage... lots of leakage issues as well as using stage mics... and its one of the smoothest and exciting sounding project I have ever been involved with.... but go to the www.LonBronson.com (http://www.LonBronson.com) site and listen for yourself... and realize those samples are mp3 files... you should hear the original CD. :)

The Behringer mic pres are perfectly clean and sound good... don't let the cheap price or any other audio professionals talk you out of trying them for yourself... obviously, each should make his own decision.

Bob L

[John Hernandez]

Thanks for advice guys.

So it's definately no EMU.
I think the RME solution gets a bit pricey.
But I have to think twicey.
Perhaps it will be firewire after all.
Has anyone of you using a m-audio firewire card ones had any embarrassing experience live?.....:o
Just tell me....:)

BjørnRME Multiface here as well. Rock solid with SS and Toshi lap. Find one on Ebay with a Cardbus. I did, well worth it.

$0.02,
John

[bit]

When are somone going to invent a laptop with pipeline ins and outs...:-)

Bjørn