Home Studio Hardware Setup ¿?

[dragoodan]

Hi all!

I am trying to setup a home recording / mixing studio.
I have heard all about the RME products, and how they are really robust and trustworthy; here is what I would need: A mic preamp, audio ins/outs,midi in/out, lowest latency possible.
For this, I have checked RME's Fireface, yet I am more towards PCI than Firewire, but RME's PCI's do not have the in/outs I need...

Any equipment tips on this?

Thank you!

[Ian Alexander]

I've been very happy with Lynx products over the years. Currently using a Lynx L-22 (PCI) with 2 high quality analog and 2 digital ins and outs on the main card and ADAT connections to 8 other ins and outs on a daughter card. Since I'm just using the ADAT connections for talkback, phone patch, etc., I'm happy with a Behringer ADA8000 hooked up. I have to say that while ADA8000 sounds fine for my purposes, I'm on my second unit.

Lynx also makes PCI cards with various combinations of ins and outs LynxTWO (A, B, or C) and a highly regarded outboard convertor called Aurora.

www.lynxstudio.com

[AntonZ]

An RME PCI card coupled with 1 or more ADA8000 pre's should serve you well. If you're on a budget, with some patience there are used RME DIGI 9652 cards to be found cheap. ADA8000 is very affordable new, having warranty makes sense on those.

[Naturally Digital]

If it's within the budget, go for the RME HDSP9632 http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_hdsp_9632.php or HDSPe AIO http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_hdspe_aio.php

Then get the mic preamp of your choosing. Anything from $100 and up should equal many built-in preamps on inexpensive interfaces.

[John Ludlow]

I have a Fireface 800, and I'm very pleased with it. But - you do suffer from latency due to the FireWire. It hasn't been a big problem for me yet - but I might be someday. I knew that it would not provide the lowest latency, but I bought it anyway because it is so versatile and because the built-in preamps are so clean and quiet. For a lot more money you could do better, latency-wise, by purchasing the same quality in multiple pieces of other equipment. Or, anyway, that's what I decided over a year ago. There may be a cheaper way now.

[Bob L]

The RME digi9652 card will give you 24 ins and outs plus spdif digital... use 1 or more Behringer ADA8000 units for your mic pre/ line ins.

Bob L

[Bill Park]

Hi all!

I am trying to setup a home recording / mixing studio.
I have heard all about the RME products, and how they are really robust and trustworthy; here is what I would need: A mic preamp, audio ins/outs,midi in/out, lowest latency possible.
For this, I have checked RME's Fireface, yet I am more towards PCI than Firewire, but RME's PCI's do not have the in/outs I need...

Any equipment tips on this?

Thank you!

"RME's PCI's do not have the in/outs I need..."

The Multiface II. Uses either a PCI or PC or PCMCIA card, has pres, MIDI, and low latency. RME has led on the low latency front. I have a Fireface, and my studio ran on a Multiface for remotes and Digiface for internal work after we moved away from the original (pre-HDSP) 9652. If I were asked about audio cards, my choices are RME and Lynx. There are lots of others (many not so well known), but these two companies do it for me.

[Craig Allen]

The Multiface II doesn't have pre-amps, but you could get any of the PCI solutions and a ADA8000 for cheap pre-amps. Also, the Fireface UC has a couple of pre-amps. It's actually a USB2 solution.