So Im starting to upgrade my home studio from barley functional to something semi respectable. At the moment I have my PC with a pretty standard sound card, an m-audio 49, and Im about to get a set of HS80m's instead of my KRK's.

My problem at the moment is that I know I need to get a decent audio interface as the yam's wont connect directly to my sound card. After looking around the net I had settled on one of the Focusrites possibly the Saffire Pro 14 however but as Ive also decided that I want to splash out on some hardware synths I don't know how I will route the audio and midi between all of my gear. So now Im stuck not having a clue what kind of interface(s) I am going to need to hook everything up as easily as possible. Any recommendations or advice on what I need to look for?

The Focusrite should do everything you need it to but so will a LOT of other interfaces....there are offerings from M-Audio, Roland, Presonus, etc with basically the same I/O options. The most important thing...particularly with Firewire, (which can be a bit finnicky), is to do some research to make sure that the interface you choose will play nice with your pc...if your MOBO's
firewire chipset is VIA then you may need to get a firwire PCI card with a
TI chipset.

Regarding MIDI, you only need 1 MIDI In/Out on the audio interface, since MIDI is a serial protocol, and you connect the MIDI devices [synths] like this: your master keyboard's MIDI in and out to interface's out and in, then from your master keyboard's THRU to the next synth's IN, then from its THRU to the next synth's IN... but having too long a chain is not really advisable since you could get a pretty big latency. I'd say 3 MIDI devices would be enough for one MIDI chain.

And of course, to get the synth's audio audible on your speakers, connect their audio outputs to the audio interface's inputs.

Out of curiosity, are you selling KRK Rockits to buy Yamahas or VXTs? I suppose Rockits, because VXTs are definitely better than Yamahas. IMHO. I would actually advise you to buy VXT6s if you can... but you probably heard Yamahas and VXTs, and decided on Yamahas.

Good choice on the interface. If you can afford, Saffire Pro 40 is an even better choice. Depending on how many synths do you plan to connect to it. That DSP on Saffire Pro 24 is really something, could be nice to have it. Or TC Impact Twin? It's got wonderful DSP FX, too. I would be a little worried about the drivers, and TC's drivers are a little better than Focusrite's. However, myths like that change overnight... I've got TC Konnekt 48 on my 2nd computer and it works great for location recording. DSP FX are fabulous, and very handy! On my main one I have RME 9652 PCI, and nothing beats an internal PCI or PCIe card regarding latency and CPU consumption.

Hope this will help you.

Cheers!

Cheers guys exactly what I needed to hear! Im actaully giving my Rokits back to their original owner, my brother, he was in the states for a few months and let me have them. I have heard the yams and I love them but the flat response will take some getting used to as I felt the krk rokits coloured the bass a little.

Nice one on the heads up about the firewire I actually backed out of buying an interface a few weeks back because of driver issues on a 64 bit system so ill make sure I do better research on it. Is there a noticable difference in the Saffire 14 and the 24? I was looking at the 24 and I thought the amount of input/outputs might have been over kill for my needs but if its worth it I could stretch the extra 50 quid for it.

I didnt know what that midi thru was at all thats great to know! I'm assuming I just pull the audio cables on the synths that the midi is passing thru and leave the ones its destined for in otherwise craziness would ensue?

I worked both with Yamahas HS80 and KRKs VXT6, and my vote would go for KRK's, but Yamahas are also great, and I think a bit more flat, too. But, I would call both VXT6s and HS50/80 a bargain monitors for the price [yes HS50s are also quite good], and you can do great mixes with both. I also think that it's important to like the sound of your monitors, especially with the music you like, so it's easier to copy the sound of production you like, and therefore make good mixes. So if you like HSs better, buy them. But have you auditioned VXT6s? They're in the same price range, I think, maybe a little bit more expensive. Rockits are not VXTs, I tell ya, I heard them and yes - bass is a little flaky [too much of no good].

There is a bit of difference in specifications between Saffire Pro 14 and 24, and 24 obviously has the same preamps and AD/DA of Pro 40, aside from the fact that 24 also has 2 headphone outs, and good DSP FX that could help you a great deal with recording. When I was considering Saffire 24 or 40 for my set up, I was more inclined to buy Pro 24 because DSP FX can really help you when you record vocals or guitars, and you don't have to use the lowest latencies to get that reverb from the DAW plugin. Also, 2 headphone amps are a great plus when you're not recording yourself, of course. The second "cans out" also doubles as a different monitors simulator that many people said sounds quite good, but I can't tell you anything about that. It might be something you would find very interesting and useful.

So you're planning on connecting maybe 2 synths? Then Pro 24 will be more than up to it. Or 14, either.

If you have a Gigabyte motherboard with Firewire in your PC, you don't have to worry about the Firewire card as Gigabyte use TI chips and their Firewire works just fine. I sometimes assemble PCs for clients and I use only Gigabyte boards as they served me well for years now, and the Firewire works nicely.

If your MIDI keyboard doesn't have MIDI thru, MIDI out will do, too. MIDI keyboards without MIDI thru usually have some option to turn the MIDI out into "thru"

The Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 is an incredible sounding interface, I A/B'd it against the Benchmark DAC-1 and found them to sound almost identical to one another. The DAC-1 is an industry standard digital-analog converter that sells for $995 (without inputs, mic pre's, or a computer interface). I also included an M-Audio ProFire 610 in the test and found it to sound markedly different from the other two.

I don't know if the Scarlett USB interfaces sound as good as the Saffire's do but they may be worth checking out if you're concerned about stability.

Is this still true? Maybe it is. But I though I had heard you could no longer rely on Gigabyte using the TI chipset.

The TC Electronic Impact Twin is a highly recommended interface. I'd definitely say take a look at that one...

n/m
Last edited by hibidy on Mon Aug 20, 2012 1:06 pm; edited 1 time in total

Can you explain the difference between these three?

N/m, it's a sarcastic rhetorical question. I guess I'll have to dig. I was told BY focusrite the preamps are the same. Ima be HELLA pissed if they lied to me.

I'm a bee HELLA pissed if I can't get this stupid song out my head.

The Liquid Saffire 56 is the one to get if you're concerned about mic pre's. Those are absolutely the best available in ANY interface currently on the market.

Interesting. Googling reveals next to nothing in comparisons of the 14 to the 24 in preamp or sound quality, and nothing stating the 14's pres are inferior in any way.

Other than subjective blurp, any actual links? I really would like to see where the preamps are different.

I had the focusrite saffire 10. The pres weren't very good at all. I'd rather use a number of the art mp studios for mics than the built in pres on that unit.

With PCI you get performance miles ahead of any external(firewire, usb etc) devices. So if at all possible, get a PCI soundcard!

This way you can also use your computer as a live mixer(latency below 2ms). No need to record stuff down to hear how they actually sound in a mix. Just play your instrument, add any effects you wan't, and there's no hassle with "direct monitoring" or other gimmicks.. This is definitely the way to go if you plan on using a DAW efficiently!



Midi devices cost next to nothing these days. Just get one for each synth. Stop wasting your time on midi-chains. Your midi-port WILL run out of bandwidth when your song progresses. One midi command takes 1ms. You are basically causing a 2ms lag every time you play a three note chord. Not to mention CC-automation or NRPN & Sysex, etc. One port is barely enough for one synth!


So plan ahead and spend the extra 6$ (SIX DOLLARS) per device that a good midi port costs.

I use these:
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/usb-2-0-to-midi-converter-adapt er-cable-178-5cm-length-110980?item=2

They have lower message-latency and jitter than my branded usb-midi port(that cost ten times more btw). Actually the figures are nearly the same as on my PCI soundcards midi-port. And these even supports sysex that most usb-midi things dont!!