One and all: Give your suggestions for a good quality, affordable interface for the beginners of the world.

I'm new to comuter based music production and I plan to run Logic Express 7 on a new iBook w/ 768mb of Ram. I need recommendations on audio interfaces with at least two input channels, including a good mic input as vocals will be a priority, hopefully under $500. This set up is to be used for demo song/sellable cd production; the focus however is to produce usable tracks for later studio additions. All suggestions are apreciated. Thank you.

This post has been edited by OneDerBoy: Fri 15 Jul 2005, 22:06

i like my firebox ($400) - see the "Presonus Firebox Reviews" thread. It make a bit of a CPU hit, but just generally works all the time and sounds good.

Yes, Firebox is a good option. For its price and size is very complete.

Thanks guys.

The price for the firebox seems comperable to the mbox. what kind of differences am I looking at with USB vs. FW? If it's not much, I think I'd be more interested in getting the ProTools software bundle with the mbox.

not sure i agree - i have an mbox and take it from me, its a dog of an interface - not terribly good for anything except running Pro Tools if you absolutely have to in my opinion. The Firebox is a much nicer piece of hardware with more features, but it cant run pro tools. But I perfer Logic anyway.

Both interfaces make a small CPU hit. I think the Firebox's is less, but you dont ever notice it with the Mbox because it does not even let you set it to low latencies. Firewire is better than USB generally for audio - its stream based instead of packet based. Ok gotta run!

Really? Interesting. Thanks for the suggestion. I plan to run Logic express 7 alone for now so it's good to know they work together.

my 2¢
I don'thave experience with M-audio....but I have read and heard about the issues with a Mac ,besides it'sUSB...
the FireBox is FireWIRE..
NOWTHAT I GOTA GOOD UNIT I LOVE MY FIREBOX...AND YOU CAN HAVE (oops caps lock on) not yelling........
you can have multiple channels running.

I would not go with a USB unit ...sitck to firewire...its faster and more reliable

ok?

-- ian

This post has been edited by ArchivalAudio: Tue 19 Jul 2005, 07:10

The Mackie Spike has my vote. It may be USB but that does not seem to affect its performance. It has the best Pre-Amps for the budget market, so if you wish to record vocals/acoustic guitar, you can't go wrong. Traktion comes free as a bundle too so if you want to break out of GarageBand, you have an option.

Sorry to dig up a (kinda) old thread...

I doubt the Mackie pres are anything more than the XDR pres found in budget Mackie mixers. Nothing wrong with them at all, but the Presonus pres are really a cut above (in line with those in the Real Nice Preamp from FMR).

The M Box also has some nice Focusrite pres (similar to those in the Platinum range).

All in all, if you're main concern is mic pre quality, I'd go with the Firebox or MBox. That having been said, I wouldnt get the MBox unless you NEED to use PT LE. I use Logic, so the Firebox is my next interface.

I recommand the Focusrite Saffire! Strongly! Awesome interface.