Fw Input Vs. St. Mini Jack Input.., Has anyone compared the two options...?? Options

[Pulgar]

Hello all,

This forum looks great, so I thought I'd run a simple question past you to get your thoughts.

Of late, I'm dipping a toe into Mac recording, via my powerbook (1.67, 1gig ram, 160gig ext.drive) using Garageband as a songwriting/demo tool.

I am holding out for one of the MOTU Ultralites, as I already have 4 excellent mic pre channels here from my old(er) FOSTEX hard disk set-up (Focusrite Green, Joe Meek, ART), and don't need 8 @ once, for me 4 - 6 is plenty.

Of late I have been recording Classical guitar, Steel String guitar and insane de-tuned distorted guitar (not D.I) and had fantastic results. Even my wifes Oboe recorded nicely, the upper transients were relatively smooth. All this has simply been recorded by patching a stereo mini jack to the patch-bay and sending an un-balanced line to it from any of the pre's. It's simple, albeit a little clumsy looking with the minijack adaptor hanging off the side of the PB.

My question is whether or not anyone has comparitively tested to see if going into the PB via Firewire is SUBSTANTIALLY better than going via the mini-jack. I suppose I'm asking whether it's worth shelling out the $$ for an interface that I MAY NOT need. The amount of times I've recorded kit in the last ten years of my project studios can be done on one hand, and if it's really important I'd rather book a studio for the day anyway. The hype around these interfaces is very catching though.
I suppose it just goes to show that if your front end is right, the recording medium is not quite so critical (at least at home in demo land..)

Thanks for your time...


cheers...