Suggest A Good Usb/fw Interface, Help beginners find affordable quality Options

[OneDerBoy]

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

[edge100]

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.