Which budget audio interfaces work with XP and Snow leopard?
January 13, 2010 8:18 AM Subscribe
Which budget audio interfaces work with XP and Snow leopard? Is there a clear best-in-class at the moment?
I'm looking to get an audio interface to plug into various laptops running XP and Snow Leopard. This will be part of a very portable music rig, so I'm looking for something that can record at least 2 simultaneous sources, which might be mic, instrument and line level signals. Phantom Power nice but not vital. MIDI input nice but not vital.
Given that it's only going to be 2 instruments at once, I'm happy with either usb or firewire.
This area of the market seems so crowded, though. Are there clear best-in-class models in the 'sub£100-£150' range?
This looks ideal, but Tapco says that it doesn't currently support above OSX10.5:
Same but firewire. Twice the price, though
Then there are the Presonus Fireboxes and USBAudio's, the M-Audio fast-track pro,the out-of-my-budget Firepro 610
There's so much stuff and it's turning my brain to mush!
I'm looking to get an audio interface to plug into various laptops running XP and Snow Leopard. This will be part of a very portable music rig, so I'm looking for something that can record at least 2 simultaneous sources, which might be mic, instrument and line level signals. Phantom Power nice but not vital. MIDI input nice but not vital.
Given that it's only going to be 2 instruments at once, I'm happy with either usb or firewire.
This area of the market seems so crowded, though. Are there clear best-in-class models in the 'sub£100-£150' range?
This looks ideal, but Tapco says that it doesn't currently support above OSX10.5:
Same but firewire. Twice the price, though
Then there are the Presonus Fireboxes and USBAudio's, the M-Audio fast-track pro,the out-of-my-budget Firepro 610
There's so much stuff and it's turning my brain to mush!
M-Audio tends to be very slow with drivers, and they aren't at all into actually supporting their USB hardware. Never had a problem with their firewire or pci stuff though.
Mark of the Unicorn makes great stuff, as does Presonus. No guarantees that either has anything in your price range though.
posted by jjb at 12:20 PM on January 13, 2010
Mark of the Unicorn makes great stuff, as does Presonus. No guarantees that either has anything in your price range though.
posted by jjb at 12:20 PM on January 13, 2010
I don't think there's a consensus on which one's the best - I know people using most of the devices mentioned.
Personally, I've been pretty happy with my E-MU Tracker Pre; it's has most of what you want, I think, except for the MIDI. For a bit more, you can get their 0404, which does MIDI and has 4 inputs. I use it on XP and 10.5; I've only recently upgraded to 10.6, so I'm not yet sure whether there are any driver issues.
posted by ubersturm at 1:58 PM on January 13, 2010
Personally, I've been pretty happy with my E-MU Tracker Pre; it's has most of what you want, I think, except for the MIDI. For a bit more, you can get their 0404, which does MIDI and has 4 inputs. I use it on XP and 10.5; I've only recently upgraded to 10.6, so I'm not yet sure whether there are any driver issues.
posted by ubersturm at 1:58 PM on January 13, 2010
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posted by Jawn at 10:58 AM on January 13, 2010