I don’t know how many of you have found Google almost useless for finding product reviews on certain things, but I have. Recently, I’ve been trying to figure out what I can do to get a better offboard DAC and MIDI controller for my recording rig. I decided to put up a blog page so that I can find products and reviews which are helpful.
- The M-Audio Firewire Audiophile has gotten panned pretty hard, as has
- The Presonus Firepod has gotten some good reviews, and it has a ton of inputs, but
- its little brother, the Firebox, might be more suited to my work.
Looks like I might want to avoid the M-Audio firewire 410 and Audiophile; either people love it or they hate it. On the plus side, if I do decide to get it, I can make sure to get it from somewhere with a very liberal return policy.
The Ozonic looks like a nifty product, but it’s so new (February 2005 release) that nobody’s reviewed it that I can tell.
The main reason for this change? Well, I’m buying a new computer. A Laptop. A Dell Inspiron 9200, to be exact. The WUXGA screen (1920×1200 pixels), gigabyte of RAM, and processor which can pump out performance 3 times my current machine make it a great deal, and I haven’t replaced my digital audio workstation in four years; it’s about time!
I’ll be picking up some cheap Firewire external converters for my existing IDE hard drives (a pair of 120GB 7200 RPM Seagate Barracudas), so that I won’t have to rely on the little 5400RPM 80GB hard disk built into the unit. Too bad I can’t use the RAID controller I had them hooked to. Then again, disk throughput was very rarely my problem. The CPU bottleneck on my little Pentium III-933 was the biggest thing causing me grief while doing multi-track audio recording.
The challenge with this laptop is that there is no MIDI interface on the box, and from what I understand, the analog-to-digital converters on the line-in and mic-in are not really professional-grade. They may work out for the 48KHz video-game and rock music I’ve been doing lately, but as my ear has improved due to experience, I’ve begun to hear the shortfalls of that sample rate. I can hear the “graininess” due to my post-processing.
If you’re not familiar with audio stuff, this may make little sense to you. Basically, a 16-bit, 44.1KHz sample (the same as what’s on CD’s) has an aliasing “threshold”. That is, this audio standard is “good enough” that the average listener thinks it sounds great, but once you actually start munging the sounds with effects, the 44,100 “snapshots” per second begin to show their ragged edges. 48KHz remedies this a bit; 96KHz is much better. I’ve also been working with 16-bit samples, and upping that to 24-bit will give me finer-grained amplitude and dynamics resolution. This is becoming increasingly important as I learn to mix stuff better, and play with compressor thresholds.
I’m in the market for a 96KHz ADC/DAC unit, and MIDI converter, preferably in the same unit. The laptop only has one PCMCIA slot, so I’d kind of prefer to avoid buying stuff that fills it up. USB and Firewire are logical, expandable choices. I can leave them home if I’m just hauling my laptop with me, or tote the stuff around in a gig bag if I’m doing recording somewhere else.
I’ve seen some products (the Ozonic is an exmaple) where they tie a MIDI controller keyboard, audio inputs/outputs, and MIDI into one. That sure sounds like the kind of thing I’m looking for. I just need to find more things like it, because the price tag (about $700) is a little too steep…
Other interesting stuff I ran across in my research:
If you bought a Soundblaster Audigy (Hey, Justin!) in 2004, Creative owes you $62.00 for lying to you about the card’s capabilities.
There’s a universal ASIO driver which can enable extremely low latency (below 10ms) for ASIO-enabled applications called “asio4all“. It’s supposed to be very good, even on hardware that, with the stock drivers, doesn’t do low-latency very well. If I can reach the point that I can play my guitar, plugged in through my computer, and the sound that reaches my ears almost instantly is the really fat, distorted, chorused, delayed lead that I want, I’m in heaven. Right now, I try to pluck the melody, and it reaches my ears a quarter-second later. That’s very distracting!
This page will be updated as I encounter more reviews to decide what ADC/DAC and MIDI converter I’m going to pick up. No need to watch this space, really. Just using it as a dumping ground for my product research.
— Matthew P. Barnson – – – – Thought for the moment: He: Let’s end it all, bequeathin’ our brains to science. She: What?!? Science got enough trouble with their OWN brains. — Walt Kelly
A to D
Matt,
Forgive me if I don’t know what I’m talking about here, but I use analog-to-digital converters on all line-ins/mic-ins at my studio. I believe we’re not using MOTU, though, some other brand. But the point is that they’re pretty fantastic, zero latency, wonderful conversion, albeit metallic and digital.
Does MidiMan make a USB MIDI controller for slave keyboard stuff?
It’s too bad you don’t have a huge music store nearby that you could walk in and walk around, peruse the items.
Huge Music Store
Yeah, I wish there was a Fry’s-type store for music around here. As it is, though, there’s a Guitar Center and Riverton Music, which are each about the size of a large grocery store. I’ve found, though, that they tend to focus heavily on instruments, sheet music, and live gigging stuff here, and not very much on digital audio.
The one good store I frequented which did have a heavy recording focus closed two years ago. Alas.
There are supposed to be some bigger places near Provo (an hour away). The Osmonds have their massive, 8-building studio down there, so it kind of stands to reason. But I agree. I’ve been spending a good deal of time reading the Harmony Central boards to get pointers to reviews and read what people are using.
Because Linux compatability is a big deal to me, I’ve also been following up on the mailing lists for JACK and Ardour (the main low-latency driver set and multi-track recording program for Linux) to make sure that whatever I get is compatible. It’s an interesting exercise.
If your DACs sound metallic, they almost certainly aren’t the 24-bit, 96KHz variety, but more likely 16-bit, 44.1KHz. That’s what I’m trying to grow out of 🙂 But what are you using, anyway?
And yeah, Midiman is M-Audio now. They make a cheap little USB MIDI interface that I could use to get by ($49.95) until I can afford something better. My old SoundBlaster Live has served me well, but it’s time to move on to something a bit more professional-grade…
Oh, and I found a better deal at Dell than the one I got, so when this laptop shows up, I’m sending it back 🙂 What a terrible thing! All it means is that I am going to wait a few more weeks for the new one. I’m torn, though, I suspect I’m going to go ahead and open the box to play with the new toy a bit before it goes back home! I love no-questions-asked satisfaction guarantees…
—
Matthew P. Barnson
So slow…
See, here I am behind in the technology craze..
All my soundfonts are freeware, my software is outdated, my machine, while new-“er”, is still below the curve.. my mic kind of sucks.. I am just using the Soundblaster Audigy thingy that firewires out of my computer..
And I want to upgrade.. but I don’t want a new learning curve.. I don’t want to shell out tons more cash… I can hear the difference when I do things differently, but most can’t.. its a trade..
What (and this is especially for matt, who has been a tough critic of my recording, but has driven me to try to improve) should I get to improve my sound.. expecially those familiar with it.. where should I focus..
Theres so much out there, I just need to know what I should get first.. (have a feeling you’ll say condenser mic).. give me thoughts.
Low-hanging fruit
Here’s some low-hanging fruit on upgrades. Realize my current rig is, well, appallingly similar to yours 🙂
1. Upgrade your mic. You knew that already. Watch for sales; you can pick up a large-membrane condenser mic with phantom power for about $100. Better yet, get two. My guitar recordings are WAY better with one condenser over the 12th fret, and another near the nut so it gets the fretting sounds. Of course, if I had a butterfly-response (stereo) mic, I could make it sound even better. But for now, it’s so far light-years ahead of the quality I had before on my acoustic guitar playing, I’m not complaining. Of course, a good mic requires a mixer with phantom power. Frequently, offboard DACs can give you that…
2. Once your mic is better, the next thing you start noticing is your Digital/Analog Converters (DAC). You’ll realize that 16-bit, 44.1KHz recording sounds “tinny”, “hollow”, or “metallic”. Upgrading to a 24-bit, 48KHz signal path will fix that a LOT. The next real boost is 24-bit, 96KHz, but that will require a machine upgrade to handle the massive amount of data transfer. An offboard DAC will help you get there, though. The primary problem with an “on-board” sound-card type DAC is EMI (Electro-Magnetic Interference). There’s a ton of it flying around inside your computer case. If you can get the DAC out of the case, you get a cleaner sound. Something like an RME Hammerfall is what I’m looking at for my next upgrade there.
3. Once you have a high-quality mic and a high-bitrate DAC, you’ll actually start to be able to hear the background noise in your recordings. I’m partway there with my better mics; there’s enough clarity in my recordings to pick up on the background noise. Before the recordings were so noisy anyway that I couldn’t hear the background stuff like the hum of my computer fans or the whine of my CRT. Now I can. A more sensitive mic has a great frequency response and really livens up recordings, but the downside is that the next step is to get better sound isolation in your studio.
If you keep most things in the digital domain (like I do), these three things aren’t a big concern. Most of the time, what I’m working with is either straight MIDI data converted digitally to audio, or else a line-in from a guitar amp. Now that I’m working more on “live” performance stuff (ahh, the joy of targeting a bluegrass-like sound for my next project), this gets very noticeable. You’re getting fantastic results considering the hardware you’re working with. And realize that what you’re doing now puts you 90% there. That remaining 10% of “professional” is where 90% of the expense lies, and what discerning listeners will judge you on.
Anyway, that’s why I made this post. To archive information about various offboard DACs and MIDI adapters. I’ll post a comment when I’ve finally settled on my rig. The main trouble is that I have to make sure it’s compatible with my new latpop, since I can’t re-use some of the stuff from my existing desktop. However, my hope is that by having a high-performance laptop, my “studio” becomes much more mobile. My goal is to fit everything into a laptop case and a duffel bag, and see if I can do some recording of various live performances around the valley to improve my recording technique.
—
Matthew P. Barnson
Think of it this way…
It’s probably all better than the gear the Beatles used when they recorded the White Album. So no more whining 🙂
——– Visit my blog, eh! The Murphy Maphia
Hence, Revolution 9
Yeah.. but they had things like instruments and musicians and good songs.
I need technology
Brain interface
One day, I shall invent an interface which plugs directly into my brain and transcribes the music into my head into a sequencer for all to hear. Then it prints out beautiful, legible sheet music.
Right now, that interface is my hands, and they are hella slow…
—
Matthew P. Barnson
Music in my head..
But then the voices in my head could be heard.. and I dont want that..
WE DONT WANT THAT, MY PRECIOUS
Audio Interface Hell
I have an Inspiron 9200 that I’ve set up for music with the intention of eventually playing live. I’ve been in gear hell trying to find a satisfactory solution. I want to have the capability to input guitar and mic, and monitor processed output. I use Ableton Live. First I bought an Audiotrak Maya44 USB. It’s cheap, and bare-bones, but it’s got four ins and outs. I paired this up with a Soundcraft Compact4 mixer.
Problem #1: I need a cue mix. The soundcraft had no provision for routing a separate mix to headphones. I tried monitoring by plugging directly into the Maya, but then controlling the headphone level is impossible.
Problem #2: Not only are all the wires and connections cumbersome, they are an RF interference magnet. I was getting all sorts of interesting noises, which were minimized by finding the right outlet. Still, what a pain!
So I decided to try the M-Audio Ozonic. Everything in one unit! Sounded good to me. I got it home and it worked for about four seconds and then quit. It just flat out didn’t work at all. I followed the install instructions to the letter. I uninstalled and tried it again. No luck. I went back to Guitar Center and swapped for a Firewire 410. Same exact problem. I contacted M-Audio tech support, the tech said it was probably an IRQ conflict. If that’s true, then that totally sucks because on the Inspiron 9200:
Fortunately the built-in modem and wired ethernet adapter each have their own IRQ. Unfortunately disabling them made not a whit of difference. The tech suggested reformatting my system to see if *maybe* the allocations would change. I returned the FW410.
Last night I hooked up the Maya and the soundcraft and decided to give it another go, but it was just too frustrating between the massive RF noise and the hopeless monitoring situation. So this morning I ordered a Presonus FireBox. I could only find one review on the Web (on audiomidi dot com where I actually bought the thing). I’m so desperate at this point, and it does have some pretty killer specs, so we’ll see. My wife will probably decapitate me when she sees the next bank statement, but if it works it’ll be worth it.
My (eventual) solution
Note: I’d ordered a Dell i9200 originally, but I returned it for an i9300. Dell was running some really great coupons, and I could get a lot more for my budget, so I did. I haven’t been disappointed.
My (eventual) solution was the M-Audio Firewire Audiophile. I’m able to pump about 31 tracks of 48KHz/16-bit audio (do the math: that’s about 10 tracks at 96KHz/24-bit) on the internal drive of my Dell Inspiron 9300; I can do even more if I turn off the swap file and don’t run any effects/synths which access the hard disk. The Firewire Audiophile solves the problem of cue mixes (a dedicated A/B switch for the headphones), but it doesn’t solve the unbalanced input problem with humming. The hum’s not a big deal performing live, but recording it’s a pain.
My solution is to use “pseudo-balanced” cables, and watch out for ground loops. When I’m actively recording (and not mixing), I like to disconnect my laptop from AC power entirely. The Audiophile has its own wall wart, so it needs to stay plugged in since the Inspiron’s firewire port isn’t powered. I try to use balanced inputs to my mixer, which sends unbalanced output to my Audiophile. So far, it’s working well, but I have only used it for a few days.
Thanks for your opinion on the Ozonic. It’s unfortunate that a product with such amazingly cool potential has apparently been totally derailed by driver problems. I eventually found a bunch of reviews on it, and a Yahoo group dedicated to it, and the story there is very frequently of massive driver issues.
The solution for many has been to use a firewire PCMCIA card. Which, IMHO, kind of defeats the purpose of having built-in firewire in the first place. However, I may eventually go that route myself so that I can have a powered Firewire bus, and remove the Audiophile from the potential ground-loop chain.
I’ve heard glowing reviews of the Ozonic from the Mac gear crowd. My suspicion is that their PC support on that hardware is an also-ran.
I’ve found the Harmony Central forums to be invaluable in helping me figure out what kind of experiences people are having with various gear. My next big purchase will probably be a stereo microphone, which will necessitate picking up another audio interface. That’s about a year out; I could just tack on another Firewire Audiophile, but the Presonus stuff looks pretty good (though a tad expensive). I love the idea of having 8 inputs! I could actually mic drums!
But my spouse might do the same thing to me that I suspect yours is going to do to you when she sees the $800 bill on the credit card 😉
Anyway, to evaluate how much actual noise is being generated by your equipment, or how much improvement your latest change to your studio is making in your levels of background noise and S/N ration, try out the Rightmark Audio Analyser. It’s freeware, and really hits the target for figuring out exactly how much noise you’re getting. There’s a saying in the business world: “That which cannot be measured cannot be improved”. It’s true here, too. If you can measure exactly how much noise you’re introducing to your recordings, you can figure out exactly how to minimize it.
Good luck, man. Getting this stuff working is sometimes an exercise in frustration.
—
Matthew P. Barnson
The Firewire Audiophile
Alas, it turns out that the Firewire Audiophile is useless to me, as well. Unfortunately, I didn’t get it from a store with a liberal return policy.
I have a similar issue. Eventually, the Audiophile just locks up and stops working. Eventually, their tech blamed it on an IRQ conflict as well. Mine’s on IRQ18, and even though I disabled the other things on that IRQ, it’s apparently an ACPI “Virtual IRQ”.
I can’t reassign it, and if I disabled every other device that’s using an IRQ of 16 or higher, I would not even have any video on my system.
For the time being, I’m stuck using the crappy internal sound card. It works OK for doing MIDI symphonic composition using soft synths and my M-Audio Keystation 49e (just a MIDI controller with one MIDI output and a USB connection), but I’m worried about vocals.
Alas. Time to find something that isn’t so sensitive to IRQ issues. Basically all the devices of any significance on my system are using an IRQ above 16, and I can’t force them to use IRQ 3, 4, or 7, which are totally unused in my system.
—
Matthew P. Barnson