Audio interfaces

[Peter Korsten]

Op 10-5-2018 om 13:08 schreef Joost Schuttelaar:
> Pretty high end! What are you going to use it for? 

Probably far less than the unit can do, connecting three synths with a 
combined age of over 50.

It's a good question, though. Why get such an expensive, high-end unit?

The thing is, it's exactly what I want. If I drop the USB 3.0/3.1/C 
requirement, there are the Presonus Audiobox 1818VSL (€346) and the ESI 
U168 XT (€461). But they're rather big as well, at 19" wide.

But USB 2.0 is 18 years old, and I wonder about its longevity. Also, 
it's not that difficult to max out the bandwidth. USB 3.0/C seems a 
safer option. Thunderbolt, I don't know. It's tied to PCIe, although 
that seems to be holding out longer than PCI or PCI-X. It's good to have 
anyway.

AVB has a lot of potential, possibly more than Dante, but the jury's 
still out on that. What I foresee is to have a PC with dual network 
interfaces (including one with an Intel I820 Ethernet controller), so 
there can be the home network and an audio network. Again, good to have, 
just in case.

Anyway, if you want anything faster than USB 2.0, the price very quickly 
goes up. So if you want a small box, where there is a matching MIDI 
interface (which I'll need as well), with all bases covered, it's pretty 
much the only choice. The very high audio quality is somewhat of a 
bonus, since it's way out of league for what I'd be connecting.

So then it comes down to whether if I can justify spending that amount. 
It would be easier if I manage to sell my 01V for a good price, and 
while I'm at it, the Ikea Jerker desk.

> I’m pretty happy with my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. Fine for stereo recording. Class compliant, no drivers needed.
>
> Using a Alesis Multimix 8 line to mix all the synth’s stereo inputs.

Looked at it, but it's two devices, when space is going to be an issue. 
Maybe I could get a small mixer and connect it to my M-Audio 2x2M, but 
I'm not very happy with that device.

- Peter