Which portable soundcard

[Sonika]

Greetings all,

Just after some advice on choosing a USB2.0, or Firewire soundcard. Preferably one with midi so it saves having a seperate USB midi box.

I like the idea of portability to use it with a laptop, but at the moment it's for a desktop.

If possible I like the idea of multi inputs like the FA-101 so it's possible to mic up a drumkit, but really it all comes down to weighing up all the other features.

The main use at the moment will be to record a synthesizer/sequencer and also PC based softsynths etc.

The recording software I'll most likely use will be Cubase or Nuendo if possible.

If there's any other cards I should consider, or if I can get some feedback on these it would be much appreciated.


The ones I'm considering so far are:
M-Audio Firewire 410
M-Audio Omnistudio USB (site didn't specify if USB2 or not)
Edirol UA-1000
Edirol FA-101


Thanks :)

[Matthew Skinner]

www.esi-pro.com and the model is quattafire 610. has 4 in 8 out analog plus digital IO as well as midi IO. Mic pres and headphone amps are built in with support up to and including 24bit 192khz.

The www.digidesign.com MBOX is another one to look at which has an ASIO driver but no midi IO built in.

[Sonika]

Cheers Mathew,

The Mbox was what I orginally decided on, but I was concerned about it being USB 1.1 and it also didn't include midi. From what I can gather, it only does 24/48 instead of 24/96 like the firewire and USB 2 ones.

The Quattafire 610, looks promising and pretty reasonably priced too. As long as it lives up the specs it could definately be a go. I'll check out some reviews etc, but do you know how it compares to the M-Audio Firewire 410?

Thanks heaps for your advice:D