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joknrok
Joined: Jan 16, 2006
Posts: 1
Location: Texas
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 Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:00 pm Post subject:
Looking for advice on audio interface/midi controllers |
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Hi. I'm jumping back into the electronic music thing after a few years of being out of it, so I'm pretty much starting from scratch.
I've got a Dell XPS laptop (3.4ghz p4) so I'm set for the computer end of things.
What I'm looking for is a midi controller with keys and a decent amount of knobs for a more hands on control of Cubase and Reason, which I forsee as my main software choices.
Since I'm running a laptop, I know I need an external audio interface (latency is the main issue I know of, but I bet there are more reasons). I won't be recording full bands or anything, so 2x2 i/o plus midi and XLR should be enough. I don't plan on setting up much of a studio yet, so an all in one sounds pretty nice. I'm really leaning toward the Novation X station 49, which I've seen as low as $500. Then there's also the Ozonic which I've seen at $400. But all the Ozonics I've seen at Guitar center were broken, plus Novation seems to be really reputable, especially with the built in synth.
My pain limit right now is $500.
Just wondering if any of y'all have advice on this stuff, or another solution I haven't thought of. For instance, could I get a much better setup if I got the external i/o and a separate controller?
Thanks very much! |
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seraph
Editor
Joined: Jun 21, 2003
Posts: 12398
Location: Firenze, Italy
Audio files: 33
G2 patch files: 2
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| Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:25 pm Post subject:
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hi joknrok
welcome to electro-music.com  I edited your post because I don't think we need "bold text"
| Quote: | | all the Ozonics I've seen at Guitar center were broken |
all the Ozonics I've seen worked perfectly actually I have one. see:
http://electro-music.com/forum/topic-6599.html
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| Quote: | | Don't die with your music still in you - Wayne Dyer |
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northstar
Joined: Jan 19, 2006
Posts: 35
Location: Vienna/Austria/EU
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| Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:25 pm Post subject:
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Hi joknrok,
Two issues which I consider important:
| Quote: | | could I get a much better setup if I got the external i/o and a separate controller? |
Besides the latency issue I'm refering to later on, a separate controller and audio interface would give you one advantage:
You can choose a controller/masterkey with much more keys/octaves. The novation got 4 octaves/49 keys whereus the m-audio Ozonic got 3 octaves/37 keys. Sure, that makes those much easier to carry around. But there are very good reasons to have more keys. For instance to do a key-split on a 73 keys controller, playing one VSt instrument with the lower 3 octaves and another one with the 3 higher ones. Or simply to play bass lines to leads that extend over 3 octaves.
Of course that depends on the things you wanna do. For practice or live setups you would like to have more keys. For sole recording issues you can probably overcome the limitations of a 3 octaves keyboard by track by track recording - lead: first track recording, bass line: second one....
Please let me draw your attention to a fact you're problably not aware of concerning external audio interfaces. The Firewire and USB ports which those external audio interfaces connect to have a considerably lower data-rate than the internal PCI slots.
That means that the latency of external audio interfaces is three to five times higher than that of comparable internal soundboards. It's the ports lower data-rate that slows the audio board down.
The latency of external audio interfaces does not have to cause a problem necessarily but could be. The latency stated in the interfaces manufacturer specifications is always the lowest possible one, under most ideal cirumstances. The actual latency depends on the system's setup (Like RAM size. How many additional boards have to share the bus. Mainboard's chipset. TSR processes...)
Either way the lower latency of a good internal audio interface comforts you with three times extra headroom before you hit the latency ceiling.
Rough deal for you, PCI audio interfaces cannot be installed on laptops. But there are comparable internal-like audio interfaces for laptops as well. Those make use of the PCMCIA slots for connection. They consist of an external audio interface like the Firewire/USB ones but instead of connecting via Firewire/USB those communicate with the laptop via PCMCIA card which is attached to the audio-interface box. And the data-rate via PCMCIA slot is like that of the desktop's PCI bus = much higher than Firewire/USB and that solution gives you an excellent latency.
I know of two products but the RME product is beyond any doubt well beyond your price range. The more affordable one is the E-MU 1616 http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?category=505&subcategory=491&product=13554. It sells for about 400 Euro and got everything you need, like XLR, mic pre-amp, phantom power, midi-ports...
A supplementary controller-keyboard at your desired octave range and you're set.
northstar |
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