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Old 11-21-2016, 04:33 AM   #41
martifingers
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This is a great card that seems relatively unknown:

http://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/novation-nio

Zero latency monitoring and comes with some dedicated fx.
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Old 11-21-2016, 08:57 AM   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by martifingers View Post
This is a great card that seems relatively unknown:

http://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/novation-nio

Zero latency monitoring and comes with some dedicated fx.
Novation/ff/etc are not exactly famous for their driver software.
A 2008 interface, certified up to Vista..... wonder when it was last updated?
Amazed it is still available new.

EDIT: It isnt. In 2013 Novation said "it has been discontinued several years" and that it was no longer supported.....
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Old 11-21-2016, 12:49 PM   #43
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Default +1 on (gulp) Behringer!

I must admit snobbery through the years. But in having to hastily set up a mobile rig recently, I opted to use the Behringer Uphoria UMC1820 along with my i5 HP Windows 10 laptop. And I have to say I was really impressed with the transfer quality and ease of use. Once the updated driver is installed, you're up and running.

I was live tracking a string trio (violin, viola, and cello) for an EP I am co-producing. The results were tremendous. I had no other outboard; simply my mics via snake into the UMC. Clean, with lots of overhead - nice quiet phantom power. And for an audio interface with 8 MIDAS pres for under $300, I cannot complain.
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Old 02-13-2018, 10:38 AM   #44
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(Sorry to bump an old thread, but I thought I'd add my experience here in case others find this thread.)

I recently compared my UMC404HD with a friend's Focusrite 2i4 on my computer (Windows 10, i7, etc) for playing layered live VSTs with low latency. The Focusrite held off clicks and pops better than the UMC404HD at equivalent settings. Being convinced by this, I traded my UMC404HD on craigslist for a 2i2. When the guy I traded setup the UMC404HD on his Mac, the Behringer website said there's no drivers needed for the unit.

Bottom line, I take this to mean: it's possible the Behringer is doing something flaky / more software-reliant, and that Focusrite is doing something more with hardware/ASIO, and/or making better use of the hardware.

Don't get me wrong, the UMC404HD had great quality sound, and tons of IO. But for live performing / lots of layered VSTs, it was just less reliable in my setup. Of course, your mileage may vary!

I also sadly found a range of performance from DAW to DAW (Ableton, Reaper, FL Studio, Cantabile), but that's a topic for another thread...
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Old 02-13-2018, 03:00 PM   #45
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I see a lot of USB bashing, some of it deserved. But USB2 provides a theoretical bandwidth of 480 MB/Sec, which is easily enough for 250 mono audio streams at 44.1K/24 bit. This assumes nobody else is using that hub...

Math:
mono stream at 44.1K/24bit:
44100 words/sec x 24 bits/word = 1058400 bits/sec per channel

480 Mbits/sec divided by 1.0584 Mbits/sec = 453 channels
(theoretical limit, assuming only audio is using USB).

You can scale this; if you double the sample rate to 88.2KHz, you're limited to only 226 channels.

To be fair, 10 to 15% of this is devoted to things like transmission overhead (data packeting uses some of those bits to identify who the data came from and where it's going). So, knock 15% off of 226 channels, and you're down to only about 192 channels of 88.2K/24bit.


I've found that to be plenty for my work. If someone really needs more than 100 channels, they'd probably opt to get something more than a prosumer interface, like a MADI setup. At least in a rational sense...

Last edited by Philbo King; 02-13-2018 at 03:08 PM.
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Old 02-13-2018, 03:59 PM   #46
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One of the slowdowns with USB is the CPU oversight needed. It might not need MUCH attention but it's more the interruption coming along at the wrong time. Whereas firewire (and now thunderbolt) run on autopilot as it were.

Research is key. I'm sure there's an example of a USB interface with lower baseline latency and higher stability than some particular firewire model. If you're after a live performance system though don't go too cheap here. You really want an interface that will give you < 11ms round trip latency at no lower a block size than 129 samples. That gives you room to dial it down lower if needed and still have headroom for processing. The box that you need a 64 sample block size for to even hit 11ms is going to be a problem.
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Old 02-13-2018, 05:12 PM   #47
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Quote:
One of the slowdowns with USB is the CPU oversight needed.
It's whether the manufacturer wrote the drivers or used class compliant. I have no issues recording 20+ tracks in real time over USB 2 on a tablet using any of my RME devices.
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