# Help with a new Audio Interface



## JohnBMears (Aug 29, 2018)

I am hoping one of you smart folks can guide me with an issue I am tackling. 

I have a Silver Mac Pro Tower from 2010. I have been using an RME Fireface 800 for the past 5 years. I connect using the FW800 port on the Mac. I have replaced the capacitors in the RME three years ago. This week it has gone down again and the RME certified repair shop quoted $600 for the repair. 

I am unsure what to do. Drop more money into an interface? Buy a different interface? If so, which one? My Mac is limited by its 2010 design when it comes to connectivity. Should I be putting in a PCIe card that adds USB3 or thunderbolt or is that not even possible for my system?

Thanks for any direction you all could provide!

JOHN


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## LinusW (Aug 29, 2018)

Buy a new interface. Firewire is a dead end. What do you need in terms of I/O (mic preamp/line input/digital formats)?


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## JohnBMears (Aug 29, 2018)

Thanks! So what would you recommend for someone who is 95% virtual instruments but sometimes uses a mic for vocals and possibly a line in for routing in external synths or bass guitar? I am unsure of what 'faster' connection my mac would have than FW800 or what I need to do to upgrade it.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Aug 29, 2018)

Just grab a USB 2 interface, such as a Steinberg UR22 or Scarlett 2i2.


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## LinusW (Aug 29, 2018)

So the options are PCI Express or USB 2.0. PCIe would be best, but likely not possible the day you would swap your computer. USB is not great at latency, but gives you plenty of models and a sensible price.
I’d suggest a Focusrite Scarlett interface.


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## JohnBMears (Aug 29, 2018)

Thanks for the replies. Is putting a USB 3.0 card in my 2010 Mac a useful venture?


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## Jeremy Spencer (Aug 29, 2018)

For an audio interface? You wouldn't gain anything. If you plan on adding an external hard drive, it might be useful, but you'd be better off installing an internal drive anyways.


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## dzilizzi (Aug 29, 2018)

Most of the audio interfaces that are USB are 2.0 anyway. So I don't think you would gain anything by using a 3.0. I may be behind in the interface department. I last looked a year and a half ago. Thunderbolt or USB 2.0 were my choices then.

Edit - I take that back, there are now USB 3.0 devices. So they may be faster?


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## dzilizzi (Aug 29, 2018)

You might want to check this out also - https://www.gearslutz.com/board/showpost.php?p=13368351&postcount=2186

He tests the latency on a whole bunch of audio devices. Last updated in June 2018


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## JohnBMears (Aug 31, 2018)

Am I correct in that Firewire 800 (which I have been using with RME) is faster than USB 2.0 (which I'd be switching to with Focusrite).?

Would this cause new issues with latency in virtual instruments that I wouldn't be normally accustomed to?

Thanks all!


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## Jeremy Spencer (Aug 31, 2018)

Considering you're on an eight year old machine, I doubt you'll notice any latency differences on a USB interface. You'd probably choke out your Ram and cpu before any issues arose. For $150 you can get a decent unit.


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## gsilbers (Aug 31, 2018)

JohnBMears said:


> Am I correct in that Firewire 800 (which I have been using with RME) is faster than USB 2.0 (which I'd be switching to with Focusrite).?
> 
> Would this cause new issues with latency in virtual instruments that I wouldn't be normally accustomed to?
> 
> Thanks all!




i have the same system than you do. i also decided to get an used 2011 imac to use in a post studio, small room so i had to look for another audio interface and wanted something affordable and good. after doing research and all that i decided to go with a behringer umc204hd. just to get soemthing going. turns out the build quality, sound quality and usb2 was up there with my RME FF800. since i had a good system with my mac pro and FF800 when i bought it back when those came out i completly ignored how advanced manufacuting on this stuff has gone. its been more than a decade that i bought an audio interface so learnign that now there minute difference between audio interfaces was a surpise. its not like 10-15 years ago that a usb interface coudlnt handled several streams of audio or that the audio quality was crap. nowadays USB 2.0 interface can handle a lot for a ITB setup with some external gear. and the audio quality conversion is very good as these big companies have been reverse engineering each other for a while to get some good prodcuts. so behringer, focusrite audient and those mid budget audio interfaces 2.0 are actually very good and very apt for most home producers nowadays.
the fashion nowadays is to get onboard DSP, even RME is doing it. The most prominent of course is UAD apollo. so that increases price. I dont use that so i didnt look into those interfaces. 
I liked a lot the steinberg with rupert neve preamps interface if i needed to replace my RME ff800 but it doesnt have digital I/O. So in the future i might go with the MOTU or audient id44 which has a cool shape and their preamps are good. but you might have to think that you can buy a used FF800 for about $600 or fix yours for that price and youll be rolling as usual. or think ahead that you might have to upgrade your computer when OS mojave comes out since it only works with "Metal" video cards which will be a new computer or a new video card that might not work. but a USB audio interface will work with your future computer, with this one or with a pc if you decide to change.


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