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Audio Interface Recommendations

I'm going to look into Vienna Ensemble Pro 6. But I still might "upgrade" the audio interface.

You should at the very least before you jump into VEPro, watch the first video to see if VEPro fits into your style of working or if you are willing to adapt to it. VEPro is essentially an external MIDI/VST mixer where you route all (or most) of your VSTs (and possibly effects) outside of your DAW and them route them back in. In the process it alleviates the DAW of doing the heavy lifting in terms of computation.



Here is another one...



There are more than a few threads on VIC about this topic that you may wish to read.
 
I'm interested to see how much more I could get having VEPro on the same machine.

If networked, assume you install the VST instruments on the slave? But where do the VST effect plug-ins get installed?
 
Very impressed with VE Pro 6 testing. Got a 388 track orchestral piece (all virtual instruments/samples) loading and running fine. Tons of plug-ins, groups, fx, and all on the one PC, no slave needed. Plenty of CPU power left over... RAM took more of a hit, might upgrade the RAM in the future to 96Gb. Playback glitch-free with buffers at 512. This product has unlocked so much power and potential.
 
Very impressed with VE Pro 6 testing. Got a 388 track orchestral piece (all virtual instruments/samples) loading and running fine. Tons of plug-ins, groups, fx, and all on the one PC, no slave needed. Plenty of CPU power left over... RAM took more of a hit, might upgrade the RAM in the future to 96Gb. Playback glitch-free with buffers at 512. This product has unlocked so much power and potential.

Sweet, isn't it? Plus, if you leave everything preserved, it all remains loaded when close/open a new project.
 
VEPro has resolved most of the issues I had with the use of lots of virtual instruments and plug-ins.

I'm still going to upgrade/update my interface, though, just to move on from FireWire and get an interface with better converters.

Narrowed my options to...

UAD Apollo Twin Mk2 Quad (Thunderbolt)
RME UCX
RME Babyface Pro
RME RayDat (combined via adat with a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 in stand-alone)

I was considering the Presonus Quantum/Quantum 2 but I've read a lot of people have had issues with pops/clicks and clock issues after recent Windows updates. There's even soomething about it on their website.

I'm finding it hard to choose one that hits the spot within the budget.

I'm not very keen on using a USB interface. In the past I had lots of problems with USB 2 interfaces.
Had a Focusrite Scarlett interface and Steinberg UR22&44, all resulted in issues and blue screens. I've never had a single blue screen using the Saffire Pro 14.

I also don't like the idea of something relying on consistent I/O sharing a bus with x other items. That's that I liked about FireWire, you could just have the audio interface on there, not sharing with anything else.

In a way, Thunderbolt could by like that but I've read so many people having issues with Thunderbolt interfaces on PC under Windows 10.

I have an ASUS X99-Deluxe II motherboard with the Asus EX3 Thunderbolt card.

So this puts a question mark over the Apollo... will it work, how well will it work, will it be reliable?

I think this would be my top choice IF I knew it was going to be okay, just because it would be an upgrade, newer converters, and a doorway into UAD plug-ins (which is why I'd go for the QUAD).

The Babyface Pro is a good price point but it's going to be used in one place and it's footprint with wires all around really puts me off. I don't need portability, plus I think this only has balanced outputs for 1 set of monitors. USB again, but perhaps mitigated by some of the best (if not the best) drivers out there.

The UCX... not sure, how old is the UCX now? Again, it's a USB/FireWire. Anyone got a UCX?

The last option is a bit different.. using the digital-only RME RayDat, direct onto the motherboard. But I'd have to then get a solution for the pre-amps, headphones and converters (was thinking of an interface with stand alone mode and ADAT... or other ideas??)

So, I'm really not sure which way to go?

Any ideas / advice / experiences?

Thanks
 
I'm not very keen on using a USB interface. In the past I had lots of problems with USB 2 interfaces.
Had a Focusrite Scarlett interface and Steinberg UR22&44, all resulted in issues and blue screens

That's unfortunate, I used a UR22 for many years on Win 7 and OS without a single issue. I still wouldn't rule out a USB2 interface though, and if you're concerned about bus sharing, plug it into it's own USB port (not a hub). Regardless, You have some good options in your list.

Glad you like VEpro, it's a great piece of software.
 
Yes, the UR22 was more reliable than the Focusrite Scarletts I had. But I did have problems with the Steinberg too. I never used a USB hub.

I'm put off the UCX a bit because of it's age (2012). I think if I went USB 2, I'd only be willing to go RME, though.

I know there's the Apogee Element and a Motu model, but I don't know much about those.

There's no stand-out obvious one from my perspective, I've got concerns with all of them, which makes it hard, especially when parting with money!

I use Cubase mainly - not sure if any interface works better with Cubase than others. I've just got version 10.
 
That's unfortunate, I used a UR22 for many years on Win 7 and OS without a single issue. I still wouldn't rule out a USB2 interface though, and if you're concerned about bus sharing, plug it into it's own USB port (not a hub). Regardless, You have some good options in your list.

Glad you like VEpro, it's a great piece of software.

Just realised the Apogee stuff isn't for PC.

But VEPro is great, can't believe how many VIs & plug-ins I can use now, and just on the same PC.
 
I use to run my whole setup on RME RayDAT. The main speakers were easy SPDIF/AES. But then all your analog preamps will need ADAT outputs. Plenty of those around, but I wanted something less fragile than ADAT.

I had a UAD 4-710d, and connected that to the RAYDAT via adat. Then, my analog pre's I connected to the analog inputs on the UAD. That gave me a nice setup, but no way to control the pre's when I wasnt next to them

I sold all my analog gear and my RME Raydat. Now i run purely Digigrid IOX's over ethernet. I am so happy with this setup. Each IOX has 12 inputs and 6 analog outs. I have two in my studio. They sound great. I do not miss any of my old preamps.

With my soundgrid setup, my RT latency is about 4.8ms. That is working nicely. I ran my RME about the same, so no winner there, but I just love having one ethernet cable to connect everything.

My two cents...I would go with a solution that is ethernet...be it Dante, Soundgrid, etc.
 
re Presonus - aside from the number of i/o, any reason to get the Quantum over the Quantum 2 ?
 
I use a ucx and I don't have any problem since 2013. If you look at the rme forum, the employees responds to usb 2.0 being plenty enough of what we normally do. I'm on windows 10 and I never had any problems with the unit. The unit is good and the driver is rock solid. What is there to complain? Well, aethestic wise it could be improved.

Edit: I use to have windows 7 on my older system and never had any problems with it. I'm even considering the old babyface for traveling (can't afford that tiny new one from RME)
 
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I use a ucx and I don't have any problem since 2013. If you look at the rme forum, the employees responds to usb 2.0 being plenty enough of what we normally do. I'm on windows 10 and I never had any problems with the unit. The unit is good and the driver is rock solid. What is there to complain? Well, aethestic wise it could be improved.

Edit: I use to have windows 7 on my older system and never had any problems with it. I'm even considering the old babyface for traveling (can't afford that tiny new one from RME)

I work in the box and only with virtual instruments. So, *lots* of VST instruments, lots of plug-ins
 
I work in the box and only with virtual instruments. So, *lots* of VST instruments, lots of plug-ins

I use about 70 instrument tracks with 2 to 5 plugins per track. Blakus uses a ucx too I believe. I'm sure he uses more instrument tracks/ plugins than I do. But isn't that also depends on your CPU and ram?
 
That's unfortunate, I used a UR22 for many years on Win 7 and OS without a single issue.
Yeah everything I've seen, heard etc on UR22s were rock solid. Ditto the newer Behingers for that matter...though neither sound like an option here.
 
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