deefstes wroteCare to share the homework you've done so far? I'm looking at buying an audio interface myself and have my sights on the M-Audio Fast Track Pro or some such. Do you have any opinions or suggestions?
Deefstes, I'm personally not too impressed with M-Audio interfaces. For a $120 more or so you can do much better. No disrespect to anyone but M-Audio and Behringer, while being products that will work well for many people, do not have good converters, clock and mic pre's. These things are critical. For a few bucks more now, you will have a piece of equipment that will hold it's own for a longer time.
My preference is Apogee but they can be expensive.
Do yourself a favor and take a look at the new
Focusrite Scarlett 18i6. It's an 8X16 USB interface and has two really good Focusrite mic pre's and excellent converters and clock for the price. Focusrite is known for it's mic pre's.
They go for $299 here which is pretty inexpensive.
http://www.audiomidi.com/Scarlett-18i6-P16156.aspx
While it is a lot more expensive, if you could swing it .....I highly recommend the
Apogee Duet 2 as an interface that has VERY good mic pre's and extremely good clock and converters. Apogee is known for it's converters and clocks.
http://www.audiomidi.com/Duet-2-P15826C326.aspx
Some places like Musicians Friend have used Duets...the first gen model and I have seen them around $250.
Also, if you cannot swing the price of the Duet but you want an Apogee interface, there is the
Apogee One. They go for $250 and are very good but they only have a single channel....so no recording two tracks at a time...eg acoustic guitar and vocals.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/One/
Before you buy an interface you must suss out what options you need. These bastards often cleverly design the lower priced units so they are lacking in some feature or other but the next one higher does have it.
You cannot go wrong with Apogee but take a look at that Scarlett. Do some research though and go to the Focusrite forum and see what the deal is ....especially as regards the computer and system you use and how the Focusrite drivers are etc etc etc.
Another extremely good interface is the RME Babyface. But at around $800, I figured you would not be interested.
