Members six acre lake Posted January 27, 2008 Members Share Posted January 27, 2008 I have narrowed down my search to Ableton Live 7. the suite looks...well...sweet. I have been looping my guitar parts for a while and rely on a Headrush, and an EHX 2880. I would like to record my bands music myself and I like the twisting and manipulating of the samples. I am also looking forward to the virtual drum machines and synths. I need an interface. Preferably something with at least 4 XLR mic inputs. I use a PC laptop and was hoping to get something decent that would work well with Ableton. What say you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Palaver Posted January 27, 2008 Members Share Posted January 27, 2008 I have narrowed down my search to Ableton Live 7. the suite looks...well...sweet. I have been looping my guitar parts for a while and rely on a Headrush, and an EHX 2880. I would like to record my bands music myself and I like the twisting and manipulating of the samples. I am also looking forward to the virtual drum machines and synths. I need an interface. Preferably something with at least 4 XLR mic inputs. I use a PC laptop and was hoping to get something decent that would work well with Ableton. What say you? Depends on your budget. I'd grab an Apogee Ensemble with 4 XLR inputs. I think that box is the king, but it comes in with a hefty price tag (but you're on a PC - altho, I'm sure they work on PCs as well as Macs). Maybe your best bet is one of those presonus units? I hear those boxes are great in terms of bang for buck. I'm a HUGE live fan as well. I just got my copy of Live 7 Suite... it's incredible. However, if you aren't into synthesis, and all that crap, I'd stick with the boxed version with just the Session drums and the Essential Instrument Collection 2. That should take care of all your needs. The session drums pack is a jaw dropper. I can't get enough of it. I happen to be running a MOTU 828mkII. It's a great little box, and MOTU just switched over to a MkIII version. It's only got two XLR pres, but it's designed to be expandable with their their other boxes, and it's a great unit IMHO. Good luck and have fun. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Marshall Jeffer Posted January 27, 2008 Members Share Posted January 27, 2008 What's your budget? Apogee Ensemble is Mac only. 4 XLR inputs sound like Motu territory if you want to come in under $1000, and RME Fireface 800 if you can afford more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted January 27, 2008 Members Share Posted January 27, 2008 PreSonus and RME make highly-regarded stuff, especially for the money. There's some M-Audio stuff that may fit the bill as well, although I haven't heard that yet. I've never heard of anyone using the Ensemble with a PC yet, but I wonder if it can be used? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alndln2 Posted January 28, 2008 Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 PreSonus and RME make highly-regarded stuff, especially for the money. I've never heard of anyone using the Ensemble with a PC yet, but I wonder if it can be used? There are no PC drivers. I might work with ASIO-4-All but you wont have access to the mixer applet. I'd stick with RME or Presonus depending on your budget for PC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members six acre lake Posted January 28, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 Which presonus unit do you recommend? I would love to swing the RME but im unsure ill have the scratch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alndln2 Posted January 29, 2008 Members Share Posted January 29, 2008 Which presonus unit do you recommend? Depends on your i/o needs. How many things to want to record simultaneously? How many mikes simultaneously etc. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members snarekrazee Posted January 29, 2008 Members Share Posted January 29, 2008 here's something that can compare to the presonus firestudio (except i think it's much better since it's motu) and it's cheaper - http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MOTU-8-Pre-Audio-Interface-?sku=240408 the beauty is that you can simply bypass the mixer with this "little" piece of hardware which would save you another few hundred $ and you also have enough inputs to record a band setup (mics not included ) getting a cheaper interface with less inputs means you'd need a mixer,and a decent mixer goes for a few hundred + the interface (a firebox,omega,or alpha) means that they would bump you up to the price of the motu or any other similar interface in its price range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members snarekrazee Posted January 29, 2008 Members Share Posted January 29, 2008 btw i'm getting the live 7 suite in a couple of weeks also and i think it's great since it works with your computer's resources much more efficiently,and if you have a good-killer computer then you can...well "kill" with it. if you know what you're doing that is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members six acre lake Posted February 1, 2008 Author Members Share Posted February 1, 2008 here's something that can compare to the presonus firestudio (except i think it's much better since it's motu) and it's cheaper - http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MOTU-8-Pre-Audio-Interface-?sku=240408 the beauty is that you can simply bypass the mixer with this "little" piece of hardware which would save you another few hundred $ and you also have enough inputs to record a band setup (mics not included ) getting a cheaper interface with less inputs means you'd need a mixer,and a decent mixer goes for a few hundred + the interface (a firebox,omega,or alpha) means that they would bump you up to the price of the motu or any other similar interface in its price range. WOW that Motu 8pre looks sweet and gets great reviews, or so ive read. I think thats the one. Since i am a recording noob...Will this integrate well with Live 7 suite and my PC. I am also thinking of upgrading to a MAC Book Pro in about six months. will all this gear be fine switching to a different system with a diff OS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Palaver Posted February 6, 2008 Members Share Posted February 6, 2008 WOW that Motu 8pre looks sweet and gets great reviews, or so ive read. I think thats the one. Since i am a recording noob...Will this integrate well with Live 7 suite and my PC. I am also thinking of upgrading to a MAC Book Pro in about six months. will all this gear be fine switching to a different system with a diff OS? The MOTU stuff works like a dream with Ableton. Just plug in the FW cable, and install the driver. I am using it with a Mac, and I've had no problems. You'll have more problems with the Mac than you will with MOTU gear. With Live Suite, you just go to prefences and select the interface. Then in Session or Arrangement mode, you just select the input from the MOTU device on whatever track you are working on. You will obviously physically have to screw with pre-amp levels (right above the XLR inputs) while recording but that's to be expected. Just hook in your instruments on the back outputs, follow through the booklet, and set the inputs at the appropriate levels. Then, you can forget about the interface and make music. BTW, I've found MOTU support to be fantastic. If you were in the Calgary area, I'd sell you my 828mkII for a steal. -Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.