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M-audio, edirol and alesis


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hi everyone, im trying to get a personal studio running, but i have some questions. About a sound card, what do you think of the M-audio firewire 410 and the Edirol firewire FA101?.. i read some comments on the m-audio 410 and some people say is bad, because of the latency, i wanna know your opinion. And about synth.. what dou you think of the alesis ION?, i know everyone use the nord lead or the virus... but im pretty interested on this one, so.. whats are you opinions? :)

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hi everyone, im trying to get a personal studio running, but i have some questions. About a sound card, what do you think of the M-audio firewire 410 and the Edirol firewire FA101?.. i read some comments on the m-audio 410 and some people say is bad, because of the latency, i wanna know your opinion. And about synth.. what dou you think of the alesis ION?, i know everyone use the nord lead or the virus... but im pretty interested on this one, so.. whats are you opinions? :)

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I have the Firewire 410 and I had midi problems but I solved them with getting another midi device. It is widely known that the device doesnt have a good midi interface.

 

That and that I had to change the settings in Cubase to NOT use the Emulated drivers made a big diffrence.

 

However, this card is unbalanced, and I would only recommend it if you want a small audio card that is easy to be on the move with. Otherwise go for a pro card (if you really need a firewire card that is) like MOTU 828MK2.

 

I dont know anything about the edirol card, so I cant tell you anything about it. In general I dont trust Edirol entirely yet, because its a young company that needs a lot of refinement (Roland is doing a good job though). I have an Edirol Midi keyboard where HALF the keys gave up after 4 months.

 

Ummm I dont know anything about the synth that you are mentioning either, but if you have the money to spend, maybe you might want to have a look at the new Virus TI.

 

I hope that this helped a little bit on your quest to success.

 

Oh and did I mention that I had LOADS of groundloop noise coming from the card? That came when I had the card on the same powersocket as my laptop, or when my laptop was on the same power socket as ANYTHING else. The firewire you are using for the Soundcard is really dependant on the sound you get out of the card. There is a comparison chart on m-audio's homepage I think. Check it out.

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txs nemo... well... ive been reading about the 410, and so many people tell it socks, so i would let this one out... i dont know about the edirol card either, but... is a good deal for what it have, and, yes, i know the motu are one of the best.. but there are really expensive so... :( . I would keep the search, any suggestions are well received :lol:

oh.. i forgot to mention that i want a firewire carde because i want to do some live acts in the future, when the music gets the right feel.

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From what i've heard the ION is a great VA and many people think it sounds better than both the virus and the nord so im pretty sure you will like it if you decide to buy it. Some of the older ones had some bugs and had to be sent back to Alesis though so think about that if you buy a used one.

 

It almost seems like the main reason everyone is using Virus and Nordlead is that everyone else does. There are lots of great sounding synths out there and probably alot more value for money in other less popular synths.

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txs nemo... well... ive been reading about the 410, and so many people tell it socks, so i would let this one out... i dont know about the edirol card either, but... is a good deal for what it have, and, yes, i know the motu are one of the best.. but there are really expensive so... :( . I would keep the search, any suggestions are well received :lol:

oh.. i forgot to mention that i want a firewire carde because i want to do some live acts in the future, when the music gets the right feel.

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As I said, I dont have any problems what so ever with the card at the moment. Misconfiguration is an often factor for peoples bad reviews, that is my experience. If you look for something that is good enough to take on the road to play live, then this is the card (I have done it with this card). You can get up to 2ms Latency on 64 buffers.

 

Well its your choice of course, and if you dont have the money for a motu, and want to go live with it.....

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From what i've heard the ION is a great VA and many people think it sounds better than both the virus and the nord so im pretty sure you will like it if you decide to buy it. Some of the older ones had some bugs and had to be sent back to Alesis though so think about that if you buy a used one.

 

It almost seems like the main reason everyone is using Virus and Nordlead is that everyone else does. There are lots of great sounding synths out there and probably alot more value for money in other less popular synths.

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Maybe one should compare the synths before actually writing something about them both. Reading is Silver, Trying is Gold. Dont have any of them, please compare them. (no offence Negrosex, this is not a negative criticism)

 

Chosing synth based on what people say on a board can be fatal, and you buy something that you in the end maybe regret :)

 

Do as I do, go to the music store where you can find all the synths that you are intressted in, and spend about 4 hours in there with some headphones on. Have a comparison sheet with you as well. Talk to the people in the music store about how sales are, how the sounds are.

 

And what you really should do is to take a look at the Virus TI :) This is the future in my opinion, a hardware softsynth :)

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Yes, the virus ti seems to be a very good idea.

 

About trying vs reading it all depends on how much you know about synths. If i would have just gone down to the music shop and tried random stuff when i was starting to build a studio god knows what i would have brought home. It would probably not have been the nordlead since it doesn't have any internal effects. Its pretty hard for a synth without effects to compete with even a crappy rompler if it's all drenched in fancy reverbs and delays.

 

Im not saying that Tunel knows nothing about synths. He can be some kind of synth expert for all i know. I wouldn't be giving this kind of advice if i wouldn't trust it myself. And as i said i've heard good things about the ion from people that know what they are talking about that have owned and tried it on good monitors.

 

It's a good thing to try it out and listen too it but i think everyone that is going to buy a new synth should ask arround on synth forums and ask the experts that have owned practically every synth in history. :)

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Yes, the virus ti seems to be a very good idea.

 

About trying vs reading it all depends on how much you know about synths. If i would have just gone down to the music shop and tried random stuff when i was starting to build a studio god knows what i would have brought home. It would probably not have been the nordlead since it doesn't have any internal effects. Its pretty hard for a synth without effects to compete with even a crappy rompler if it's all drenched in fancy reverbs and delays.

 

Im not saying that Tunel knows nothing about synths. He can be some kind of synth expert for all i know. I wouldn't be giving this kind of advice if i wouldn't trust it myself. And as i said i've heard good things about the ion from people that know what they are talking about that have owned and tried it on good monitors.

 

It's a good thing to try it out and listen too it but i think everyone that is going to buy a new synth should ask arround on synth forums and ask the experts that have owned practically every synth in history. :)

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True true :) No discussion about it, thats why I said you should also bring your own comparison chart to the store.

 

I personally liked the virus for the sounds in it, the effects (Those I heard were going to be WICKED on the TI), and the fact that it has 6 outputs :) 4 outs is OK, but still not enough for me hehe :)

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hi!... and many txs for the replies.... well... im not a synth expert, but i know somethings :) . well i ask this question about the synth because i want to get a different sound on music... everyones use the same hardware, so.. i guess different things may help me, and the ION have so many good reports that deserves some tried up. i went to the shop here were i live, but doesnt have the ION in stock yet so i cant tried, if i bought it, then they synth will come, so is a risk...jejee. im not trying to say that the virus or the nord are bad, because that would be a lie, so, im just wanna tried different things :lol:

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hi!... and many txs for the replies.... well... im not a synth expert, but i know somethings :) . well i ask this question about the synth because i want to get a different sound on music... everyones use the same hardware, so.. i guess different things may help me, and the ION have so many good reports that deserves some tried up. i went to the shop here were i live, but doesnt have the ION in stock yet so i cant tried, if i bought it, then they synth will come, so is a risk...jejee. im not trying to say that the virus or the nord are bad, because that would be a lie, so, im just wanna tried different things :lol:

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and whatever you decide, I am sure that you will make the best out of the synth you decide to get :) With these synths today, you can pretty much do any kind of sound, if you know a little bit about synths. It is very recommended to learn a bit about how old analouge synths work, in order to get the most out of them :)
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Hey whats up?

 

anyways, i know uve kinda scratched motu from your options...but i highly recommend u reconsider...ive had the motu 828mkII for about one and a half months, and i must say, my mixes and live performances have been greatly aided by the addition of such an amazing soundcard. ok, the price is a couple hundred bucks more than an m-audio or the edirol, but the sound quality is well worth the price. and really, for around 700$ US, i think its a steal, really...i worked extensively with the much more costly Digidesign 888 (no longer in existance), Digi 001 (also not sold anymore) and the Digi 002, and i must say the Motu outclasses them both feature wise and sound quality wise. The fact that u can use the motu as a standalone mixer (preprogram all your mixes into the unit) and then take it on stage with you for live performances without dragging a long another mixer is also a great feature that i've taken advantage of..

 

 

as far as the alesis ION goes, i'd try it before u buy it..for sure...i played around with it once and it definately produced some nice fat sounds, but to me the sounds were overall not that impressive, nothing you couldnt duplicate with some nice plugins if u took the time....a virus on the other hand is a completely different story....pure bliss...

 

anyways good luck!

 

p.s. does anyone know where in europe i can order a new Virus TI for a decent price. i realize the prices havent gone down yet as its just been released, but i live in switzerland and prices here are just insane...much much much more than anyone else..

 

thanks,

peace!

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'tis a field of mines, or a singularity in close proximity to one's wallet.

 

I got burned on an Audiosport USB from M-Audio but I have had luck with their Firewire Version. I have also had issues with the Mark 1 of the 828 (PC user, wasn't supported as well as they should've) which I sold.

 

Have been burned by Roland products before, badly.

 

If you want the absolute best with a realistic outlay, I'd get an E-mu 1820m.

 

If you're on the move I'd still get the E-mu and probably a Novation X-Station as well - Nate of Protoculture spoke highly of it. The advantage is that you can have the Nov run on rechargeable batteries and your centrino in the park and have all your Audio/Midi needs in one box.

 

I wouldn't bother with an external synth - I've owned all of them sans Virus and even though I still have my microQ (RIP Waldorf) which I think sounds amazing.

Rgc Audio's Z3ta does all my synth stuff, is better spec'd than all of those external synths bar the Nord Modular G2 and has antialiasing on the filters and is dirt cheap.

 

My next setup is going to consist of home and portable setups, with the aforementioned E-mu and Novation gear with Behringer (A great product usually, at a great price) Faders/Rotary Controllers and Monitors and a good pair of headphones when I am on the road (road?fucking dreamer rockstar talk - disregard ;D)

 

Priority is on the foundations; the quality of the converters, the monitoring, and the tactile interface(s) in that order regardless of what music you make, the rest will follow GOOD LUCK

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  • 2 weeks later...

hi djnemo or anyone here...

 

i'm a newbie...

 

would anyone confirm if m-audio is compatible with centrino mobile for laptops?

i read their products' specs and it seems much more for pentium II or III pc hardware or apple OS...

 

i'm using an acer 1.2M and would possibly getting a 49e or a pro88...

 

would appreciate confirmation b4 i lay my hands on those midi stuffs?!...

 

tks and merry holidays ;)

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hi djnemo or anyone here...

 

i'm a newbie...

 

would anyone confirm if m-audio is compatible with centrino mobile for laptops?

i read their products' specs and it seems much more for pentium II or III pc hardware or apple OS...

 

i'm using an acer 1.2M and would possibly getting a 49e or a pro88...

 

would appreciate confirmation b4 i lay my hands on those midi stuffs?!...

 

tks and merry holidays  ;)

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The question is if it is supported by your OS. I suppose that you are using XP, and then it would be fully supported I guess. These units I think are using USB1.1 as well, so that should not be the problem :)

 

Good luck and Merry XMas,

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