Re: Low Lantecy Soundcard for Laptop Gig

[swirlee@vcn.bc.ca]

> You guys keep mentioning the
> RME Fireface 400 and RME Fireface 800.
>
> They look incredible but, man,  it takes my breath away to see
> what these things cost!  $700 and $1200,
> respectively.................argggggghhh!

...

> Any other alternatives besides the really pricey soundcards?
>

Yup..

Echo Indigo IO is a good option, if you're comfortable with only 2-ins
2-outs and if you have a CardBus slot on your laptop. You also get a lower
latency than is possible with Firewire bus (I run at 64 sample latency, 32
is possible). The downside with the Indigo IO is the poor 1/8" jacks that
tend to become finnicky after some wear. I've already had 2 replacements
shipped out from Echo.

For live instrumental work, I really feel that 1-2 ms latency is about the
upper limit of what I'm willing to accept. Companies these days are saying
5-10 ms is fine, but as a piano player I can feel the difference even with
a couple milliseconds of delay. So I have shyed away from Macbook with its
lack of CardBus support. Firewire just doesn't seem to be built for
ultra-low latency performance (that's my opinion).

Another CardBus option that looks good is the Digigram VX Pocket series
(V2 or V440, at around $400-500).

I'd be interested to hear what RME Fireface users are getting in terms of
real-world latencies (in-out).

You can get cheaper firewire and USB audio interfaces, but my impression
is that the low latency performance is not as good. RME is known for
having great latency performance.

Cheers,
-Mercury