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RE: choosing between these soundcards for laptop




> Jeff ive also been checking out the Apogee duet.
> what are your thoughts on that one?

I thought it was overpriced and inflexible and I hated the breakout
cable.  What you're paying for is the legendary Apogee quality.  Their
analog/digital converters are very well regarded in pro studios and I
assume the mic preamps are also very good.

But it's just a 2 in 2 out audio interface, is it really worth $400
more than something like this?

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/ART-USB-Dual-Pre?sku=703092

If you're interested in high quality studio recording the answer may
be yes, but for live use I doubt anyone could tell the difference.

It seems well suited for someone that already has a mixer and just
wants to get the stereo mix into the computer.  I wanted to have the
mixer and audio interface combined into one device.  That's what I
like so much about the Ultralite and RME, they're basically little
digital mixers that also happen to be computer audio interfaces.  They
also have a MIDI port for the FCB1010, if you went with Apogee then
you'd have to drag along another USB MIDI interface.  

I love the way the Duet looks but the breakout cable just ruins it.
What a mess.  If you have it sitting next to a laptop on a table then
the wires are going to dangle off the edge of the table and you're
instrument connections will be hanging in the air.  Step on a cable
the right way and you get a disconnect.  You would have to scoop
all this crap up and duct tape it to the table to provide stress
relief for the connections.

I'm sure it sounds outstanding but the design just looks silly for
live use.  

Jeff