Alternatives to RME?

[Hugh Robjohns]

Sorry to hear of your woes.

I've just reviewed the new RME Digiface AES. It came with a thick user booklet in English and German, as have all the other RME interfaces cos I've reviewed or bought over the years. So I'm surprised the UCX II didn't have one.

I downloaded and installed the DF-AES drivers, rebooted the computer, and it all worked as expected. TotalMix FX looked and worked as I expected. Audio went in and out of the DAW with no problems once I'd selected the appropriate I/O channels, and configured the clocking. The unit's display screen presents a lot of info, but it's fine once you know what's where.

The UCX II is getting quite long in the tooth now and I imagine an updated model will be along soon...

[Mike Stranks]

I have zero interest in this kit and will never be buying one.

Out of interest, I just put the product name into a well-known search engine, and the first thing that came up was RME's own page header about the product. On that page, I clicked 'Downloads' and found what appears to be a detailed User Manual for both Windows and Mac installs...

[Hugh Robjohns]

Yes, all of RME's manuals are available and easy to find online, but I think rggilespie was upset that a hard copy wasn't in the box — something that I find very odd as every RME product I've seen has included comprehensive paper manuals.

[resistorman]

I'm at the point where I don't care what interface anyone buys and will not be offering any recommendations Unless maybe it's for some special use case where I have direct experience that will help solve a specific problem

[Arpangel]

I have this perverse dream sometimes, that if Woolworths were still trading, would they have a "Winfield Interface" on the market, but I guess Behringer have fulfilled that role.

[Wonks]

I have this perverse dream sometimes, that if Woolworths were still trading, would they have a "Winfield Interface" on the market, but I guess Behringer have fulfilled that role.

Obviously a Pick'N'Mix selection, so you point out the number and type of inputs and outputs you want to the assistant. They then scoop them up into a paper bag for you, weigh it, and ring the price up on the till.

[Matt Houghton]

It came with a thick user booklet in English and German, as have all the other RME interfaces cos I've reviewed or bought over the years.

Yeah, that's been my experience of several different interfaces and preamps over the years too.

[rggillespie]

I think perhaps its changed or is now changing, my UCXii came with a postcard saying there is an online manual and drivers available from their site. No printed manual or cd with drivers, its good practice from an environmental point of view perhaps that's their reasoning?

[Hugh Robjohns]

Hmmm. I share your disappointment about the lack of paper manual. I shall enquire to see if its a new policy or something specific to some models.

[Luke W]

I'm trying to remember if my MADIface came with a manual... I think it may have just been a card with a link to the PDF. I have to say, although I like a good manual more than most, I think the argument for saving paper is a good one (if that is the case).

As for a CD with drivers, it's been about a decade since I owned a machine with a disc drive, so I do understand why that's less common these days!

[The Elf]

IIRC my MADIFace didn't come with paper manuals. But then I just plugged it in and it worked - nothing to figure out beyond a spot of routing allocations. Having previously had a FireFace 800 it was all familiar stuff.

[resistorman]

Sending back an AI because it doesn't have a paper manual?

[Hugh Robjohns]

No, he sent it back because he couldn't get sound through it.

The absent paper manual was just one of several annoyances.

I'm sure it's a professionals piece of kit but its a bridge too far if you don't know your spdif from your adat from your DSP. Four hours after unboxing I'm yet to get a sound out of it. It ships without a manual now, and as someone who likes to have the info in front of me to go through that's a negative. There's not even a quick start guide to help you along, for the expense that's poor. I eventually managed to get total mix to appear but its looks different to my old fireface 400 one and I felt there was another learning curve there. May be they have totalmix templates ready for new users to get them started? I couldn't find them if they do. Their graphics look dingy and old as the hills, personally not very inspiring. RME have some videos to get you started but as I had no sound that wasn't best pleasing. The display on the unit itself is busy and postage stamp tiny meaning you have to be close to read it. I know rme is loved universally here for its drivers and reliability, but I've found you need to have a fair level of expertise to get it working. I've accepted defeat, it will go back and I will now look for a two channel interface that's user friendly. 

[Essex Boi]

I took delivery of a Digiface USB a couple of weeks ago and that didn’t come with a manual. Then again (and meaning no disrespect to others) it seemed pretty obvious the USB B connected to/from the USB A computer using the supplied cable and the Toslink ports connected to/from the equivalent Toslink ports on my interfaces. However . . . Nothing worked even after I’d downloaded the relevant driver and Totalmix software from RME.

The problem sat with guidance from Focusrite which ran contrary to what was required. I’ve posted elsewhere on this so I won’t repeated what I’ve already said.

My point here is that a manual wouldn’t have made a jot of difference. These are not ‘plug and play’ products. The manufacturers cannot think about every use case and therefore a degree of knowledge (or in my case blind experimentation) is inevitable.

[ore_terra]

My Adi 2 pro came with a booklet… that I never used as I found more convenient to use the pdf version!

[Mike Stranks]

My Adi 2 pro came with a booklet… that I never used as I found more convenient to use the pdf version!

Sentiments with which I agree!

Even if I have a paper manual, I'll still download the PDF... IME experience far easier to reference when you want to find out quickly about a specific function and how, say, it might interact with other functions...

... something I was doing for one of my video cameras just last night!

[ore_terra]

plus these things are inherently plugged to a computer, therefore you're already in front of a screen. it's quicker just to double click a pdf file.

[Yearofthegoat]

My Digiface USB didn't come with a paper manual.

I just installed the driver, plugged it in, all good. Practically idiot proof.

[jbap]

plus these things are inherently plugged to a computer, therefore you're already in front of a screen. it's quicker just to double click a pdf file.

Not to mention good ole Ctl-F, for when you need to find something quickly within a large booklet. Can’t do that with a paper manual (although I have tried to be fair )

[OneWorld]

Arpangel has a dislike of RME interfaces since having one which was probably faulty and insists they have a nasty ‘sound’, which no one else hears.

The sound of the interface will be mainly determined by the preamps used. In general, these days the differences are slight and very subtle.

My only direct comparison testing of interfaces with friends was maybe 14 years ago when the first Focusrite Saffires came out and we compared a Saffire Pro 40, Fireface 800 and a MOTU Traveller.

The Saffire and the Fireface were almost identical in sound, whilst the MOTU was slightly brighter but still very similar.

Since then, converters have improved in performance and most preamps above budget level (and some of those as well) have also improved to match.

So unless the interface has some circuitry (normally switchable) designed to add in some ‘character’, or the preamps are really pushed hard, the sounds are pretty much the same, and you’d need a very well treated room and very good monitors to hear any difference. Other factors play a much larger influence in the recorded sound.

I too, at one point, had both Focusrite and FF800, side by side, and the sonic difference was hardly discernable, except that I found the FF800 a sharper more teutonic sound and the Focusite more mellow. That said I think this was a perception as opposed to an objective difference. I decided it was an extravagance to have them both, one being a spare. I chose the FF800 over the Focusrite because I got to like Totalmix, and the paper manual, very useful

[forumuser936783]

If your RME s dead, what a great opportunity to switch to UA Apollo

[rggillespie]

I did just that forumuser 936783 'If your RME s dead, what a great opportunity to switch to UA Apollo' and I'm now looking to move on again. I like everything about the UA Apollo apart from the crucial fact its unreliable after upgrades, and they are very frequent. I just want an interface that's reliable above all else and the consensus seems to be RME are just that. A 4 channel Audient seems to be about £500, whereas a 4 channel RME about 1500plus, that feels like a lot to pay for reliability alone. Obviously the RME would have more features useful for a pro, which I'm not at all. I would be reluctant to downgrade on sound quality though, so I'm treading water for now. I have been looking at some totalmix videos in the hope the penny drops. Sorry to bore you with 2 interface questions on the forum, tedious for many I'm sure!

[forumuser936783]

You’re not boring us. All good info.

If UA Apollo is u stable, are you a windows user ? Fair number of righteous complaints by win users .

As a Mac user, it’s almost perfect Most of the time …plus the plugin ecosystem is great.

That said, having an extra set of patchy inputs that am RME provides is helpful.

By the way, Hugh Robojohn likes the RME. Yup $1500 but has a lot of inputs and outs. SOS Gear of the year review

https://youtu.be/FcTx78jq9Sw?si=L4IhBWZT5sJ7mk_3

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[forumuser936783]

Hugh says The RME ufx3 has 94 in and 94 outs !

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[James Perrett]

A 4 channel Audient seems to be about £500, whereas a 4 channel RME about 1500plus,

Not sure where you are getting those prices from. The RME Babyface, which has 4 analogue inputs and 4 outputs, comes in at £635 in Andertons. The Audient iD44 is £469. Both are expandable using ADAT optical connections.