Home Studio - Do I go audio interface or mixing console

[Hugh Robjohns]

My only question is, how do you give your musicians an individual aux send so that they can hear themselves whilst recording? Is that something the ID44 can do?

You create however many aux sends as you need in the DAW and route them to the ADAT outputs which you then access via the line outputs of something like Behringers ADA8200.

There will be latency involved, and slightly more than with a digital console (or RME's Totalmix) because if the run into the computer and back, but it's not usually a problem.

With the audient setup, is that all you would need as well in order to get all your monitors etc all connected up?

Yes. I think Audient have some helpful setup videos on their site. And download the user manual as that includes setup suggestions too.

[The Elf]

My only question is, how do you give your musicians an individual aux send so that they can hear themselves whilst recording?

As Hugh mentions above - this is why I choose RME interfaces. TotalMix makes setting up monitor feeds (any sub-mixes, in fact) a doddle. Latency becomes a non-issue.

edited to fix quotes - Andy

[richermusic]

My only question is, how do you give your musicians an individual aux send so that they can hear themselves whilst recording?

As Hugh mentions above - this is why I choose RME interfaces. TotalMix makes setting up monitor feeds (any sub-mixes, in fact) a doddle. Latency becomes a non-issue.

edited to fix quotes - Andy

RME sound great but it’s just a pricing point. I calculate that with the ASP880 and 800 alongside an ID44 and an X-Touch, it’s going to cost £1700 + VAT. That would give me something like 18 inputs. I could be wrong but I don’t think I can get anywhere near that with RME can I?

[Matt Houghton]

RME sound great but it’s just a pricing point. I calculate that with the ASP880 and 800 alongside an ID44 and an X-Touch, it’s going to cost £1700 + VAT. That would give me something like 18 inputs. I could be wrong but I don’t think I can get anywhere near that with RME can I?

I too use RME, but yes, they are more expensive. I also have a Mk1 Audient iD4 for working away from the studio, and it has been great.

The idea of having outputs for cue mixes was mentioned — note that the current Audient ASP-series expanders only have inputs (Mic pre and A-D conversion), they don't have line outs and D-A. So they're great if for adding quality mic/line inputs, less so if you want outputs for cue mixes or to integrate outboard into your system.

A good alternative at roughly the same price would be the Focusrite Clarett+ Octopre, which had D-A and line outs as well.

Audient's new EVO-range expander (I forget the name off-hand) has bidirectional conversion (ie both inputs and outputs) too. Technically it's slightly inferior to the ASP range, though I doubt you'd notice, and it has other useful facilities (eg. smart gain setting).

[James Perrett]

RME sound great but it’s just a pricing point. I calculate that with the ASP880 and 800 alongside an ID44 and an X-Touch, it’s going to cost £1700 + VAT. That would give me something like 18 inputs. I could be wrong but I don’t think I can get anywhere near that with RME can I?

A full price iD44 is just under £500 (although Andertons seem to have a B-stock one for just over £300. An RME Digiface USB is currently just over £400 which gives you up to 32 channels each way It doesn't have any hardware monitor control functions but it does have monitor control functions in Totalmix.

[The Elf]

As above.

And price is only one factor. I would gladly pay double for the equivalent RME over any other brand, but that's because of how important TotalMix is to me. You're not carrying this baggage, so price will be more important to you.

[Hugh Robjohns]

RME is more expensive to buy, but you should also consider longevity. RME has a long track record of maintaining support and drivers for products long after other brands have died and been forgotten.

So whereas you might get 10 years' use from one brand's interface, you'll get 20 or more from an RME one.

I installed an RME AIO card in a computer 15 years ago. It's still working perfectly today, and has sailed through 5 major OS changes (XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 10, and Windows 11).

Three years ago I installed an AIO-Pro card alongside it and the two now work together as an integrated whole.

That kind of longevity really justifies the initial cost to my way of thinking. Initial wallet pain soothed by peace of mind for decades to come!

And yes, TotalMix really is worth a premium too.

[sonics]

RME is more expensive to buy, but you should also consider longevity.

This is so important. How about an article in the magazine about it? Name and shame, I say!