Can You Recommend a DP Compatible Inexpensive Audio i/o

[al carmichael]

A friend bought an new iBook and wants to use DP. He is going to be doing simple guitar and/or piano + vocal demos. He doesn't need a $500+ interface. What should I recommend for him to have a look at?

[mikehalloran]

The Mackie U420 should work. $199 at Musicians Friend.

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... sku=482833

Here is the link to the manual. On page 26, it says that it will work with Core Audio host applications including DP

http://www.mackie.com/products/u420/pdf/U420_OM.pdf

The TASCAM interfaces cost less but are USB instead of Firewire

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... sku=242192

[BradLyons]

I carry a lot of different products so therefore I have the ability to try many solutions and compare them side by side. IMHO for the money, I think that the Presonus Firebox is really hard to beat! Street price it's $250 offering 4-inputs w/(2) micpres that are quite good....low latency, takes up very little space, and just sounds good.

[homebilly]

hi brad i was with you on the firebox. i have 3 of them

but i would now find them hard to recommend after having to send one back
and PAY for it to be fixed after the firewire ports died.

now i have another that is giving me problems with the main volume knob.
JUNK is all i can say now

mind you two of them are never ever touched or moved in any way and they are the two that have
failed. i don't even use the volume knobs as they feed a monitor mixer and i use that.

i guess the third one hasn't failed because i never use it. it was a spare for remote recording.
i am currently looking for replacements myself

ron

[James Steele]

The Mackie U420 should work. $199 at Musicians Friend.

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... sku=482833

Wow... says it's discontinued now.

[mikehalloran]

The Mackie U420 should work. $199 at Musicians Friend.

Wow... says it's discontinued now.

What the heck? It wasn't when I posted but it is now.

In any case, they still have the U.420d which is more versatile anyway for $249. It is also marked Clearance but they still have some in stock. This version has 2 Mic pre/DI combo inputs and 2 stereo line / phono inputs. $249/$229 while they last.
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... sku=482834

[BradLyons]

Sorry to hear you had such issues with the PResonus products, they do make a good product. Well, check out the new Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 if you're trying to keep it cheap, but good.