OT: Mackie Spike, Edirol or FW410?

ken c wrote on 4/21/2006, 5:57 AM

Looking into preamps/audio interface boxes.. anyone have recommendations on what's the best unit to use for preamping into a laptop for:

AT 899
and
AT 3060?

Looks like the fw410 has a *lot* of problems according to neg. reviews on amazon,
( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/B0000TP588/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/103-7633949-3165404?%5Fencoding=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=172282 )

so I'm also looking at the Mackie Spike and the Edirol UA-25 ..(or would FA-66 etc series work?)

Spike reviews not too hot either though:
http://www.zzounds.com/productreview--MACSPIKE

here's FW410 reviews, more:
http://www.zzounds.com/productreview--MDOFW410

and UA25:
http://www.zzounds.com/productreview--EDIUA25

so they all have pretty mediocre reviews... hmm

ah well.

Any audio-wise folks out there, have any recommendations?

I'll be building a DSE-inspired v/o box for the AT 3060, and using at AT899 for greenscreen/live shoots ... and for camtasia type tutorials...

(btw sorry for all the hardware q & a, I'm trying to upgrade all my stuff this season now)...

As of now, I'm thinking of getting the UA-25, $239 at bhp .. but, inputs are of a type I haven't heard of, eg "2x Neutrik Combi"? vs XLR ... looks like the spike is good too, but bhp is out of stock .. ideas?

thx,

Ken

Comments

Nat wrote on 4/21/2006, 9:10 AM

I've got the Firebox by Presonus and I have been very happy. It got great reviews also.

A Neutrik combo jack is a jack where you can plug both XLR and 1/4'' plugs (but not at the same time) very convenient.

Spot|DSE wrote on 4/21/2006, 9:12 AM

I have em' all.
I like the ease of use of the Spike, I like the surround output of the 410, and the edirol is "OK." The Firebox is a great box too, and I like the Firewire interface. But...too many Firewire devices *can* create conflicts.

ken c wrote on 4/21/2006, 9:53 AM

Hi Spot, hey thanks! I'm getting the AT899 and AT3060 today, ordering from bhp, they sound terrific ... and I need them for v/o and studio work ... appreciate all the tips on the "Now Hear This" DVD, it's a huge help...

thx re interface box comments, appreciate it..

Douglas - thanks to you, I went from being an nle newbie to being successful with video, and now, audio .. your instruction is world-class, and I'm indebted to you. your vasst.com is a great resource site. wish I'd bought all your dvds earlier.. would've saved me a lot of time, and helped me get pro results faster.

now I get to go write scripts...

Ken

(I did these, eg sitefomercials.com / tradingvideos.com , with a radio shack lav mic going into the camcorder .. now I know better, will use an at899 via preamp into laptop, for best sound etc)...