Subject:Seeking Hardware Recommendation for Acid

Posted by: Illogical

Date:1/20/2009 6:25:32 PM

I have a HP m8530f PC running Vista 64-bit Home Premium with 5 gb RAM and an NVIDIA 9300GE video card. I'd like to buy Acid Pro 7, but I want to make sure I've got an audio interface that plays nicely with both the program and my computer.

I'd like to spend less than $200, and have something with at least two balanced 1/4" ins and outs as well as a MIDI connection. My old sound card was the Echo Mia Midi, but I don't believe it's compatible with Windows and it doesn't seem like it will fit in my new computer anyway, due to the slot structure.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions...in summary I'm looking for audio interfaces that work well with Acid Pro 7.

Subject:RE: Seeking Hardware Recommendation for Acid

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:1/21/2009 1:20:10 PM

Acid (and all other PC-DAW) software is device-agnostic. It doesn't care what device is attached, and performs identically as long as the interface's device drivers work correctly. Preferably ASIO type drivers.

Choose your interface with the criteria being the functionality you require, and the device's driver /hardware-connection reputation.

geoff

Subject:RE: Seeking Hardware Recommendation for Acid

Reply by: Illogical

Date:1/21/2009 3:52:05 PM

I wish they were all the same Geoff, but looking through the release notes for 7.0a (along with numerous threads here), that doesn't seem to be the case:

--- "ACID may become unstable and crash after rendering when using the ASIO driver for the M-Audio Ozone audio interface. Use the Audio Device tab in the Preferences dialog to switch to the Windows Classic Wave Driver when attempting to render while using this audio interface." ---

So that's an example of why I am asking for recommendations. That, and the fact I've had numerous issues with Acid Pro 5 & 6, with the ones associated with six being so bad that I found it unusable. Not all is hardware related, I'm sure, but I'd just like to find a combo that is known to work.

So again, I am looking for an audio interface under $200 that works well with Acid 7.0 and Vista 64-bit.

Subject:RE: Seeking Hardware Recommendation for Acid

Reply by: SHTUNOT

Date:1/21/2009 6:10:30 PM

I'm using a Echo Audiofire 4. Works really good with vista 64 and acid 7.0a. [driver 4.8]

No showstoppers here. Not perfect...not sure where to pin the blame on. I know that echo is rewriting their firewire driver and I hope when acid 7.0b comes out ALL my issues will be gone. That and Vista 64 SP2 would be nice.

They both use the same driver and it's within your price range...

http://www.audiomidi.com/AudioFire-2-P8335.aspx

HTH.

Ed.

Subject:RE: Seeking Hardware Recommendation for Acid

Reply by: Laurence

Date:1/21/2009 10:22:49 PM

I absolutely love my Line6 Toneport. It's not just an audio interface, it's a vocal preamp/de-esser/EQ/reverb/delay/guitar amp/stomp box collection/speaker cabinet emulator/etc. Works great with Vista 64.

Subject:RE: Seeking Hardware Recommendation for Acid

Reply by: thirdnostril

Date:1/22/2009 8:23:35 AM

Ditto on the TonePort. It even has hardware meters. The vocal presets are usable un-tweaked. You can build your own rig from scratch and save it. And it's stable, low-CPU, and play nice with ACID.

Subject:RE: Seeking Hardware Recommendation for Acid

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:1/22/2009 2:22:10 PM

That's why I said "and the device's driver /hardware-connection reputation."

If it has a poorly wriitten device driver, then it is likey to have problems with all DAW apps, not just Acid, though I guess it's possible one app may expose a weakness in a driver that others may not....

geoff

Subject:RE: Seeking Hardware Recommendation for Acid

Reply by: kitekrazee

Date:1/23/2009 8:08:00 PM

"I'd like to spend less than $200, and have something with at least two balanced 1/4" ins and outs as well as a MIDI connection. My old sound card was the Echo Mia Midi, but I don't believe it's compatible with Windows and it doesn't seem like it will fit in my new computer anyway, due to the slot structure."

Why don't you try putting it in before jumping to conclusions?

You didn't even bother to check Echo's site for drivers. They have em for Vista 64.
That's a great card and it would be a waste not to use it. I have the original MIA and it's over 8 years old and it's one of the best cards I've owned and it is the only card I have out of 6 with will run Vista 64.

Try putting that card in first.

The only other low latency cards in the price range are the M-Audio line and their 64 bit support sucks.

Subject:RE: Seeking Hardware Recommendation for Acid

Reply by: Cheye

Date:1/26/2009 10:24:23 AM

I have the presonus Firepod which is replaced by the Firestudio but apparently it is exactly the same accept for looks and name. Anyway, I'm having a little instability at the moment with AP7 and I'm wondering if anyone has a Firepod which is working well who can let me know what settings and latency works best with Acid P7? When was the last update for drivers? How would I find out?

Thanks folks

cheye

Subject:RE: Seeking Hardware Recommendation for Acid

Reply by: jumbuk

Date:1/26/2009 1:44:15 PM

Ditto the Echo Mia. I use a Yamaha 01X as my major audio interface, but I added a Mia card a few years back as a low-cost way of supporting Gigastudio (Yamaha doesn't include a Giga driver). It works fine with AP7 under WinXP - don't know about Vista.

Subject:RE: Seeking Hardware Recommendation for Acid

Reply by: Illogical

Date:1/26/2009 7:02:35 PM

"Why don't you try putting it in before jumping to conclusions?

You didn't even bother to check Echo's site for drivers. They have em for Vista 64."

Christ dude, I'm terribly sorry I didn't make it clearer that it won't fit in my computer. It's PCI and all I have is PCI express. I now know there is a 64-bit Vista driver for the thing, but it doesn't fit in any of the slots so it doesn't do me much good. Plus I'd prefer something outboard anyway, too many cables coming out the back gets old quick.

So can I have a recommendation now?

thanks!