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Hatsubai « Good pre »
Published on 06/19/11 at 20:18M-Audio is usually known for their small mic pres, but they also have some very high quality rack gear that works great. This device features 24 bit/192 KHz audio, 8 analog inputs, 8 XLR mic inputs, 8 TRS inputs, 2 TS inputs, S/PDIF, 16 x 16 ADAT, 8 TRS balanced line outputs, 2 headphone outputs, MIDI, a proper world clock for setting up I/O, master volume knob, an onboard DSP mixer, and it should work with pretty much any of today's DAWs.
UTILIZATION
M-Audio did a great job setting this whole thing up. The interface itself is nicely laid out, and everything is easy to use. I'm especially happy that they used Firewire for this. While they make comparisons on the USB page stating how USB is theoretically faster than Fiewire, that's not the case in real life. There are some major flaws with USB 2.0 when compared to Firewire, and I always found it a bit dishonest when they tried to claim USB 2.0 was faster. Keep in mind that you'll probably want some sort of rack to mount this in. On top of that, it has a few breakout cables for some of the features, and I'm not really a fan of breakout cables.
GETTING STARTED
I never had a single compatibility issue when using this device. It's a very easy to use and straightforward device. There's no need to even read the manual because everything is laid out in an easy to use and understand manner. Simply plug in the devices to their corresponding ports, and you'll be good to go. I was able to use this in Logic without any hiccups, and it sounded awesome.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're one of those people who enjoy rack interfaces and want one of the better ones out there, check this out. This has some really nice and clean converters that sound great. It also has MIDI and tons of other features. I just wish it didn't have all those annoying breakout cables for certain features, but then they'd have to make it 2U, so I can see why they did it.
UTILIZATION
M-Audio did a great job setting this whole thing up. The interface itself is nicely laid out, and everything is easy to use. I'm especially happy that they used Firewire for this. While they make comparisons on the USB page stating how USB is theoretically faster than Fiewire, that's not the case in real life. There are some major flaws with USB 2.0 when compared to Firewire, and I always found it a bit dishonest when they tried to claim USB 2.0 was faster. Keep in mind that you'll probably want some sort of rack to mount this in. On top of that, it has a few breakout cables for some of the features, and I'm not really a fan of breakout cables.
GETTING STARTED
I never had a single compatibility issue when using this device. It's a very easy to use and straightforward device. There's no need to even read the manual because everything is laid out in an easy to use and understand manner. Simply plug in the devices to their corresponding ports, and you'll be good to go. I was able to use this in Logic without any hiccups, and it sounded awesome.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're one of those people who enjoy rack interfaces and want one of the better ones out there, check this out. This has some really nice and clean converters that sound great. It also has MIDI and tons of other features. I just wish it didn't have all those annoying breakout cables for certain features, but then they'd have to make it 2U, so I can see why they did it.