Hi guys,
I’m looking for a good quality sound card/interface that will be suitable for recording and have a good selection of inputs/outputs.
I need to at least be able to connect a mixing desk to the inputs, and a pair of studio monitors to the output.
I’ve been looking at something similar to the below, does anyone have any other suggestions?
What do you all use?
For 250 your on the cusp. I’d say save for a Motu… keep your anxiety low… i know it’s hard but for me I only had minimal to spend and went with the EMU series… the 0404 actually, Internal of course… that USB one SUCKS. Anyway it was shit until they got the beta driver for Windows 7 but now it works OK… If you HAVE TO spend on one now I’d say a EMU-1212 (for the lightpipe drive ability) and then buy a simple USB Behringer UCA 202 for added inputs (and the fact it’s portable and actually quite stable and good)… anyway your almost at the mark for a Motu, a small one anyway. Those are high end and will give you better quality a bit… I never known anyone to be dissatisfied with waiting it out for those.
Motu 4Pre is ad’d alot on Electronic Musician and seems to be the newer one and awesome. Emu0404 or 1212 are cheaper models budget wise but quality are not bad. The Motu 896MK3 is Hybrid ‘OH BABY WET MY PANTS GIMMIE GIMMIE’ shit! YUMMMMMMIE! On the high end there is also Focusrite now the lower size ‘Scarlett 2i2’ is cool and there is a model up for more inputs and some better features i do believe.
What are your needs?
Like inputs, you seeem to want lots. Do you record lots of gear? Such as bands? Or are you a home musician just using it for your gear? you could always sacrifice ins/outs and suppliment with that UCA202 if you need more… But yeah there’s some suggestions to check out… Hope that helps… maybe explain a bit what you want to do and I could help more?
edit
Please no M-Audio… The M stands for Molesters of your money… or Money grubbin theives… lol. (Alot of returns where i’m at for them 
) 
Bless Up,
-Kyle.
What are you requirements?
Inputs: Number of? Types? Balanced line? Microphone? Instrument?
Outputs: Number of? Balanced?
Interface: USB/Firewire/PCI(e) etc?
I spent a few hours researching this morning and have pretty much decided on a Motu 4Pre.
I think it’s worth spending a bit more for that one. 
One question though - does it replace my internal sound card?
I think it does but I’m not 100% sure.
You choose what soundcard to use as default in the control panel in Windows, and in the preferences of your Renoise/DAW.
I would recomend the new Focusrite Scarlett 18i6 or 8i6. I haven’t tried them yet, but Focusrite rocks, and I’m planning to buy the 18i6 when the time is right. They should both be within your budget, or close.
This is an invaluable resource if you are interested in the actual quality of the converters:
http://learjeff.net/RMAA/results.html
some are surprisingly bad!
maybe five years ago.
I recently bought an NI Komplete Audio 6 for use with my laptop. I am absolutely ecstatic about the performance of this unit. It is rock-solid stable and the latency is reasonable. Not making any promises, but I could see me purchasing another one and replacing the PreSonus Firebox on my main desktop DAW. For the record, I love the Firebox, but I love the Komplete Audio 6 even more.
I have an old Focusrite saffire IO 26 for sale if you need lots of ins and outs </shameless plug> - just noticed that it’s not the freshest thread
And can say that my new NI is good as well, and works better in Linux…
It depends on a lot of your expectations, but first I’d consider what OS you’re going to use the card under. Some of the suggestions given here are better suited for Windows, some are better suited for OS X.
In a nutshell, the RME stuff is all rock solid, as far as I know with the best support around for windows, os x and linux as well. Their new prices are rather on the expensive side of things but you can find them quite often second hand at a great price.
First though before giving any recommendations either way what OS(s) are you aiming to use this device with? What do you consider a “good selection” of ins/outs?