As I mentioned in the previous M-Audio Delta 1010 article, I need the following features:

• Stereo headphone mixes
• Portability
• Less cables
• More simultaneous inputs

On top of that I want to add:

• Don't want to spend a zillion dollars

Finding The Right Audio Interfaces
I put quite a bit of research into finding the right audio interface for me. It was very important that I had the ability to fire up as many headphone mixes as necessary. I'm not big on giving out headphone mixes to each and every band member, but in the end the customer / client is always right. If they want fancy headphone mixes, I'm all for it. If I can make them feel more comfortable when they play, they will probably play better. They will probably end up coming out of my studio feeling happier about the entire experience. As outlined in my previous blog, it was very important for me to setup a stereo headphone mix(s) as I think it makes it easier to hear what is really going on. So my first goal was to find an audio interface that had a powerful headphone mixing system with zero latency. (That's another thing. I feel very strange sending drummers a mix from Cubase even if it is only 2ms behind. Then again, no one seems to complain.)

I was delighted to see that many manufacturers have powerful solutions for the headphone mixing thing. RME, MOTU, Presonus, M-Audio, and probably many others all had solutions.

After that, I had to make sure I found a Firewire unit. This really didn't knock the selection down too much. Most of the audio interfaces that had the headphone routing system also had Firewire. I'm not exactly sure why. I guess Firewire is more popular than PCI these days. (Forgive me, while I've helped a million trillion people select audio interfaces on the recording forum, I haven't bought one for myself in almost 7 years. Most of the people I help are usually going for simpler setups than I require.)

So from there, it was just an issue of price. I immediately ruled out any sound quality differences. When it comes to the sound quality of an audio interface, the main factors are the built in preamps (if applicable), the analog to digital conversion when sending signal into the audio interface, and the digital to analog conversion when sending signal out of the audio interface. That's pretty much it. There are guys who are big on modding power supplies and things of that sort, but I usually don't dig that far. I'm more worried about the plywood I have nailed up all over the place in my live room. I have my Mytek converters which are extremely expensive and the difference between them and my M-Audio Delta 1010s was very subtle. I'm positive that dumping the extra cash on RME wouldn't result in an improvement that would justify it's expense to my clients and therefor it doesn't justify it's expense to me either. Maybe the RME would last longer and be more durable, but you never really know with this stuff. The way my luck has been, anything I use is going to break!

I ended up selecting the Presonus Firestudio. It has just about everything I need for $700. I really wish it had dual S/PDIF inputs so I could use all four channels of Mytek conversion. I guess my second Mytek AD96 is going to be taking a break for a while.

I like the fact that I can add 16 additional channels via ADAT Lightpipe. I really don't have any need for 26 simultaneous inputs today, you never know what the future will hold. I like the idea that I can borrow an 8 channel preamp with ADAT outputs and immediately expand my rig when necessary.

Now the hard part: Finding an 8 channel ADAT converter.
Brandon

I can go a zillion routes. First I want to talk about what I didn't like about the Delta 1010s.

Delta 1010 Is Not Portable
First of all, they were very unportable due to them being PCI cards instead of Firewire, which I would prefer. I have had to turn down a few “on location” gigs because it took such an outstanding amount of time to move my rig around. So, it's worth a few extra bucks for the ability to grab a laptop, a 6 space rack, and a few mics for a live recording.

No Fancy Headphone Monitoring Matrix
The Delta 1010s offered no headphone mixing matrix. I used my Mackie 1604 for the longest time for monitoring in a live band situation. I could get 4 mono and 1 stereo mix out of the Mackie, but I really hate mono headphone mixes. I think it's much more difficult to hear with a mono headphone mix and I think this effects recordings in a negative way. So, this time around I really want the ability to setup stereo headphone mixes.

I always felt a little weird when I knew the guitar players in the band really couldn't hear what was going on. While I could continue to wing it with the current mono setup, it would be preferred to have the ability to do anything I wanted in terms of headphone mixes.

Note: I will still be monitoring through Cubase when doing any overdubs. All of this headphone monitoring matrix stuff is there exclusively for the recording of live bands. I like adding compression, adding reverb, and controlling levels real time through Cubase in almost all cases. However, I'm limited to a single mix in Cubase. While theoretically, I could use aux sends within Cubase, these add significant latency to the signal.

It seems silly to pay $600 for an audio interface that does not have extensive headphone options.

No Built In Mic Preamps
The Delta 1010s had no mic preamps built in. This led me to buy external mic preamps and a mixer. I really don't need built in mic preamps these days, but I do have to admit that I like the idea of simplicity with the built in mic preamps. While I do have a few high end and middle of the road mic pres which always get used first, there were times when I would end up resorting to my Mackie pres if I ran out of channels. I would use built in mic pres in the the audio interface as a last resort as well. Going back to live recording and such, I like the idea of being able to plug in one single cable into an audio interface and being done with it.

TONS of Cables
I've had hell with cables since I started recording. I think this is common. When I have 16 mics in use, I have 16 mic cables that go to my preamps, 16 cables that go from my preamps, cables that go to the mixer for headphone mixes, cables that go from the preamps to my Mytek converters, cables that go from my Mytek converters to my audio interfaces. This may not sound too complicated, but my floor ends up looking like a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. I just happen to hate snakes, too! The problem is most of my cables are 8 feet long for various reasons and this means I have 8 feet of cable whether I need 1ft or 20ft. This really makes a huge mess, makes it hard to troubleshoot bad cables, and causes big problems with cables getting accidentally yanked out. I would much rather forgo this complexity, if possible.

If I'm recording 16 mics, there is no way of getting around those initial 16 XLR cables. However, I've got a feeling that if I can take the Mackie out of the equation entirely for monitoring, I will not only have a cleaner looking rack that is MUCH easier to deal with and troubleshoot, I'll also totally reduce the number of problems that occur in the first place. I can't think of a live session (or even a session where we were just recording drums) where every cable and connection worked perfectly. I'm always playing around with my rack. Note: Some of that is do to the fact that I have to hook/unhook my snake on my Neve preamps when I switch from tracking in the control room vs the live room. Way too much of this is due to some random cable causing problems. The fact that I have wasted the bands time dealing with my issues so much usually compels me to knock time off the recording bill. These hours add up!

It may seem like I'm putting too much emphasis on simplicity, but I find that when I'm trying to get great tones for a live band, I usually have anxiety x 2,000. Everything goes wrong. There are cables everywhere. The band is tripping over them. The guys in the band will start telling jokes and yelling and hollering. (This isn't a bad thing except when I'm trying to find a bad cable in a stack of 4 billion wires and cables). In the end, every little incremental improvement I could make for this sort of thing is an enormous blessing!

Not Enough Simultaneous Inputs With One Card
The M-Audio Delta 1010s allowed 8 analog inputs and then 2 more inputs via S/PDIF. This is a fairly normal configuration for a multi-channel audio interface. At least, it was a fairly normal configuration. I used 2 Delta 1010s to get enough inputs. While this wasn't a bad way of handling the situation, when you double the amount of components in a rig, you double the changes of something going wrong. So here I sit with a dead PCI card, but 2 breakout boxes that work fine. If the Delta 1010 had ADAT Lightpipe inputs, I could continued using my one audio interface and simply run a single cable into the back of the Delta 1010 for an additional 8 inputs.

Required features:

• Stereo headphone mixes
• Portability
• Less cables
• More simultaneous inputs

So, I'm looking for an audio interface that can take care of all these requirements. I have to admit. The Delta 1010s were very reliable. I got over 6 very reliable years out of the Delta 1010s and I even squeezed a few great recordings out of them here and there. However, the Delta 1010s were just little short on features. At $600, I'm of the opinion that the Delta 1010s can not compete with other model audio interfaces. I had thought at one time that the price was dropped down to $400. This seemed a bit more reasonable.

Some may wonder about the sound quality of the M-Audio Delta 1010. I'd say it's as good as anything else out there in home recording land. Of course, I upgraded my converters to the very expensive Mytek converters, but no client has been able to tell the difference.

Conclusion
This article isn't really meant to deter or encourage anyone to use a Delta 1010. I'm simply describing my own personal experiences and thoughts. If your needs are similar, you may save yourself a little bit a of trouble by learning from my mistakes when choosing an audio interface.