Audio interface and sampling software recommendations?

breakerfall

Hi!

I'm in the market for a new audio interface and I was hoping some others here would have some recommendations. I've seen a few names flying around like the RME Hammerfall and the M-Audio Delta 1010. Are there any other recommendations or advice?

Basically, it would need to interface with an electronic drum-kit module (Roland TD-20), so MIDI is essential - but I also want to have the ability to record my guitar too, so would that require a DI? The Delta1010 looked great because of all the inputs, which was a major consideration when I was thinking of recording an acoustic drum kit, but I'm not sure that many inputs are necessary now.

Also, what would be the best way of playing 3rd party samples with my kit, via the computer? I think Linux Sampler is the best thing available, right? Or can I control hydrogen using MIDI input (the kit)? Does anybody have much experience triggering samples and such and be willing to give me some advice and tips on where to get started (for example, links to tutorials for qsampler / linux sample, how many midi channels I'd need, is it one per drum? two if they're multi-triggered, etc)?

Aside from that, all I need to do now, is add the realtime patch to my kernel and I should be good to go. =]

Thanks for reading.

pappy_mcfae · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 6:04 am Post subject:

If you are in the mood for an M-audio card with MIDI, the 1010 is not the way to go. None of it's inputs/outputs are MIDI. There is a four-channel M-audio card that has MIDI. It also has two analog inputs and an spdif (two channel) input as well for use with an external A/D D/A system.

I know that M-audio cards will work with Linux, as I have a six-channel version in my server. However, figuring out the inputs and outputs and how to make them all work properly under Gentoo is, to say the least, a serious headache. They work much better under Windoze.

That said, if you are serious about doing professional audio work, there is nothing like an M-audio card. Their noise floor is negligible. Their clarity is second to none. They support 32 bit at 96 kHz, down to 8 bit at 22kHz.

Unfortunately, I have yet to find a decent program to use with the card under Gentoo. Audacity comes close. Ardour is a PITA. Most everything else is too Mickey Mouse for words!

Good luck, and if you find a workable program, please let me know.

Blessed be!
Pappy
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gimpel · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 6:21 pm Post subject:

The 1010LT does have one MIDI I/O, it just doesn't work on Linux from what I've heard. It does have 8 anaolg I/O's and an onboard mic preamp though. MIDI works on my cheaper Audiophile 2496 though.

As for configuring, just fire up envy24control - it looks and works the same as the mixer app on windows. For routing, there is jack-audio-connection-kit and the qjackctl frontend for it, which will become your best friends anyway. It's a must-have. You even get better latencies than on windows, given you run a -rt kernel.
So, no headache at all, it infact "just works".

As for software, well, true, that might be a problem. It depends on what you are going to do.
- If you want to record things, ardour is superb!
- If you need a really good MIDI/Audio sequencer, you're f*cked if you insist on Linux native apps.

There is Rosegarden which works great for some, for me it doesn't. It's unstable as hell.
There is MuSE, which basically is great, but currently a bit outdated.. stable version doesn't really work with recent JACK, and SVN is, well, not that stable and missing MIDI support last time I checked.

So for a sequencer, I can only recommend running REAPER in WINE with wineasio (see pro-audio overlay). It works superb, even at low latencies.
Audio is done via JACK, MIDI via ALSA. Almost all VSTs work.. so that's a good way to go, even it's a windows app. It's free as in free beer for personal just-for-fun use, and very cheap if you really use it for production. Ironically, REAPER is THE SEQUENCER for Linux currently, no matter what the #lad folks want to believe.

So in short, my current sound setup looks like:
- M-Audio Audiophile 2496 + ESI Juli@
- JACK
- REAPER in wineasio + a bunch of NI VST's
- Jost + some native Linux VST's
=> fun!
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http://proaudio.tuxfamily.org/wiki - pro-audio software overlay

breakerfall · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 6:54 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the replies...

I ended up getting an RME Hammerfall 9632. The only reason I originally wanted the 1010 was because it had the 10 analogue inputs and I wanted to record an acoustic drumkit with multiple mics. The RME is more than suitable for my needs but there's a lot I need to learn / figure out in the way of how to use it well and how to go about using my drumkit with linux well. I know Ardour is an amazing piece of software but right now I really want something to play 3rd party samples via midi.

I tried the Renoise demo... it runs very nicely on linux. Very nice... but I have a feeling that it's not quite what I need. It seems like all the best stuff for drumming is on Windows and Mac (Superiour 2 that will be released soon just looks mind-blowing), but I haven't had an install of windows on my PC for years and I didn't really want to go down that avenue.

gimpel · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:02 pm Post subject:

Be happy with the RME, I just heard the the MIDI on the 1010LT does not work on Linux due to a bug in the mpu401 driver. So it has MIDI, but the fact is useless on Linux. It causes random hardlocks, esp. with Rosegarden.

Renoise rocks, indeed! But it's more a tracker, not a sampler. Also take a look at EnergyXT2, it's a great app too.

Having wineasio, you can always try to install some windows app in WINE. If it installs and starts up correctly, you're on the ride.
REAPER, Fruity Loops, Guitar Rig, Steinberg's WaveLab, tons of NI VSTs work just fine here with it, even I am running an amd64 install

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http://proaudio.tuxfamily.org/wiki - pro-audio software overlay

pappy_mcfae · Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:27 pm Post subject:

There is more to making a recording than just being able to record. My trials with Ardour and Audacity left much to be desired after the fact. No ability to move files in time in a multi track session, no active pan envelopes, and so much more make both undesireable for true multitrack mixing, effecting, and so on.

MIDI also seems to be a real bone of contention with Linux. I had it working once with timidity, but it was such a resource hog, if timidity was up, nothing else wanted to work. I got rid of it. I have yet to find anything that works with MIDI under Linux in an acceptable fashion.

And I was talking about the 2496 when I was talking about one that I knew had a MIDI port. Thanks for clearing that up.

I know it's sort of blasphemy to say this, but when I want to work with sound files and have it come out right, it's Windoze and Cool Edit Pro. I am still waiting to find a decent, usable, fully functional Linux-based audio program. When that day dawns, then I will eschew Windoze and live the rest of my life in the world of Linux exclusively.

Blessed be!
Pappy
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breakerfall · Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:25 pm Post subject:

I used to use Cool Edit Pro a good few years ago when I was running linux, and whilst I haven't found anything in linux that I'm as comfortable with as I was with CEP, I still find Ardour and friends to be very nice.

I think I'll be happier with my RME when I can find the cause of my bizarre hardlocks and stop them from happening.