Why do I actually need an interface?

FrostByte · Post by **FrostByte** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 8:25 am

So I picked up a Focusrite Saffire 6 a while back thinking I would hear a sweet relief in clarity. Turns out it sounded the exact same as if I were to be running ASIO. I produce EDM, I don't live record anything besides the occasional folley sample. My laptop has an Intel i7 8-Core 3.3ghz processor and 8gb of DDR3 1600hz RAM, so latency is never an issue for me. Can someone please explain why I should even consider keeping this interface instead of buying a mixer?

wormcode · Post by **wormcode** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 9:16 am

Well, what are you going to plug that mixer into, and how are you going to route audio into it?
No one ever said it will affect sound quality greatly, or rather shouldn't have given that impression (it still uses ASIO btw).

What was your buffer size set at without the interface?
Also, why would you buy something like a Saffire if you don't need the features? There's plenty of great USB interfaces that are much smaller and will work just as well.

Brothulhu · Post by **Brothulhu** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 10:23 am

Could you show me a link to your laptop I really doubt it's an 8 core i7...

Maxxan · Post by **Maxxan** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 10:53 am

Brothulhu wrote:Could you show me a link to your laptop I really doubt it's an 8 core i7...

It's called hyperthreading and it's actually physically just 4 cores that also emulate 4 additional virtual cores. So it acts like an 8-core.

That's what I'm assuming he's running anyway, it's a standard feature on many/all of the i7's. Pretty nifty.

Brothulhu · Post by **Brothulhu** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 10:57 am

I know. Although I'm not sure if all DAWs support hyperthreading

sunny_b_uk · Post by **sunny_b_uk** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 12:13 pm

4 cores hyperthreaded? i don't think that would be neccessary for all DAWs (depending on how they work). bit unrelated but i disabled multithreading in FL and was able to use twice as many plugins (i rely on built in ones, nothing intensive), also i installed micro xp since i was sick and tired of having to reinstall windows 7 and the CPU cost of my plugins have yet halved again. been so fun using extremely long chain fx

(might sound unnecessary but i like the way my new chain works) feels like im using a 40ghz pc or something lol.
anyway the point of my post was that i dont have a interface/special sound card and im able to do things happily without it.

mthrfnk · Post by **mthrfnk** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 3:02 pm

Why did you not just buy a cheaper/smaler interface?

Also I have an overclocked desktop i7 and experienced latency when I used to use ASIO with my PC soundcard (only on stupidly long FX chains) and since I got an interface I've yet to experience any plus my buffer size has decreased a fair bit.

You don't need an interface to make music, just like you don't really need anything more than a freeware audio sequencer to make music, but everything has it's purpose.

promo · Post by **promo** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 3:22 pm

I have a Focusrite Saffire 6 and for me its miles better than the shitty onboard sound so to me its important. Also I route various external hardware through its two mic/jack inputs.

FrostByte · Post by **FrostByte** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 9:15 pm

As Maxxan mentioned, it is hyper threaded, so it has 8 virtual cores and 4 physical cores. Good to know though, I probably wont be keeping the Focusrite. I'm probably just going to pick up a USB mixer so I can run XLR's on my 8's and my sub. Thanks for the input guys.

narcissus · Post by **narcissus** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:11 am

i was about to say, THEY MAKE 8 CORE PROCESSORS FOR LAPTOPS NOW?
still quad core is gnarly.. i must be fucked up in the head, cuz i've actually come to like the limitations of a single core netbook with 1 gig of RAM.. yeah, i'm crazy

Attila · Post by **Attila** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:40 am

Are people really maxing out current Gen i7s? Even on my biggest projects I still haven't gotten past the 60s on my i5...and I'm super disorganized with ~150 tracks running dozens of vsts.

twilitez · Post by **twilitez** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:54 am

The DAC inside a Saffire 6 is so much better then what you get on some generic soundblaster crap, its unbelievable. Also, it will improve your latency compared to a crap pci card whatever your system specs.

twilitez · Post by **twilitez** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:57 am

Also, if you set it up right you can do mixes in traktor and such within minutes.

twilitez · Post by **twilitez** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 4:01 am

Attila wrote:Are people really maxing out current Gen i7s? Even on my biggest projects I still haven't gotten past the 60s on my i5...and I'm super disorganized with ~150 tracks running dozens of vsts.

Im running on a core2duo 6600 dell thingy thats about 3.5 years old and im doing fine. Ram never maximizes so i just bounce stuff and stay happy. Noisia made block control in early 2005 and my pc is 3 times faster then anything they had back then.

FrostByte · Post by **FrostByte** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 4:41 am

twilitez wrote:The DAC inside a Saffire 6 is so much better then what you get on some generic soundblaster crap, its unbelievable. Also, it will improve your latency compared to a crap pci card whatever your system specs.

But why is it better? That is what I want to know. Hearing an opinion like that doesn't convince me considering I have a Focusrite Saffire and I literally hear no difference, nor do I ever have latency problems.

FrostByte · Post by **FrostByte** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 4:42 am

twilitez wrote:Also, if you set it up right you can do mixes in traktor and such within minutes.

Also, I hate Traktor with a passion. I think VDJ is honestly a better program. Though, I'm a CDJ guy, so I would have no use for that.

wormcode · Post by **wormcode** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 5:45 am

FrostByte wrote:
twilitez wrote:The DAC inside a Saffire 6 is so much better then what you get on some generic soundblaster crap, its unbelievable. Also, it will improve your latency compared to a crap pci card whatever your system specs.
But why is it better? That is what I want to know. Hearing an opinion like that doesn't convince me considering I have a Focusrite Saffire and I literally hear no difference, nor do I ever have latency problems.

But you never answered, what is your buffer size? How many MIDI interfaces/controllers do you have in use? Also DAC comes into play mostly when using inputs/outputs, not listening to MP3s. If you're strictly ITB then just get a simple USB interface for 1/4th the cost.
Replace what he said about Traktor with any software btw, they all work the exact same.

On maxing out CPU, it can be done easier than you think. Friend of mine thought he was all cool with his new machine he spent thousands on, then I played a few chords in Diva and it slowed to a crawl lol. Just depends on how you work and what you use, but even if I had 24 cores, it would be silly and backwards to waste all that money on processors and still use onboard sound.

Why do I actually need an interface?

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