deanmass Posted January 23, 2002 Share Posted January 23, 2002 You may have seen my previous post regardin the 'knobs' issue. I have purchased and returned a Digi 001 (not enough 'live' monitoring of inputs, weak MIDI" I was planning on buying a Q-10, and have one on order.. Is there an alternative in this price range that supports WDM drivers, SONAR and win2K/XP? The MOTU (828) piece looks nice, but no heavy windows support (or so it seems)and no MIDI. I don't want a PCI only solution (I hate those pigtail connectors) What about the ECHO stuff? They seem scarce on fresher drivers/support? Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Posted January 23, 2002 Share Posted January 23, 2002 The Echo stuff has excellent WDM drivers for Sonar. I'm personally using a Mona and am thrilled with it. In fact, Echo is probably the best company when it comes to writing new drivers for old products, so that's something to consider as well. You can get brand new WDM drivers for a 5-year old Layla for example. Besides Echo I'd recommend Frontier Designs for use with Sonar. -Dylan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog951 Posted January 23, 2002 Share Posted January 23, 2002 [quote]Originally posted by Dylan Walters: [b]The Echo stuff has excellent WDM drivers for Sonar. I'm personally using a Mona and am thrilled with it[/b][/quote] Only problem with the Mona is "no MIDI." No big deal though, I don't think, because dedicated USB MIDI interfaces are cheap and bulletproof these days. The Layla DOES have more inputs and more outputs along with a set of MIDI ports. No microphone preamps though. So I'm still kinda struggling with this issue myself. I *think* I've finally decided to go with the Layla (even though not having Mona's cool input level meters may actually kill me) but I'm dragging my feet on pulling the trigger. I WAS waiting for NAMM, to see if Echo might change and of their products' feature sets. Looks like everything is staying pretty much the same, though, so I guess I'll just succumb to the call. Goodbye, $650. I'll miss you... None more black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Posted January 23, 2002 Share Posted January 23, 2002 Yeah, I was really bummed to see that Echo didn't include a MIDI port on the Mona :( . It would of been perfect it they did that. Still, it's a great interface as is the Layla 24. Either way you really can't go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rog951 Posted January 23, 2002 Share Posted January 23, 2002 [quote]Originally posted by Dylan Walters: [b]Yeah, I was really bummed to see that Echo didn't include a MIDI port on the Mona :( . It would of been perfect it they did that. Still, it's a great interface as is the Layla 24. Either way you really can't go wrong.[/b][/quote] I finally bit the bullet on the Layla24 this morning. I decided that I was eventually gonna use outboard mic pre's anyway (when I can afford them). For the time being, I can just use my little Mackie mixer as a preamp...it doesn't sound too bad. I'm really gonna miss those cool LED meters on the front panel :) but at least I won't need to buy a seperate MIDI box (I hope). I haven't heard a single bad thing said about any of the Echo stuff so my expectations are quite high. I can barely wait for it to get here! None more black. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanmass Posted January 24, 2002 Author Share Posted January 24, 2002 I received a Q-10 from Sweetwater Sound yesterday... Initial impressions: Very cheap packaging Well constructed, but the internal Hi-z plugs seem a but loose. Sounds goods thus far, but I have only used the guitar inputs. CWPro 9 gives instructions to input the CD key from the case (there is no case, only an envelope). The CD Key is actually printed on the CD, which if you did what I did, is spinning in the drive. DOH! Not crazy about the Pepto-Purple finish, but it is gonna be racked anyhow. The control panel software seems pretty sweet on first boot. It is nice to have segregated software input control other than the DAW software. The PCI card is well contructed and has a shielded housing. Physical and software installs were hitch free on my P3 Celeron 800/320 megs of RAM/WIN98-2ndEd The cable that jumpers the card to the interface is longer than the one that came with the Digi 001 I returned. This will make it easier to connect when I move my tower down. The extra length comes in handy.. Monitor and Headphone pots are uneven, and the action almost feels like the pot is twisted or internally bent. I am gonna call tech support on this one, but they work fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.