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[John Neil]

Straightforward question for those who have done it...

Currently have one presonus audiobox usb that won't stand up to much more briefcase carry, and one USBPre 1.5 as the current device.  I'm a briefcase guy, not a "please wheel my FOH rack out to the riser" touring kind of guy.

What's the easy way for SMAART?  Carry multiple USBPres or get something bigger for the bigger days?  Audiobox 1818 or 44? 
Current laptop has limited USB inputs so I'd be tempted to use a USB hub if device count got staggering.

Durability becomes less important to me for a larger unit.  On days when I want the extra inputs I can plan accordingly to have a friendlier home for the hardware, or even a rack.

For the record, the audiobox usb (two channel) was disappointing as the inputs were always routed to the outputs, even with the "foldback" knob turned all the way down.  According to Presonus, this was supposed to be this way and couldn't be changed.  If you were trying to use your interface as your source material, this lead to some interesting system feedback...as your measurements were now routed back to your source.  So then I just used the headphone out of the laptop or pink on ipod as source material and had the presonus be input only.

[Mac Kerr]

Straightforward question for those who have done it...

Currently have one presonus audiobox usb that won't stand up to much more briefcase carry, and one USBPre 1.5 as the current device.  I'm a briefcase guy, not a "please wheel my FOH rack out to the riser" touring kind of guy.

What's the easy way for SMAART?  Carry multiple USBPres or get something bigger for the bigger days?  Audiobox 1818 or 44? 
Current laptop has limited USB inputs so I'd be tempted to use a USB hub if device count got staggering.

I carry my Roland Octa-Capture in my briefcase along with the PS and 1 microphone. The same wheeled briefcase also carries my laptop with PS, iPad, and various chargers for phones and iPad, as well as usual personal stuff.

It also fits in my suitcase packed between my clothes, but then attracts the attention of airport security, and puts me perilous close to the 50lb limit on that bag (it's at 48lb without).

The Octa-Capture is a nice 8x8 analog interface with easy to control mic pres. I have Smaart use outputs 5&6 for reference and PA, iTunes uses outs 1&2. Smaart uses inputs 1-5 for 4 mics and reference.

I am not a USB Pre fan, they have never been reliable on my computers. This is in part due to the fact that I don't own one, and have to make other people's work on my machine, which always seems to involve hunting for the right driver. The Roland has been trouble free.

Mac

[Justice C. Bigler]

We have the Roland Octa-Capture as well. It works well with Smaart, Protools 9, and QLab, and have used it well on both Windows and Mac OS 10.6, though I don't do all three at the same time. I will likely buy my own Octa-Capture when I buy my own copy of Smaart later this spring.

[Ivan Beaver]

I use the MOTU 8 pre as my multichannel interface.

Works fine.

[John Neil]

I use the MOTU 8 pre as my multichannel interface.

Works fine.

Looks like USB limits the choices.

[Tim McCulloch]

Looks like USB limits the choices.

Pretty much anything with more than 2 channels will be physically larger... rack mount size, usually.  As for USB being the limit... it's probably more of a Firewire legacy issue.  Most of the multi-channel interfaces were designed back when 1394a was used because it required almost no CPU overhead; all USB data goes through the CPU, stealing clock cycles from processing.

If you have USB only, the Roland is *the* box to have.  Should you have 1394a, you can get the Presonus Firebox Studio Project.  I think it's been discontinued or "updated" or some such, but can be found on fleabay.  There are other choices that might work, but those 2 are the most common I've seen in use.

Have fun, good luck.

Tim Mc

[Jay Barracato]

I use the MOTU 8 pre as my multichannel interface.

Works fine.

I use the Motu traveler. While it only has 2 preamps it does have 8 channels of input. I find I use the line inputs as often as I use the mic preamps.

[Tim Weaver]

Just to throw another option out there Tascam has this.

http://tascam.com/product/us-1800/images/

8 pre's 4 line outs, USB, and single rackspace.

[Clayton Ganzer]

Straightforward question for those who have done it...

Currently have one presonus audiobox usb that won't stand up to much more briefcase carry, and one USBPre 1.5 as the current device.  I'm a briefcase guy, not a "please wheel my FOH rack out to the riser" touring kind of guy.

What's the easy way for SMAART?  Carry multiple USBPres or get something bigger for the bigger days?  Audiobox 1818 or 44? 
Current laptop has limited USB inputs so I'd be tempted to use a USB hub if device count got staggering.

Durability becomes less important to me for a larger unit.  On days when I want the extra inputs I can plan accordingly to have a friendlier home for the hardware, or even a rack.

For the record, the audiobox usb (two channel) was disappointing as the inputs were always routed to the outputs, even with the "foldback" knob turned all the way down.  According to Presonus, this was supposed to be this way and couldn't be changed.  If you were trying to use your interface as your source material, this lead to some interesting system feedback...as your measurements were now routed back to your source.  So then I just used the headphone out of the laptop or pink on ipod as source material and had the presonus be input only.

What laptop are you using? Do you possible have a PCMCIA slot on your laptop so that you can add Firewire to you laptop? If so that is the way to go. I would recommend a Presonus or Moto interface.

[Doug Fowler]

What laptop are you using? Do you possible have a PCMCIA slot on your laptop so that you can add Firewire to you laptop? If so that is the way to go. I would recommend a Presonus or Moto interface.

This is what I do. Belkin card, Presonus interfaces for now.

I have a Firebox and a Firestudio project.

For Presonus, the 1394 chip in the card should be TI. It matters.

[ProSoundWeb Community]