Can somebody please list the compatible audio interfaces. I am asking with regards to devices with 8 or more XLR inputs. Either a MOTU or M-Audio product. Anything below 8 XLRs is not worth my time.
I can recommend my Presonus Firepod (called FP10 these days). It has 8 XLR inputs and stereo SDIFF in/output. Best bang for the buck.
Its a well-supported firewire interface, wich I used to record a band with 0.7 MS Latency. That´s correct, not even a millisecond. Xrun-free for 90 minutes.
You can chain up to 3 firepods to get 24 In/Out.
Roald
From the unpublished FAQ:
What audio interfaces should I use with Ardour?
You can use any interface supported on your platform (Linux or OS X).
For PCI /PCIe/etc. cards to install inside a computer, we recommend:
- more than 26 channels
- RME MADI
- more than 12 channels
- RME HDSP
- 2-12 channels
- M-Audio Delta 1010
- 2-4 channels
- M-Audio Delta 44, 66 or 2496
For portable devices to use with laptops and other portable computing devices, we recommend:
- PCMCIA/CardBus/ExpressCard
- All RME Hammerfall IO Boxes (Multiface, Digiface, RPM) work with either the Cardbus or ExpressCard interface, but please check with your Cardbus chipset driver first. There's also the RME MADIface, a mobile MADI interface for the ExpressCard slot (up to 64 channels).
- Firewire devices
- Please visit FFADO to see what Firewire devices are currently supported on Linux.
- USB devices
- You'll be using a nasty little USB thing with support for just a couple of channels. Check the ALSA soundcard matrix to verify that specific devices are supported. Note that almost all USB1 audio interface are supported and that almost no USB2 audio interfaces are. You can thank the brain dead morons in the audio technology industry for this situation.
Please note that MOTU have consistently been aggressively anti-Linux when asked about the information needed to support their devices. Those MOTU devices that actually work on Linux do so only because of pain-staking reverse engineering, and most do not work. We recommend that you avoid this company's products, not because of their engineering quality, but because of their stubborn refusal to help us create drivers for their product. This stands in marked contrast to the cooperation offered by RME, M-Audio and many other companies.