The "Perfect" Interface Wish List

[ssj71]

Due to the ongoing and recent discussion about interfaces and their level of support, I'm curious about what features would be necessary on a fully supported interface to satisfy the itch for a pro-level interface, or in other words, what would the "perfect" linux audio interface be like? How many channels in and out? How many pres? Internal mixing and HW monitoring? DSP? What do you think?

If usb 2.0 class compliance with 2 channels in and stereo out with a very low noise floor are all we need, perhaps a simple fork of the sdr-widget http://www.yoyodyneconsulting.ca/pages/SDR-Widget.html could be the ticket (of course to really be viable, we'd need enough interest/buyers to make the complete device, not just a kit). Adding a few more channels wouldn't be very involved, but additional features such as on-board DSP, internal mixing, quality preamps, phantom power etc. all add complexity and development costs. It seems like a long shot right now, but perhaps an open-hardware, open-software solution could be made through a crowd-funding campaign and there's no reason it would have to be limited to Linux, but it would absolutely and completely support it.

[Shadow_7]

8 channel... 24bit / 96kHz... minimum. USB 2.0 or 3.0 and < $100. Not talking pro preamps as those will likely already exists for those that care externally and OS agnostic. And of course full duplex. The minimums of course. aka 7.1 surround. Perhaps < $1K if the ADC were truly pro quality. Class compliant of course. Is there a usb 3.x standard yet? Seems like it took several years after USB 2.x for a USB 2.x audio standard. And still lacking on USB 2.x audio interfaces, relatively.

My Delta 44 handles most needs for me at the moment. Aside from a desktop being a power hog and noise monster.

[male]

Due to the ongoing and recent discussion about interfaces and their level of support, I'm curious about what features would be necessary on a fully supported interface to satisfy the itch for a pro-level interface, or in other words, what would the "perfect" linux audio interface be like? How many channels in and out? How many pres? Internal mixing and HW monitoring? DSP? What do you think?

If usb 2.0 class compliance with 2 channels in and stereo out with a very low noise floor are all we need, perhaps a simple fork of the sdr-widget http://www.yoyodyneconsulting.ca/pages/SDR-Widget.html could be the ticket (of course to really be viable, we'd need enough interest/buyers to make the complete device, not just a kit). Adding a few more channels wouldn't be very involved, but additional features such as on-board DSP, internal mixing, quality preamps, phantom power etc. all add complexity and development costs. It seems like a long shot right now, but perhaps an open-hardware, open-software solution could be made through a crowd-funding campaign and there's no reason it would have to be limited to Linux, but it would absolutely and completely support it.

Since when is a 2 channel class compliant USB interface hard to come by? There are already plenty to choose from--I don't see the problem here.

[ssj71]

Touche. I think 2 channels isn't doing it for some. or perhaps the ADCs are to noisy in what's available.

[Shadow_7]

2 channels for input is hardly "perfect". Most bands have more than two players. And if you're like me where your TV capture card doesn't have the right audio connector, you're piping one of those outs to the VCR to split the audio input. Which is 2 channels gone, and that's just input. If you want to talk on skype, do you play with your hardware? Or use the 3rd+ channel? Never mind the output needs of most consumers. Audiophiles aren't going to have 2 channel systems (L + R). Or even 2.1 systems. And if you record events, you'll probably get a bit of hate mail if you don't do at least 5.1 on the audio track. Which implies that you have a 5.1 system to "check your work".

Just saying that the hardware that comes with your computer likely has 2 channels. If you have an interface, you probably have it because a) you need more than 2 channels, or b) you want better quality, or c) all of the above.

[tnovelli]

The Delta 44 sounds to me like one of the best interfaces out there. PCI means no USB latency/compatibility issues...as long as you use a desktop. Even then, PCI is fading away. Firewire's fading away too, and USB2-3 is a nightmare more or less.

I say just build a computer into the interface...
- something like a Raspi or Cubieboard
- a bit more CPU horsepower
- more I/O ports, especially SATA and USB
- at least 16 high-quality DACs built in (or on a daughterboard)

3rd parties could build preamps, cases, etc.

[Shadow_7]

The Delta 44 sounds to me like one of the best interfaces out there.

The Delta 44 I have and use. The Delta 66 is probably better as it has 6 outputs for true 5.1 surround sound. Or the 1010, which all use the same chipset and are all basically the same except for the number of channels, and of course the price. That being said, while the Delta 44 and family have worked well in alsa for a long time, things like pulseaudio only recently started recognizing it out of the box. I'm still using the work around on a lot of my installs. Pre-support and work around pulseaudio didn't recognize the device as an "input" device. But I'm happy to say that it's better now. Although the workaround isn't google-able now, which I find odd as it wasn't that long ago.

[steevc]

When I was looking for an interface a couple of years ago I looked into the various USB options, but ended up going for a used Delta 66. It's over 10 years old, but was a good price on ebay. I was also able to get the Omni i/o box, which does what you might need a mixer for whilst taking up less space. Now that I'm looking at building a new PC I need to make sure it has a PCI slot so I can keep the Delta. I only seem to need 2 inputs at a time, but I can leave things wired up and switch between them easily.

It's fairly amazing that M-Audio have not updated this range. You would think that there would be demand for a PCIe range these days. I'd consider a USB 2 or 3 interface if I was sure it all worked. I've not tried any. I tried to add details of any interfaces I read about to the wiki as there seemed to be a lack of information aimed at those wanting to do recording.

I would think that 4 inputs with a couple of pre-amps would be a minimum for any serious recording. If you are doing drums or whole bands then you probably need at least 8. I only use 2 outputs, but I guess those doing surround need more, but they could probably use a digital output to feed a dedicate surround system.

The Ardour suggested hardware list hasn't changed much over the years http://ardour.org/requirements.html. I guess that audio hardware doesn't need to change as fast as things like graphics. 24 bit/96kHz is enough for just about anyone.

Are DSPs such a big thing now that we can do so much in software?