High end audio interface

[sjzstudio]

I feel for you brother. It would be good if all the RME software, or free equivalent, was available for Linux.

If the matter should be handled the old fashioned way and we all send a Christmas card to the RME head office, where we hope for peace in the world and Linux support for kind children. There seem to be over 9000 of us registered on this forum.

[scott.thomason]

Another critical feature for linux is the ability to fully control the interface without the software. How many other brands have that? I know my Scarlett doesn't, it's just so popular that a 3rd party GUI was created for it by a member of this very forum.

Actually, you can control the Scarlett using Alsamixer right out of the box. You don't have to run Focusrite's software at all, nor even the new package you refer to (I forget the project name)...just plain ol' alsamixer. Is it ugly? Yes, but it works.

[RockMaster]

Another critical feature for linux is the ability to fully control the interface without the software. How many other brands have that? I know my Scarlett doesn't, it's just so popular that a 3rd party GUI was created for it by a member of this very forum.

Actually, you can control the Scarlett using Alsamixer right out of the box. You don't have to run Focusrite's software at all, nor even the new package you refer to (I forget the project name)...just plain ol' alsamixer. Is it ugly? Yes, but it works.

You mean you can do all the routing, switching Inst/Air/Pad in Alsamixer too?

[scott.thomason]

You mean you can do all the routing, switching Inst/Air/Pad in Alsamixer too?

Yes indeed.

[sjzstudio]

Sad.

I feel for you brother. It would be good if all the RME software, or free equivalent, was available for Linux. @Be. was working on something for the Babyface.



RME may or may not hear the voice of Linux in their forum. The fact is I don't think it will make any difference. I would estimate about 1% of RME users are registered on the forum, so even if all of them made a noise about Linux, the vast majority of users are still on Windows or Mac.

@Be seems to disappeared somewhere. At least he hasn't been heard from in many months. I hope he's okay. I had a spare FF 802 that I could have given to some reliable development team for driver/software development, but that time has already passed.

[RockMaster]

I pulled the trigger on RME Fireface UFX II. GuitarGuitar had only one in stock for £1800. I know that we can't use the TouchMix app, but after playing around with on device controls I found them sufficient. I really hated the lack of on device controls on my Scarlett 8i6, one of the main reasons I went with RME. I think TouchMix is more important for people who juggle many of IOs and rely a lot on the internal routing.

But there's an annoying problem with my unit - it wobbles on a flat surface. It's warped. Either fell through QC or experienced high temperature changes in transit. Something I didn't expect from a high end product like this. So now I'm gonna have to return it and buy elsewhere which will be at least £2000

[RockMaster]

I am quite sure, that RME is producing and assembling in China.
Of course I do not know for sure - how could I.
Its just a german dev team that is producing else where.
I think RME are having a good built quality and stable drivers and software - the sound is clear and professional but if compared to Apogee I would allways chose an Apogee audio interface or converter over a RME product.
The build quality of Apogee is even better, it appears to me that they are producing in the US and not in China and I think the sound quality is much "better" then RME.
They sound is warmer which is important for me - digital sound that is very crisp is somtimes too crunchy in my deaf ears.

Well it says "Made in Germany" on it. Do you think they're lying? Is there some law about that? In any case, that would be a massive hit to RME's reputation.

I've considered Apogee, but I didn't like their whole "modular" approach. My UFX II is just a shallow 19'' 1U unit - doesn't take up a lot of space on my desk and it has 12 on board analogue inputs - 4 mic jack/xlr combo pres and 8 balanced lines - more than enough for my home studio needs.

[sjzstudio]

I am quite sure, that RME is producing and assembling in China.

Screenshot 2022-10-23 at 13-25-00 products_fireface_ufx_ii_3b.jpg (JPEG-kuva 2500 × 258 kuvapistettä).png (135.88 KiB) Viewed 2721 times

The sound quality is also poor:
https://youtu.be/_pGMDE7Rja4

EDIT:
In reality, RME products are durable and of high quality. Their sound quality is sufficient for all imaginable needs of professional studio work. Anyone who claims otherwise either doesn't know what they're talking about or trolls for fun. The only thing you can hope for is full support for Linux.

[novalix]

When i hear people talking about the "warmth" of converters, i tend to get suspicious.

Would you please mind to take some of your precious time and carefully listen to this:

Making Records with Eric Valentine - Comparative Listening

[Impostor]

Well it says "Made in Germany" on it.

Could be all parts are made in China, and the only work done in Germany is some final assembly, by Chinese immigrants with screws and screwdrivers also imported from China.

Then it's still "Made in Germany".

[bluzee]

I can go to Costco and buy a container of pineapple that is labeled made in Canada. Clearly we can't grow pineapple here. The rules on country of origin labeling are a little bizarre.

Any electronic piece is going to have chips and parts manufactured all over the world. When companies take their production to China they decide on the level of quality and control. The Chinese factory will make you good stuff or crap. It's totally up to you.

The level of Covid shutdown in China has left a lot of companies rethinking sourcing everything from one place. I believe there are already a bunch of new chip plants under construction in USA and other countries.

[dillon]

I just want to add that I am a proud user of RME, using an original Multiface connected to their original pci interface card. The rest of my setup is pro workstation, my workflow involves multiple effects while recording live.

I chose them because I desire very low latency and at the time I was scouting interfaces they had the most suitable product. Hdspmixer is a very valuable patch for us linux producers because without it we would be lost. Sort of like nvidia where it was backwards engineered but provides a connection to hardware that can easily reduce latency to a professional standard. I’m grateful to the community. I haven’t used anything else for a long time because it simply just works. Is there a reason to upgrade to a thunder bolt connection? I do not have the discerning ear of an audiophile, and I cannot deduce any character induced by the Multiface, but much more so from the daw or preamp or mic or amp etc…

Anything that uses usb is strictly off limits for me because they all have the same latency limitations of the interface. In my research I’ve found that any RME product rivals the very best of thunderbolt, and my (now) ancient Multiface produces excellent results. That’s the point of linux, in my mind, to utilize hardware that may have been deprecated but nevertheless acceptable to a great degree…

[martibs]

I do not have the discerning ear of an audiophile, and I cannot deduce any character induced by the Multiface, but much more so from the daw or preamp or mic or amp etc…

Do you mean that you can tell a difference of an identical file played back from different DAWs? Or did I misunderstand?

[bluzee]

If you can't see a reason to upgrade there probably isn't one. I still have a PCI card in my machine that I love. One thing to consider though is that new motherboards with PCI slots are some kind of simulated PCI and may have higher latency than on older mobos with real PCI bridge. Probably not technically correct explanation but some thing to watch for. Your old mobo has limited cpu and memory options so if your projects get too big that may force an upgrade. I don't know about Thunderbolt but I would expect RME PCIe cards to be equally good as their older PCI ones.