hey guys i'm looking into buying a new interface for my little studio, i have it down to the yamaha i88x, the tascam fw-1804, or the presonus firepod. while i love the firepod, i don't really need all the extra mic pre's but i do like the individual outs for every channel, but is it worth the extra expense? the tascam and yamaha seem pretty evenly matched in my book, and i can get the tascam off ebay for around the same as i can get the yamaha new ($400) does anyone has experience with these interfaces?

topher.

I'm planning on getting the firepod myself. Don't have any experience wtih any of them though.

The eight preamps is what I find appealing. Would like to be able to record myself and a drumset all at once. Hope I'm headed down the right road with that choice.

I have one, and it's great having 8 separate mic pres.

Seriously -- If you ever want to be able to do any large scale, live recording (never know...) it's gonna give you the best bang for your buck.

BTW -- Presonus just dropped the suggested retail on the FirePod to $499, which is only a little more than I paid for mine, used. I'd expect the ebay used prices to start dropping soon. In fact, I'm considering picking up another one, for 16 mic channels total.

Also -- The Presonus mic pres actually sound good! I've never heard the others mentioned, but the FirePod sounds good to me.

wow, 499? the price is what was keeping me away from the interface as the other two are 200 less than the firepod was, but at that price i don't know if i can pass it up. i don't need all the mic pres becuase i have enough in my board with direct outs to send to quarter inch ins, how are the preamps on the presonus?

i dont have any experience with the other models, but i'll say that i love my firepod.

you'll find uses for all of those inputs. :) i have a loopback recording channel and dedicated bass and guitar signal paths at the moment. and i dont have to undo all of this when i need to "download" the audio from my mini-disk recorded.

Go with a brand that has a reputation for good drivers. Firewire drivers tend to be flakey.

So I'd go with the Presonus out of those three. M-Audio makes great firewire stuff too.

I just got the i88X and I really like it
Haven´t had anyproblems with it on my mac powerbook.

Installation was easy, and the two mic pres on channel 1 and 2 sound excellent. Yamaha makes really great mixerboards, and i88x has the mic pres from the DM2000 in it.

Don´t know how it measures up to the others.

Another plus it the mlan thing, specially if you use other yamaha products, like Motif ES synth.

Peik

I have the Tascam FW-1804 and it has been serving me just fine for the last year. No latency problems, perfect drivers and you can always add another eight preamps through the ADAT lightpipe if you get something like the Behringer ADA8000.

emils, how are the mic pres on the tascam? my biggest concern with the yamaha was as it is a bit older, the drivers working with os x, but it seems like it should be fine, the two mic pres is fine from me, and i've heard good things about them from other sources, and i have another 4 in my soundcraft mixer to work with, so i think it might be pretty high in the running. they all seem pretty good interfaces, so who knows.

Tascam have been in the pro-audio bussines for a long time and when I got my interface I didn't think that it will disapoint me. The pre-amps are fine, they are not at Neve level but are perfect for home recording. I run vocals through my Rode NT2 straight in and I get no noise or anything. I don't have the acctual specs on hand but you can always try Tascam web site.

It would be good if you can try them all before you buy!

ill second the firepod. ive used one since they came out, ive done live gigs, drums, a full band in one take and ive nothing but praise for it.

I don't own a Firepod, but I've done a lot of research on them, and they seem to be a very stable, dependable piece of equipment, with pretty killer preamps!

+1 on the Firepod - very clean, decent mic pre's for the money, very reliable (=no drivers!)