I am in a transition period for my studio, and it seemed to me that you guys might have some wisdom that could help guide me to make a more informed decision.
My number one desire is for a system that has really low latency for tracking vocals and acoustic guitars, while running multiple VSTi’s without having to freeze tracks.
At present, I am back and forth between PC and Mac. I have a fairly decent PC (i7 3930k, 32Gb Ram, 512SSD). I also have a new Macbook Pro 15 Retina (2014) Loaded with 2.8 CPU, 1TB drive, 16GB ram, etc. It is basically the best Macbook Pro 2014 you can buy right now. I am considering the Mac Pro, but I want to get what is coming next, not the 2012 Mac Pro.
For current interfaces: Dual MR816CSX’s. I have a UA 4-710d Connected to the MR via ADAT. I also have a Avalon VT737sp and a ISAONE pre connected into the UA 4-710d so they come into my MR816 via the ADAT and bypass the preamps. I also have a Behringer X32Rack with USB interface, but not all that pleased with the sound for a primary audio interface.
I bought the MacBook Pro in January to explore running Logic Pro X, instead of Cubase Pro 8. While I kinda like Logic, I am struggling with the learning curve. I decided to stick with Cubase, but have had issues with it running on my MacBook…basically realtime CPU spikes. I rolled back to my PC, and decided to rebuild it. I put Windows 8.1 on it, only to find that Microsoft has crippled the support for FireWire, and now my MR816’s dont function stable on Windows 8.1. So, in frustration, I rebuilt my system back to Windows 7(64).
I thought perhaps I need to look at changing my Audio Interface, and perhaps get an even more powerful computer system. Looking at some posts on Steinberg forum, has lead me to look primarily at RME. I also like the idea of splitting out the functions of my gear. I have a few decent preamps, and dont really need to rely on the interface for mic pre’s. It seems to me, PCIe is the best way to go for the low latency that I am looking for. I am thinking HDSPe of some kind. Just not sure which way to go, and whether I should I run on Windows or Mac OS?