RME - Simply The Best 

I misstated that the UFX+ has 8 mic preamps, I meant to say 12 I/O to record drums. My old Carbon had 8 Mic Pre’s. The UFX+ has 4 mic plus 8 analog in’s on the back. My bad🤦‍♂️

I’m so incredibly excited to finally have a UFX III coming my way this week after struggling with Antelope’s and Audient’s terrible drivers and reliability for years.

I read the title...No lies have been detected. ✅👍

Babyface Pro FS, diamond 💎 in da rough, built like a tank. The best indeed.

I have the Babyface and ucxii they are easily the best "second choice" decision I've made. I just got back into making music after taking care of my mother with Alzheimer's for 7 years and falling out of the loop... My first instinct was to get the Apollo like everyone else but it wasn't compatible with my m1 Mac. The sale rep recommended RME and I couldn't have made a better second choice. They even have free digicheck metering software. 👌👌👌👌

thanks for the video. i keep coming across people saying they love RME but it really does stand out when someone makes a video this long fishing for them. I know what brand the interface i’m upgrading to is, just need to figure out which one. Cheers!

RME user since 2006. I recorded a live show in 2017 in Toulouse, France, with my MacBook Pro Mid-2012 connected to a Midas console through a RME MADIface USB. 64 channels at 48 kHz in Reaper for a 2h show. A piece of cake ! 😍

My 12 year old RME 800 FF is still the Core of my studio, never ever let me down.

200% agree with the title… now I’m going to watch the video 😊

One additional piece of information regarding RME USB implementations: it isn’t just the custom drivers. RME also uses bespoke FPGA controller chips for USB communication within the interface. This facilitates the extremely tight / stable USB integration RME is famous for.

Hi Barry, the point is value for money: i bought an RME HDSPe AIO card back in 2011for my Windows rig. Today it is running in Thunderbolt-case for my Mac. Nearly 12 years old - but I get current drivers with no issues. TotalMix is the same for each device - very nice! Even new devices like the ARC USB are supporting old cards without any issues. But even more important is the support of RME: Within the last couple of month, Big Sur "forgots" trusted drivers and nothing was running. A short request at the RME-forum and within a day Matthias Carstens (Head of RME) explained how to fix that on the OS level. Tried it - the computer is running again. Clearly not a driver but an OS issue - but they helped me knowing, that the last time I threw money at them were a decade ago... My only issue is that I have no good reason to buy a new toy, since the old one just works... 🙂

RME Driver Stability. I once, out of curiosity, ran my UFX serially through TWO super cheap Dongles that were connected one to the other for midi, iLock and other stuff.... And The RME was frikking ROCK SOLID...with no cracks or stutters....flawlessly. I was blown away. 🤯🤯

The drivers are exceptional. Even my first generation BabyFace works flawlessly, a buffer of 16. Simply a technical wonder.

Yes They Are!! i am Still Using the Fireface 802 from 2016 and i never had any problems with driver issues because they are the best at supporting and releasing Good Drivers.

Welcome to the club. RME gang I’ve got a Babyface Pro FS it’s all I need.

I bought the MADIface Pro for my broadcast setup and I can't even begin to explain how reliable the interface is! I have hot swapped from Mac to PC with not a single hiccup, which is quite the technological achievement I might say! Not to mention it sounds amazing, and having the ability to use optical MADI for 128 channels in this form factor is insane! I love this device.

This video is spot on. I've owned many interfaces over the years (Avid, M-Audio, Focusrite, Apogee and Audient) and finally bought my first RME two years ago. Other interfaces may have more bells, whistles and comprehensive feature sets, but as everyone says, it's about the drivers. I plugged my Babyface Pro FS in, and in a technical sense, all but forgot about it. The damn thing is rock solid. No issues over USB. Just good clean conversion and operation. I share your consternation with Total Mix. It can be confusing to wrap your head around, but once you do, you'll ask yourself how you lived without it. I'm already looking at upgrading to a UCX II and dedicating my Babyface Pro to my laptop.

I’ve owned a Fireface UFX since about 2010. 100% glitch free (no exaggeration) with USB 2. Unbelievable right ? Believe it ! In addition I now own an Apollo Twin Duo.. kind of forced into it because of my L22 Sphere mic. Honestly, RME sounds smoother and more transparent on input (a/d conversion) or on output. Apollo sounds slightly hyped in the low-mids and not as smooth on the top end. Don’t get me wrong, it still sounds good and the plugins are second to none. Anyway, just my two cents.

I have an RME UFX since ten years, i hooked it up ten years ago and never had to worry about anything. I was so imoeessed with reliability and totalmix routing and flexibility that i bought an RME UC for my home setup. Those interfaces are are the most reliable piece of gear i own and by far the best interfaces i worked on. They just works, no matter the hardware or OS…they work, and that’s crucial to my business

Just got an RME UCX II a few months back, blown away by its quality and conversion.

I use and Love Audient Audio Interface. Their drivers are rock solid. And sound is super CLEAN

I also like their forum. Always a good prompt response from them and other users if I ever run into any issues. 👍

I love your videos. Real, Honest and sincere. Not people doing reviews of products they have not actually used.

I love all of this. I've had a Fireface UFX (the previous version) in my home drum studio for the last 6-7 years, and I couldn't be happier with it. In fact, I just added a UCX II to my system for more high-quality inputs! The setup is incredible. One more RME user right here who can't find one bad thing to say. Thanks!

After 10 years of using my RME UFX, which has been ultra reliable and glitch free, I finally started having an issue with the unit dropping out and generating noise. A google search revealed it was a problem with the caps in the power supply. $15 in parts and a half hour of labor later and it’s back up. I have been absolutely pleased with this unit. Never even had so much as a crash, couldn’t say the same for my previous interface which would need constant reboots.

I've used RME interfaces on Windows for the last 17 years. Rock solid, never any issues and low latency for VST instruments. Started with the Fireface 800 and now use the 802. And Total Mix isn't really that hard, once you get the hang of it.

I've been using my Fireface 802 since 2015. Not a single error in 9 years. And as you said, preamps are transparent, and conversion is pristine! Everything sounds so open. I love it

Just thought I would add a comment as a long time RME user. I agree with your endorsement of RME products as being the most reliable and robust in the industry. I have been using their products ever since the Fireface 400! I presently use an UFX+ as you do and have been for 3 to 4 years. However, my unit failed a couple of months ago. My dealer couldn't believe it either as it was one of the first units he had ever heard of with a hardware issue. The power supply failed. I was able to get it repaired here in the US at a reasonable cost, about 10% the cost of a new unit and the turnaround time was within a couple of weeks. As a retired electronics engineer, heat is the enemy of any integrated electronics system. What I have decided to do and what I would recommend is that, if your unit is installed in a mixing desk or rack, to add some type of cooling fan near the unit. Nothing sophisticated but as simple as a muffin fan mounted near the unit so there is some air circulation around it so you don't have any heat buildup that can't be dissipated normally. Maybe even some spacing between pieces of hardware would be sufficient but I preferred to have the active air flow around my unit which is now cool to the touch! Finally I agree with you regarding TotalMix. It is a great piece of software but RME could do a better job of explaining its functions. Do you know that you can host VST plugins inside TotalMix? There is a video on RU-vid but again its a bit of a struggle to get through. I thought it would be interesting of hosting one of the headphone correction programs inside TotalMix without modifying your DAW mix to get the same effect. Happy mixing !!!

*INDEED!!!!! RME, THERE IS NOTHING BETTER.... BEST IN ALL CLASSES AND HAVE BEN FOR DECADES!*

What a timing! I have just unboxed my Fireface 802 and I literally just opened up RU-vid in order to test / mess around with Totalmix for the first time and your video jumped into my face!

When I was a beginner I used to use a lot of RME stuff including interface, preamps and converter. But since the very moment I heard AD/DA of Prism Sound and Lynx I sold literally all my RME stuff. It took me a while to figure out that RME’s sound isn’t my favorite.

UFX+ has 4 Mic Preamps + 8 Line Ins. Still the best USB Interface I am aware of. (2x Adat IO, Madi, Wordclock, Durec, Totalmix including EQ, Compression, Reverb/ Delay under 0,5ms latency which feels analog in the headphones when tracking vocals). Keep working on totalmix. For me it has become the most logical mixer out of all interfaces. It took me a bit, but I now use pretty much every feature of it and couldn't be happier.

Hell yeah!!! I knew the RME fanboy video was coming at some point. Theyre just that damn good. Barry, i think if youve spent many years in other workflows, particularly analog workflows, Totalmix has a larger learning curve. Im a tad younger (37) and never worked in analog. I went straight from an Mobs 2 to my Fireface UFX gen 1 back in 2012 and Totalmix made perfect sense to me from day 1. I even tracked a full band while running FOH from Totalmix, with 6 different IEM sends and a separate send for an aux fed sub with crossovers on the Totalmix outputs all while tracking via DuRec at the same time. There is no other interface that can do that. And it did it with ZERO errors, issues, interruptions or blips. I spent 6 years with first gen UFX, then went to Apollo for 2 years and that entire time i was just desperately missing TotalMix. Ive now been back with RME since Jan 2022, UCX II and boy was that an upgrade in conversion from Apollo Twin X. Hugely! Im so glad to hear the latest RME conversion is basically on par with Carbon. I suspected it was but happy to hear your confirmation. Great video! Cheers!!!

I have the same setup.. UFX+ and Pulse via MADI. You're right about TotalMix. For me, I use a console for my hybrid setup and have Total Mix setup to match the channels on my console In/Out. I then have all of my outboard gear through a patchbay which is patched into the Inserts on the console. Works extremely well. My previous interfaces were the UAD X4 Quad and a X8. This RME setup not only sounds slightly better, the flexibility and price for expansion makes the ROI great. The new Pulse 32 channel sure is interesting. I would have gotten that if it was available at the time. While my console is 48ch, I really only use around 32 typically. Anyway, I left your channel a while back and decided to return. Pretty cool to see you're now on my same platform (sans DAW). Take care.

Hi Barry, great stuff, I've always shouted it out for RME because they are that good in every aspect!! Loved it man!!!!!!!!

Still using Fireface 800 and still working solid. Those drivers alone are just worth it. Then they give you total mix! we aint talking about the hardware yet.

MOTU has always made great drivers too and they write them in-house. They supported some of their old legacy interfaces for 17 consecutive years. They did have some compatibility issues with some USB and Firewire controllers. The majority of people that had issues were simply using the built in firewire port on their motherboard. All those issues resolved if you bought an Intel firewire 400 card. The modern AVB interfaces don't have any issues that works flawlessly on both Mac and Windows. I had my 828ES for close to 3 years now. Not a single issue on Windows 10.The latency is extremely low even with just USB. I'm how ever going to switch to thunderbolt as I'm rebuilding a new PC. There is an issue with many motherboards out there that has USB port ground noises causing pulse or buzzing noises that travels through the USB line into your interface. I bough one of those USB isolator dongles but that didn't help which is why I'm switching to Thunderbolt. My 828ES has 3 different interface connections as you can connect it USB, Thunderbolt or AVB* (Mac Only). Lynx and Halo Metric also support their drivers long term like RME and MOTU. Lynx also has fantastic drivers. They still support their original Aroura. I much rather buy an Aurora n for the price as a Firewire face UFX II as you are getting mastering grade converters. I only had experience with using the original Aurora 16 which I loved the conversion. My Studio Partner still using it still to this day after buying it 10 years ago.

Have RME Fireface 800 since 2007. Still working, drivers till updatable. RME built quality is the greatest. I think of buying me some babyface pro. You cannot go wrong with RME.

I also have the RME UFX+ and added the Ferrofish A32 with MADI to integrate my analogue gear. But I'm also a longterm user of RME audio interfaces since more than 15 years and I can confirm that I didn't have one single issue or dropouts or any other problem in any DAW I used. The drivers are stable as a rock, no glitch at all. And even that I use all 40 analog IO (RME & Ferrofish) I know I can extend the analogue setup with additional 16 IO via the 2 ADAT connections. I don't use the internal DSP because usually the latency of the plugins are sufficient enough to track live in a DAW. Total Mix is another USP since you get a patch bay (even for your hardware) for free and this is only one use case.

I've used RME interfaces for around 20 years, and I've used just two of their devices in that time. The Digi-96 with an ADI-2 converter, and for the past 12+ years the Fireface UC. One thing went bad, but not in the actual units. The power brick. Support in the forum recommended I try a power source with 12V/2A. Anything decent works. A replacement unit costs ~30 Euros here, so it was a very easy fix after I'd tested with a power brick I use for hooking up various external harddrives that could be set to 12V and had the ampage. The drivers are still up to date. M1 compatibility and all for those Mac users. I love this thing. They're the top of the line of reliability. I've been mixing shows for ten years with this.

Sir , you are really excellent in speaking as well as knowledge. I am thankful to you for such video.

I'm glad to hear someone else admit he was baffled by TotalMix.

Hi Barry, I enjoy listening to you talk about gear and studio stuff. When I got serious about putting together a serious home studio the first thing I researched was a high end audio interface. I didn't want the UA Apollo because I already had lots of plugins that I liked and was used to using. My search lead me to a company that I had not heard of before, RME. The more research I did the more I obsessed over the RME company. RME is used in some of the best professional & home studios around the world. I pulled the plug on a RME Fireface 802 that I got a great deal for on Reverb. It was my first Reverb purchase ever and its been a year and half later and I still love this interface. The UFX + is a step up from the 802 but I did not need the extra I/O and I knew I would be using external preamps anyway. I bought the Ferrofish Pulse 16 and hooked it up via ADAT. Now I have 16 channels going out of the Ferrofish into a dangerous music summing box, going out of the summing box into my 2bus chain which includes a Dangerous Music BAX EQ>Warm Audio Bus Compressor> SSL Fusion and finally my latest splurge a Manley Massive Passive going into my Handsome Audio Zulu Tape emulator back into the RME 802 AD. I plan on adding an AD Converter, either Rupert Neve or Dangerous Music AD. Right now I prefer the RME AD converter to the Ferrofish. I would also like to upgrade my Warm Audio bus compressor to the RND MBC. Then Ill be done I promise! My wife is less than pleased with what she calls a "money hole" but I knew all along that it was possible to get a "professional" sound at home. Most of my gear seems to be holding its value pretty well on the used market. I treated my room with GIK Acoustics panels, bass traps, and diffusers. It took about 7 months for them to send everything but other than that I am pleased with the treatment. Yes, music production can be very expensive but Ive bought my gear one piece at a time and sometimes I take advantage of the payment plans that Sweetwater and Affirm offer. I have a 9 to 5, and I also produce and mix for clients on the side. The goal is to do music full time. Again, I appreciate all of the great information you provide. Your channel is a huge value to music makers and gear addicts out here.

RME Total Mix is really simple and logical🤷🏼‍♂️

I hopped on the RME bandwagon about 7 months ago. I purchased the Fireface UCXII for my home project studio. I have paired it with my Focusrite Clarette+ 8 pre. I use the Clarett+ for drums with the exception of kick in, kick out and snare up. It makes for a great combination for me. I am amazed at the difference in quality and clarity of sound between the UCXII and my previous Clarett+ 4 pre. All you have to do is listen to a headphone mix on the RME and you will hear the difference. I am with you on Total Mix. It is complicated, but once you are setup, it can do so much. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving.

Bought a ufx II because of your videos and it’s levels above my apollo twin. Thanks for the information and I agree with the total mix 😂 I was lost for a few minutes figuring out how to get headphone volume and RU-vid didn’t help at all lol

Absolutely with you on the future of Ethernet audio.

I'm an engineer, I just read the specifications and then buy. Most of the time it's way beyond my budget what I want to buy, I'm also a perfectionist. So, I ended up with the RME 12mic. An ear opener so to say, for the first time ever I've heard the differences in microphones so clearly. Beyerdynamic DT880 and my ears and now with the RME 12mic plus triple Austrian Audio OC818's, unbeatable combination to record music, it's all you'll ever need! Live performance and PA, just hook up and it's done. Best buy ever! So yes, RME - Simply The Best.

Traded up from a Focusrite Clarret to an RME UFXII. Still working on Total mix, it's quite a powerful system.

Been using rme for years and I will never change tbh

RME Digiface Dante and Babyface Pro here. Everything you laud in your video is spot on. Latency on my Digiface (USB) is on par with the PCIeR card I used for Dante connectivity previously. RME rocks.👍

Thank you for all the videos on interfaces. This one in particular convinced me. I've just set up my new UCX II and I'm loving it!

Subscribed! 😅 Primarily because this is truly cornbread lingo.

Hey Barry, it was a pleasure talking with you a few weeks ago! Love the videos!

Thanks!

RME is the Best!.. I bought my UFX (the first edition) in 2013. Worked flawless with my PC. Then I bought a MacbookPro in 2014. Thats when nobodies drivers worked with the new Mac's ( I think it had to do with rosetta being introduced or something like that). I was about to head on tour RME and Motu were the only companies that seemed to have figured out the driver for Mac. The macbook pro came in a week into tour I installed all my stuff on the road and it worked flawlessly. Also USB is the truth. Got another new MBP recentlly. Got a little USB C to USB adaptor and I was off to the races. I can say without a doubt that this piece of gear is still the best studio purchase I have made. Oh and the flexibillity to do what ever you want in TOTAL MIX has come clutch on random shows, rehearsals where I needed to dial up Headphone mixes. not to mention routing any of the outputs to also be used as mixes if needed! I completely understand Barry's Comment on how complicated it is. It is much different if you are coming from other interfaces Mix consoles. I have the oposite problem. After being spoiled with TOTAL MIX it was challenging learning UAD'd Console as was more analogue console oriented. Spent a long time wondering why I couldn't just do what ever I wanted like in TOTAL MIX haha. I currently use an apollo rack via adat and RME as my main interface.

Live audio world has been using madi and Dante for years now. That's what is and will be in my studio. Reliability is the most important.

You can still get drivers for current OS's for RME Multifacete, which came out around 2001. Quite the feat!! I've been using RME product since then and they are absolutely incredible.

Coming from a Pro Tools TDM system from PT 4 to 6 (mix cards, 888s etc), then to Focusrite, I was almost ready to pull the trigger on Audient, but after doing MUCH research I am finally, also joining the RME ecosystem. Still using Pro Tools, which sometimes feels like an abusive relationship.

Motu is also a king in their own price range... Still have an Ultra lite Mk3 FireWire... That thing still sounds great works flawlessly and has very low latency

After dealing with some horrible customer service from Audient (gave me the run around for almost a year after the a/d chip in my asp800 went bad) I found a used RME Octamic D for $800 to connect to my motu 8pre es so I can gave 16 mic channels The rme preamps are night and day and compliment my motu interface.

Agreed, I have the 2 M-1610 Pro’s for conversion, those connected to the Digiface AVB and that to my PC via USB. The conversion quality is stellar and the configuration is extensible via AVB, MADI, and ADAT.

had 4 rme units, prism tops it and solid on windows, solid focused sound

Happy Fireface UFX+ user here!!

Well said about total mix needing to be simplified or explained in a simpler manner. This video is right on time as I’m shopping for my 2nd RME interface in updating my studio.

In part because of this, I upgraded to UFX III from my Apollo. I also got the Dante Digiface. Flexibility is unparalleled. Digiface converts MADI to Dante and Vice Versa so you can integrate with the UFX MADI coax inputs. What an incredible setup this is. THANKS!!

Hey Barry. New to your channel. Great stuff! RME user for 14 years, best decision in my life. When i was setting up my (then) new studio in 2010, USB wasn't an option, firewire and TB was not very PC friendly. I opted for the HDSPe AES. It has served me well so far. Never had major issues, drivers stull being updated. However, I feel it's time for an upgrade. I'm reliant of external convertors right now. My Apogee Rosetta is failing. I'm considering a USB solution. UFX definitely checks all the boxes for me.

Been using an RME Fireface UCX for 11 years+ -- still working FLAWLESSLY. Just ordered an RME Fireface UCX II --which is for the jam space as you can do direct to USB recording and run TotalMix on an iPad . . . and you're right about TotalMix -- powerful but I've been trying to train myself on it for a while.

I've been rockin the original Babyface for 10+ years and it has never faltered once... I'm considering an RME upgrade soon though for more i o 's.

you have great taste my 2 ufx and 800 are a fantastic trio no stutter ever and with the total mix software lets just say its just awesome...

I know a small fraction about sound engineering as you do, but still somehow ended up in the Cubase/RME system. Kindred spirits. My next step is looking into 500 series lunchbox saw your vid on that too. Keep up the amazing work.

*My live SAC RIG | SOFTWARE AUDIO CONSOLE, is 72in/72out, we mix stadiums, arenas, festivals and use (x3) RME DIGIFACE adat with Behringer ADA8200 in WINDOWS 7 on a DELL running 24bit@48k! Never crashes, sound ANALOG SILK SMOOTH, tons of headroom and with SAC we run up to 25 full mixers LIVE all in the box and still have 12 channels of SPDIF from the DIGIFACE units to use!* .....dig this I purchased those RME digifaces for a total of $750 USED, these units are 18 years old

I feel the same way about my Apogee Symphony. Plug it in to my Mac Pro and it just works. My humble opinion is that the best audio interface is the one you already have. If you know what it sounds like (along with the speakers or headphones) then you can put out a good recording/mix. As long as you have the I/O you need, then you are set. I think that getting into the RME/Apogee/Prism/Avid world, the biggest thing is preference. You can't go wrong with any of the aforementioned, as long as you can afford them and you are willing to pay for the I/O that you need. As you often say, "most people don't need that kind of I/O". Just write a good song and mix it as best you can. The listener isn't going to notice that you have the best (or worse) audio interface, they will like your song or they won't.

been using the HDSPe AIO for over 10 years, still works perfectly.

As a user of the RME Digi9652, hdsp9652, hdspe raydat , hdspe AIO & Babyface, I'll never go with another brand for Audio IO. They are the best by far. ROCK SOLID. They are worth the extra cost if you hate latency and high CPU overhead.

Couldn't agree more, just got the ADI-2 PRO FS R, I talk about it on my channels new video. All the best Barry 🙂

I have an RME Babyface fs , best interface than I’ve ever had.

TotalMix tutorials === YES PLEASE !!

Hi Barry. I absolutely LOVE your channel and your personality. How can I get to hear your work , could you pls post we all your fans can support your music? Thank you j I’m nice again for a wonderful channel and extremely Informative content 🙏

You're allright! RME is the best! Love my Octamic

I have had a apollo twin usb for about 2yrs now and it has been flawless no issues now with the dsp i can only run about 10 plugins before i run out of dsp but i dont use a lot of of uad outside my vocal chain but starting to use more plugins on projects i have the subscription base also now.

I had different Audio Interfaces from different companies and price ranges. All of them gone into the garbage because after 2 or 4 years the drivers were not supported anymore or they destroyed the controller of different macs. Except RME. In the End the RME devices are less expensive because I am able to use them for a long time.

I’m on the wait list for a UCX II. Installed TotalMix to play around with it before my hardware arrives. Coming from Metric Halo land, which is amazing by the way, TotalMix seems so logical and intuitive. Everything just makes sense once you get a handle on it. I can’t understand why people think it’s confusing. Inputs top row, software middle, outputs bottom row, route as required.

I jumped ship on Digidesign/Avid in 2002. I also went to Nuendo at that time. I will never use anything other than RME interfaces. Their rock solid drivers have NEVER caused me a single issue in 20 years. I use their MADI pcie cards and their Digiface Dante USB interfaces. Nothing is better at any price in my opinion.

I’m a huge RME fan mostly as they sound so great, and converters have been excellent. I’ve had the FF800, and upgraded to UFXii - however I’ve had both fail at the connection end of the unit. Was tempted to change to a new unit, but I’m invested now, so a £300 repair seemed warranted; although still very frustrating. FF800 was 6 years old, UFXii was 19 months old. No explanation - just broke.

We just ordered our first RME interface and its very exciting to see how it works...

*#timepoint** **18:05** JEFF over at SYNTAX, north American support for RME - class act! Its been over 15 years and the man never lets you down!*

Still running my RME 9652 after 20 years! The only issue I had was finding a modern motherboard with PCI gen 1. If this thing EVER dies I absolutlely going to buy another RME interface.

What else would expect from the master race!

Recently upgraded from Focusrite Saffire products to an RME Fireface UCX II. Giant leap forward. Latency is about 40% faster in identical conditions.

I am still using my hdsp. put it in my computer 12 years ago and forgot about it.

I had an rme ufx 1 and it was nothing but trouble. Stopped working altogether after a while. Bought motu never had a problem since. Total mix is pretty cool though

I got the RME Fireface UCX II this year for my online teaching and recording rig and it’s the best decision I made!

RME user here! I use the RME ADI-2 Pro FS R, RME Digiface and the Rupert Neve Designs MBC for my mastering chain and never an issue at all. All of my tracking is through (2) Apogee Sympony MKII's (64 I/O) and never an issue with these units either.

After flip flopping over the years between different interfaces I have come back to the Presonus Studiolive Series III mixer. My goal was to have 24 channels for tracking a band and have a few left over for USB returns for DAW, computer and amp sim playback. To get the same number of inputs and keep it all within the RME family I would have to spend 3x the amount of money and for what I do at this time in my career my clients don't care how much money I have tied up in gear. I am getting great results with my humble setup. Another factor in my decision was the hands on faders and processing on every channel and it being able to control the SL from an iPad incase I was recording drums and wanted to adjust mic pre gain remotely. As much as I liked RME it wasn't worth the extra cost.

Enjoyed this review!!! When my Apogee crashes, RME is it, most likely the Babyface

I ran a Fireface 800 for quite a long time. I can attest that they make amazing drivers. I'm not a huge fan of their Totalmix control panel though, the UX is somewhat messy compared to let's say UAD's Console. I switched to an Apollo X4 when I upgraded my Mac with Thunderbolt but I must admit I kind of miss my RME. I managed to get a thousand bucks for my 10 years old Fireface 800. It's true that they don't lose as much value as the rest. Good stuff.

Thank you Barry !

Better than all the rest

I totally agree regarding understanding how Totalmix works. I have had the Fireface UCX since 2013 (10 years) I'm still learning how to do some things as the logic used not what most people would use. However, RME is the way to go if you want to sound like Hans Zimmer in your home studio. (Talent permitting 😉) The quality is transparent.