Advice On Audio Interface Purchase

[Iron1]

Does anyone else find RME's lineup offputting because of the weird names? The Fireface UCX II

My brain read that name as “The Fireface You Suck It!” and it shall be named thusly from this day to the last.

 

[Sascha Franck]

How does one go about converting Toslink optical/S/PDIF connections to RCA S/PDIF connectors from a modeller?

There's pretty cheap adapters. And in that case, pretty much all of them will do, even most of those for 20 bucks, maybe less.

 

[RUfUS]

I'm perfectly aware of that - but you don't get great latency values with class compliant devices.

I guess it just comes down to money. You’ll need to spend a little more to get what you’re looking for.

 

[RUfUS]

I guess it just comes down to money. You’ll need to spend a little more to get what you’re looking for.

Also Black Lion Audio have mods for units, motu especially. https://www.blacklionaudio.com/product-category/modifications/motu/

 

[Bruce]

Wow! Thank you for all the input guys!

The Motu M4 looks nice, but I’m wondering if I’d be better off with something USB 3.0 capable, which is why I was looking at the Audient. The MOTU appears to be USB 2.0z Low latency is at the top of my list. Is USB 3.0 overrated for my application?

Threads like this for what you’re looking for you will hear absolutely every single interface under the sun for 300 bucks and there are a million of them that’ll fit your needs.

The difference between USB 2.0 and 3.0 is bandwidth. 2.0 has a bandwidth of 480 Mbps. So at 48K recording, you can record an awful lot of tracks without hitting the bandwidth limitation. USB3.0 is 5Gbps.

Since you are only anticipating recording 3 tracks at any given time, it is highly unlikely you will hit the ceiling on either medium. The poster that said latency is more about your computer and the drivers for the device is 100% correct. Higher bandwidth will not get you more speed, it’ll just get you more simultaneous tracks.

 

[Bruce]

If you want SPDIF I/O, which is convenient for using modelers with a single audio interface, then your options narrow a lot. I've kept my Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 2nd gen for so long because it feels difficult to find a suitable replacement without losing some features.

Out of MirrorProfiles' options, I'd go for the refurb Scarlett 8i6 3rd gen for a no-nonsense option with enough I/O to grow with your needs.


The problem with this is the modelers regardless of brand tend to have poor tools for managing their audio interface functionality, with somewhat fixed signal routing, are locked into a single sample rate and so on.

Correct. I wouldn’t use a modeler for anything other than maybe jamming along to YouTube or the most basic recording. Seems like half the bugs in the major players are on the interface end of the devices.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I guess it just comes down to money. You’ll need to spend a little more to get what you’re looking for.

Well, Motu delivers super low latencies for decent money. The only thing lacking is the SPDIF I/O.

 

[ᛗᛜᛜᚺDᛜᎶ Ꮤᛨᚳᚴ]

Is USB 3.0 overrated for my application?

Unless you are intending to record dozens of tracks simultaneously, then yes, USB 3.0 is more than you need. Keep in mind, when connecting devices with different USB versions, the data transfer rate will be limited by the slowest of the connected devices. This means that data transfer will occur at 12 Mbps when you connect a USB 2.0 device to a USB 1.1 device, even though the USB 2.0 device is capable of transferring data at 480 Mbps. And to expand on this, you are only as fast as the slowest link in the chain. So if you are trying to send 12 channels to a 5,400 RPM nearly full hard drive that has never been defragged, that hard drive is your weak link (not the USB).

16 bit, 44.1 KHz 1,411.2 Kbps 176.4 KB
16 bit, 48 KHz 1,536 Kbps 192 KB (USB 2.0 has bandwidth for ~320 simultaneous tracks at this bit rate/resolution)
24 bit, 48KHz 2,304 Kbps 288 KB
24 bit, 96KHz 4,608 Kbps 576 KB

USB 1.0/Low-Speed: 1.5 Megabits per second (Mbps)
USB 1.1/Full-Speed: 12 Mbps
USB 2.0/Hi-Speed: 480 Mbps
USB 3.0/SuperSpeed: 5 Gbps
USB 3.1/SuperSpeed: 10 Gbps

 

[texhex]

I’ll admit, I’m pretty dumb when it comes to recording. I like to keep it simple, which is why I typically use the interface built-into my modelers to record tracks to my DAW.

That said, it’s time to upgrade to something more capable. Here are my requirements:

• Ability to record three tracks (stereo signal from a modeler plus a DI) simultaneously, while monitoring other tracks.
• Mic pre with phantom power
• USB-C / USB 3.0
• Budget is up to $300

There are sooo many options in this price range. I’ve been looking at the Audient id4 MKII or id14 MKII. Not sure if it will do the job.

Anyone have any recommendations?

No USB-C / USB 3.0 but checks all your boxes and then some.

Behringer U-Phoria UMC1820 USB Audio Interface

USB 2.0 Audio Interface, 18-in/20-out, with 8 Microphone Preamps, ADAT I/O, S/PDIF I/O, MIDI I/O, and Dual Headphone Outputs - 24-bit/96kHz Resolution - Mac/PC

www.sweetwater.com

 

[LP59]

That’s what I’ve been finding in my search. I would love to find something in my budget with the footprint of the Audient id4 MKII with SPDIF.

Scarlett 8i6. $249 at Sweetwater.

 

[norminal]

Scarlett 8i6. $249 at Sweetwater.

I just saw that! That’s a pretty good price. Definitely a leading contender.

I guess it’s safe to say a Gen 4 is imminant?

 

[Bruce]

No USB-C / USB 3.0 but checks all your boxes and then some.

Behringer U-Phoria UMC1820 USB Audio Interface

USB 2.0 Audio Interface, 18-in/20-out, with 8 Microphone Preamps, ADAT I/O, S/PDIF I/O, MIDI I/O, and Dual Headphone Outputs - 24-bit/96kHz Resolution - Mac/PC

www.sweetwater.com

I have the smaller 69 dollar stereo one. Works as advertised.

 

[laxu]

You could as well get a used Babyface. Over here they go for around 300. Still excellent driver support.

They are pretty rare here and I don't really care for the design and I/O options, with cables poking out from every side.

 

[Sascha Franck]

and I don't really care for the design and I/O options, with cables poking out from every side.

I perfectly understand that. I was considering one, though, but the newer ones are too big regarding great mobility (rather expensive for what I need, too) and the Hi-Z input impedance of the old ones is at 470kOhm (no idea who told them to use that value...) and I don't feel like connecting a DI box as well. At home however, I think they're a pretty decent solution. Just hide all the nonsense.

 

[SKU]

Well, Motu delivers super low latencies for decent money. The only thing lacking is the SPDIF I/O.

The Mk5 Ultralite, the equivalent of the RME UCX, does have both optical and rca SPDIF. Also cheaper but I doubt its software matches TotalMix.

 

[mavrick102000]

OP was wanting to keep the price around 300 tops the MK5 is 2.5x that.

 

[laxu]

Yeah I might be interested in the Motu Mk5 too...if it had more mic preamps instead of a shitload of line ins and outs.

There's these odd gaps in audio interface features.

The budget end generally has 1-2 mic pres, which is sensible because that's enough for most. Ok, SPDIF and/or MIDI is also out since few use those, and you get a compact, cheaper unit. Makes sense.

Then you get to say the MOTU M6 which is 4 pres, but no instrument input up front and no SPDIF still. Price is about 2-3x the budget units.

The next step up tends to go straight to "you have a separate mic pre already, right?" like MOTU Mk5, RME Fireface UCX II etc until you get to the rack units which then have a gazillion of everything.

I looked at what Thomann sells and filtered with nothing more than "3-4 mic pres and SPDIF, under 1000 euros". The list is pretty sad:

• Presonus Studio 1810c
• ESI U168 XT (rack size)
• Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 3rd gen
• Focusrite Clarett 4+ Pre
• Arturia AudioFuse Studio

You'd think that the prosumer desktop unit market would have a few more good options than basically dominated by Focusrite. Out of those I'd probably get the Clarett 4+, but I'm hoping that Focusrite would make a bigger 4th gen Scarlett model with the auto gain and whatnot features.

 

[mavrick102000]

I'm guessing the Gen4 Scarlett at least in the 8i6 model or it's replacement may be coming relatively soon. Based upon the current sale for the next 2 weeks.

I'd still wait a bit after they release the gen4 to make sure there are no driver/software bugs. Mac is usually less likely, but it can happen.

 

[laxu]

Watched Julian Krause's review of the Audient EVO 4 and the latency numbers look better than in that German review of the EVO 8. So the EVO 8 might still be on the table.

Buffer size	Round-trip latency 48 KHz	RTL 96 KHz
32	4.9	4.1
64	5.5	4.5
128	9.8	5.1

That's only about 1.7-3.3 ms more @ 48 KHz than what he got in his RME Babyface Pro FS review. So maybe the German site was using an older driver or class compliant drivers, as Julian's numbers about match what Audient advertises on their specifications.

One plus or minus of the EVO series seems to be that plugging in headphones will mute the outputs in the back. A lot of other audio interface also do this "headphones 1 = out 1/2, HP 2 = out 3/4" type deal but not the muting part. Since I tend to switch between monitors and headphones, I'd probably just use HP 2 for headphones.

 

[mavrick102000]

Watched Julian Krause's review of the Audient EVO 4 and the latency numbers look better than in that German review of the EVO 8. So the EVO 8 might still be on the table.

Buffer size	Round-trip latency 48 KHz	RTL 96 KHz
32	4.9	4.1
64	5.5	4.5
128	9.8	5.1

That's only about 1.7-3.3 ms more @ 48 KHz than what he got in his RME Babyface Pro FS review. So maybe the German site was using an older driver or class compliant drivers, as Julian's numbers about match what Audient advertises on their specifications.

One plus or minus of the EVO series seems to be that plugging in headphones will mute the outputs in the back. A lot of other audio interface also do this "headphones 1 = out 1/2, HP 2 = out 3/4" type deal but not the muting part. Since I tend to switch between monitors and headphones, I'd probably just use HP 2 for headphones.

Different models can have different drivers and different latency numbers.

I think I recall Julian's review of the native 1 & 2 and that was demonstrated in his latency testing. The "higher-end" or model with more features doesn't always fare as well on latency tests as with the NI Kontrol Interfaces.