I want a better recording interface

[Sascha Franck]

Something very solid and priced well? Motu M4. It's been rock solid for me, no issues, and even has the 5-pin midi ports if needed. Low latency for tracking, good mic preamps. Definitely recommended.

And fwiw, if you need dedicated monitoring control, the M6 has that as well, from all I know.

 

[HomespunEffects]

Any opinion on using the TotalMix FX that comes with the BabyFace? It does seem compelling.

 

[laxu]

Fwiw, that's something really winding me up. I once had an M-Audio FW410 interface that, even as a low cost unit, featured two headphone outs. Which was just excellent. No, you weren't able to feed them with different mixes, but at least you could do what I consider sort of typical, namely having another person recording with you. Or just practising (I'm in a double bass and guitar duo, we're usually rehearsing in the bassists appartment and always need to cable up some extra HP amp).
In case the additional HP out doesn't supply a separate mix, it should cost pretty much next to nothing. Sure, there's inexpensive HP amps, but they require additional cabling and power supplement, which certainly sucks more often than not.

Even separate headphone mix features start to be available in cheaper interfaces. I can mix any of the inputs as I please into either set of outputs on my Audient EVO 8.

The concession is that often the main outputs and the headphone outputs are tied together, so if the headphone output is connected then e.g your studio monitors don't work. I hate plugging and unplugging stuff, so to get around this I have line outputs 1/2 for my studio monitors, and use headphone out 2 (tied to line outputs 3/4) for my headphones. This way I can just mute the studio monitors when I want to use headphones, and vice versa, it just requires holding one button on the EVO 8.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

My beef with the RME stuff is the same as my beef with UA: The number of inputs/outputs is pretty mediocre until you get to the very expensive rack stuff. We are talking mid-grade Focusrite level I/O at roughly 3-5x the price.

And yet, compared to other companies, RME are significantly cheaper. I’m not really madly in love with RME or anything, but when I was looking for a new interface and monitoring solution, RME worked out to cost about half of the other comparable units I was looking at with a few added benefits. I just couldn’t really justify spending significantly more.

I will say there is a bit of a weird gap feature wise where the UCXII has a few benefits over even the UFXIII depending on what I/O you need.

And UA are probably more on the cheaper end of things. I wouldn’t judge brands based on what the cheapest stuff out there costs. It’s like calling every restaurant overly expensive because McDonalds and Subway etc call sell it cheaper. I don’t think RME are trying to compete with Focusrite/Audient etc. I see them more as a no-frills reliable professional solution.

 

[HomespunEffects]

How is that? I mean, yes, the interface latency is downright horrible, but once you're monitoring through the hardware (as in using it's internal sounds), the recorded tracks are pretty excellent IMO (regardless of whether you actually record the sounds you're monitoring with or the DI output for later abuse).

I’m not saying it does a bad job. It’s just that I always have to troubleshoot problems and my cheapie interface is a simple plug and play, no troubleshooting, it just works. The HX Stomp belongs on my pedalboard, not on my recording desk.

… If money is no objection, I'd go for an RME Babyface all day long. Lowest latency, most excellent drivers, all connectivity options you may need in a home studio environment, best support ever.

Money is a barrier but i think i should be able to get Babyface money together.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Any opinion on using the TotalMix FX that comes with the BabyFace? It does seem compelling.

It IS compelling when you start with it. But it's got everything you could possibly wish for. And in case you don't need its functionalities, you adjust things once and call it a day.

 

[laxu]

And yet, compared to other companies, RME are significantly cheaper. I’m not really madly in love with RME or anything, but when I was looking for a new interface and monitoring solution, RME worked out to cost about half of the other comparable units I was looking at with a few added benefits. I just couldn’t really justify spending significantly more.

I will say there is a bit of a weird gap feature wise where the UCXII has a few benefits over even the UFXIII depending on what I/O you need.

And UA are probably more on the cheaper end of things. I wouldn’t judge brands based on what the cheapest stuff out there costs. It’s like calling every restaurant overly expensive because McDonalds and Subway etc call sell it cheaper. I don’t think RME are trying to compete with Focusrite/Audient etc. I see them more as a no-frills reliable professional solution.

The point was that the feature set is similar to a cheaper audio interface, while the performance and pricing is that of a pro-grade one. What they cost compared to the really pricy stuff is its own discussion. Like are the Thunderbolt audio interfaces truly work 3-5K+ euros/dollars?

I brought up UA mainly because they are also expensive, and on their audio interface you also have to go for the rack stuff to get a do-it-all set of inputs and outputs.

I don't think many here are willing to put down several grand for an audio interface, when one costing a few hundred is already well in the realm of "good enough". It sucks that you have to spend a lot of money on this product category to get something truly better.

 

[Sedaxel]

For me, the worst thing about my EVO4 is the "plugging phones mutes your monitors" thing. And also that the volume is set for both monitor and phones together. So... you´re recording a guitarist with headphones for him (you don´t hear anything because monitors are muted and there´s no second phones output, but that´s normal in a 100€ interface). Then he says "hey, let me hear how it went in the mix", while he takes the phones off. You unplug the phones, and monitors start to sound inmediately at whatever the volume was set for the phones. So you tweak the volume (maybe you raise it a lot). Well, not ideal, but you can live with it. But then... the guy says, "let´s try another take" while puts the phones back in his head. You plug the phones in and hit record... and the guy screams because he´s received a high volume bomb because you forgot to decrease the volume before playing audio again.

That´s s--t. You find yourself plugging, unplugging, tweaking the volume wheel once and again. This is what makes me upgrade for my new home studio setup.

Other than that, the preamps are awesome, the design is great, and the latency is perfectly fine.

So, if I´m so happy with the audio quality (which is real, based on several measurements by Krause and analysis of signal degradation and dynamic range that are over YT), and the only gripe is i/o... the Audient id24 for 300€ seems to me unbeatable. I mean, the UCXII is 1300€... and honestly, I still don´t know exactly what means that "stability" thing... my EVO4 never has a single instability issue. Regarding latency, I seriously doubt the RME is more than a couple ms faster (is it?). I don´t think the preamps are 1000€ better in the RME, either.

I believe you, guys. There are a lot of wise mates here. It´s just that I don´t see what a pro would miss in an Audient id24.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

The point was that the feature set is similar to a cheaper audio interface, while the performance and pricing is that of a pro-grade one. What they cost compared to the really pricy stuff is its own discussion. Like are the Thunderbolt audio interfaces truly work 3-5K+ euros/dollars?

I brought up UA mainly because they are also expensive, and on their audio interface you also have to go for the rack stuff to get a do-it-all set of inputs and outputs.

I don't think many here are willing to put down several grand for an audio interface, when one costing a few hundred is already well in the realm of "good enough". It sucks that you have to spend a lot of money on this product category to get something truly better.

I’m not sure features has any real correlation to price. A 2 channel Lavry might set you back $10,000 even though it does much less than a £200 Behringer. For most people it’s probably not worth it to spend tons of converters but there’s plenty of situations where it’s money well spent. I know of some places with enormous rigs (and backup rigs) of Prism and I don’t think they’d have spent that kind of money unless it was worth it. For most people, I think £2000-3000 would cover most uses, unless you need to mix with lots of outboard and want nice conversion for that.

But yeah, I think RME is one of the better value for money options. It’s kind of no frills, but you get a lot for your money.

 

[la szum]

Another one of those darn "Just buy what I own thread."






That's all this place is.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Another one of those darn "Just buy what I own thread."

I actually almost never exactly recommend what I own. Simply because I am aware of all of its shortcomings. So my recommendations always have a "don't buy if..." part.

 

[Sedaxel]

And I recommend an interface I don´t own... the id24.

I just analyze the market based on several factors, and come to a conclusion about what I think it´s the best quality/price ratio. It´s a reasoning method, actually quite free from subjective feelings (I´ve seen lots of vids, sound tests, measurements...). After all the data I could review, I still don´t find what a super expensive interface does in a super-better way than an id24. Not saying it´s snake oil, just that I couldn´t find anywhere a single proof of actual important quality improvement (regarding sound quality, preamps or converters) of an RME (name it UA, Antelope or whatnot) over Audient or SSL.

I´m still watching. If someone comes with objective data of that, I´m more than willing to take a look and decide for myself if the price difference is worth it or not. Up to this day, and based on all the information I´ve seen, the massive price difference is absolutely not worth it. FOR ME.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Another one of those darn "Just buy what I own thread."






That's all this place is.

To be fair, OP asked. It would be hard for me to recommend something I haven't used personally. Honestly, more important than the interface is what's being used for monitoring. You can have the best conversion in the world but what good does it do if you don't trust what you're hearing? I remember incredible recordings made with first gen Digitech Mbox's because the user knew what they wanted and how to capture it, not to mention the music was great ().

 

[Sascha Franck]

Honestly, more important than the interface is what's being used for monitoring.

Very defenitely.
Pretty much all interfaces these days are capable of delivering professional results if a) your recording (aka input) chain is right, b) your monitoring is at least decent and c) you know what you're doing.
I would only ever look after improving the interface quality once all these are checked sufficiently. Until then, the featureset (I/Os, headphone outs, low latency, stable drivers, whatever) are much more important IMO.

 

[HomespunEffects]

And I recommend an interface I don´t own... the id24. …

The id24 has a 500k input impedance and isn’t in the running.

 

[HomespunEffects]

How is that? I mean, yes, the interface latency is downright horrible, but once you're monitoring through the hardware (as in using it's internal sounds), the recorded tracks are pretty excellent IMO (regardless of whether you actually record the sounds you're monitoring with or the DI output for later abuse). …

Oh, I did forget to mention that I’m not monitoring through the hardware. I’m using it into plugins in Logic.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Oh, I did forget to mention that I’m not monitoring through the hardware. I’m using it into plugins in Logic.

Then you possibly want low latency. In that case, I'd recommend the Motu M-series for a budget solution, RME for anything else.
Seriously, if you really don't need hardware monitoring, the M-series would possibly be just fine. All you'd have to do is to set Logics global recording offset compensation to -45 samples (in case you actually care about 1ms offset, which most people possibly can't clearly identify on playback - after all, it equals 30cm of a distance) and be done.
Roundtrip latency at 44.1 kHz and 32 samples buffersize (which I can work at all throughout on a Macbook Air M3) comes down to 3.5ms, which is most excellent in that price range (due to the mis-communication, Logic will tell you it's just 2.5ms, but that's wrong, your's truly measured it multiple times).

Latency-wise, this is night and day compared to the Stomp.

Fwiw, headphone out is loud and clear, and it's independent from the main output volume, which is what things should be like.
And it's working nicely with all sorts of mics, too.

 

[aivoryuk]

I've been very happy with my Antelope Zen Quadro interface (I also have the Axino mic)

I understand that other users have had issues with Antelope (devices not working after windows update etc.) and they don't have the greatest rep - but I haven't experienced any major issues (probably because my music laptop is not connected to the net) and any question I had where responded to promptly via customer service.

Sound quality is good and I like the fx bundled with it

 

[Sedaxel]

The id24 has a 500k input impedance and isn’t in the running.

Yeah, that´s kind of a letdown. I was in that boat too... I discarded gear for not having 1MOhm input impedance. That was until I realized it has no audible effect.

 

[HomespunEffects]

Yeah, that´s kind of a letdown. I was in that boat too... I discarded gear for not having 1MOhm input impedance. That was until I realized it has no audible effect.

It doesn’t affect your guitar volume taper using plugins or high end response?