Should I upgrade my audio interface?

[Whizzinby]

I’m tweaking my recording setup, and got to wondering if I should upgrade my audio interface as part of the facelift. I bought the Scarlett 2i2 a couple years ago because it was cheap and seemingly well regarded for the price. I was wondering if I should upgrade it, but honestly I have no idea how much the interface impacts the end results or if it’s even worth my time or money to replace. Was looking at some of the UA Apollo stuff which looks nice, but I’m not sure if it’s a tail chase scenario or not.

I defer to the wisdom of TGF.

 

[la szum]

Buy more stuff?

Yes. Always.

 

[gearJunkie]

Keep the Scarlett until it can't do something you need for your project.

 

[Whizzinby]

Buy more stuff?

Yes. Always.

Yeah, the only good thing is I’ve reached the stage of my gear journey where I realize I’m trying to address problems that might not actually exist.

And then I buy anyway.

Keep the Scarlett until it can't do something you need for your project.

Yeah, and I’m not even sure what I “need” from it other than getting my dork riffs into the daw. Moar better toanez? I have no idea if the interface has any meaningful impact tonally.

 

[Orvillain]

 

[Whizzinby]

I know who voted “Degenerate”

Let’s go! Which interface? lol

 

[la szum]

Since there are mic pres in an interface I have to assume that there are actual differences in outcome
depending on the quality of the mic pres and the interface in general. That's just my assumption, though.

 

[TravisG406]

How are you getting your Geetar tones?

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

RME Babyface Pro FS

 

[Iron1]

Get this one. I went from a 2i2 to this and couldn't be happier. Well, I guess I could be happier... but, ya know... #GASneverENDS

 

[TJontheRoad]

How are you using the interface? Are you tracking via the mic preamps? Are you playing guitar, bass, and/or keys through it? Are you or someone else singing? Are you tracking more than one thing at a time? Are you monitoring via headphones? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, an upgrade may be worth it. But, the level of improvement isn't equivalent one-on-one dollar-for dollar of what is spent. That is, if a $200 interface gets you 70% of optimum possible pro level quality, a $2,000 interface may only get you to 85%. After that, the big money is spent on mics, analog compressors and EQs to get that ultimate polished sound. Oh, and don't forget studio monitors and room treatments.

 

[laxu]

What are you looking to improve? The more versatile 2nd/3rd gen Focusrite Scarletts can be fairly cheap on the used market so you could just upgrade to one of those. I feel my 2nd gen 6i6 (3rd gen equivalent would be 8i6) has about every input/output I would ever need.

That said I've been thinking of upgrading mine - I'd like a bit better instrument input and headphone amp on it but I have had a really hard time finding a worthy successor. I would be interested in hearing about options.

I was considering the Arturia Audiofuse and Audiofuse Studio but both seem to have issues with the main encoder and the smaller model tends to get hot. Love the feature set tho.

To me the UA stuff is not worth it because UA's track record for software support is not great and the DSP stuff is increasingly becoming irrelevant as even UA themselves is moving towards a subscription model with their Spark package which can run a lot more instances of those plugins than the onboard DSP can. I also dislike the feature set on most UA audio interfaces - you have to put down a lot of money to get all the I/O you might need.

 

[Whizzinby]

What are you looking to improve? The more versatile 2nd/3rd gen Focusrite Scarletts can be fairly cheap on the used market so you could just upgrade to one of those. I feel my 2nd gen 6i6 (3rd gen equivalent would be 8i6) has about every input/output I would ever need.

That said I've been thinking of upgrading mine - I'd like a bit better instrument input and headphone amp on it but I have had a really hard time finding a worthy successor. I would be interested in hearing about options.

I was considering the Arturia Audiofuse and Audiofuse Studio but both seem to have issues with the main encoder and the smaller model tends to get hot. Love the feature set tho.

To me the UA stuff is not worth it because UA's track record for software support is not great and the DSP stuff is increasingly becoming irrelevant as even UA themselves is moving towards a subscription model with their Spark package which can run a lot more instances of those plugins than the onboard DSP can. I also dislike the feature set on most UA audio interfaces - you have to put down a lot of money to get all the I/O you might need.

I’d say somewhat similar to you, in a potentially better instrument input and headphone quality, but honestly I don’t know if there would be a notable improvement in either by upgrading.

I bought the 2i2 as a cheap entry point not really knowing if I’d end up recording much, and now that I’ve put a little more time and effort in there I’m just wondering if I should consider upgrading it. (And what, if anything, to expect of doing so)

 

[Rewolf]

I recently upgraded from a Solo to get more IO options. You get a lot of functionality for the price with an Audient EVO 16.

I didn’t think I would use it but just dedicating a digital In to the Helix has simplified my life loads as I am using the Helix USB to connect an iPad that feeds in GeoShred audio. I also have a keyboard permanently connected.

And for band writing sessions just give everyone a mic and you can do some production mixing to speed up the process of polishing the songs

If you are asking the question then you already know what you want. Generally the audio quantity won’t go up that much while using lower end devices, but the workflow can be massively improved.

 

[DrewJD82]

I still use a Scarlet Solo for all the vocals/acoustic stuff I record, I’m not even sure if it’s a 1st or 2nd generation one.

 

[Whizzinby]

I recently upgraded from a Solo to get more IO options. You get a lot of functionality for the price with an Audient EVO 16.

I didn’t think I would use it but just dedicating a digital In to the Helix has simplified my life loads as I am using the Helix USB to connect an iPad that feeds in GeoShred audio. I also have a keyboard permanently connected.

And for band writing sessions just give everyone a mic and you can do some production mixing to speed up the process of polishing the songs

If you are asking the question then you already know what you want. Generally the audio quantity won’t go up that much while using lower end devices, but the workflow can be massively improved.

I don’t have any serious I/O needs. I only use one instrument input, though I like having a second just in case.

I think it’s really just a case of knowing it’s a cheap interface and the pull of “more expensive must be more better” lol

 

[gearJunkie]

The longer you hold out, the further your $$ will go (usually).

 

[Iron1]

You're on a message board literally called The Gear Forum. Just buy it and regret your irresponsibility later. #ThisIsTheWay

 

[Gearzilla]

I don’t have any serious I/O needs. I only use one instrument input, though I like having a second just in case.

I think it’s really just a case of knowing it’s a cheap interface and the pull of “more expensive must be more better” lol

Order one you’re interested in from Sweetwater. Compare it. If it’s not a worthwhile difference send it back within the return period. Worse case scenario is you’re out return shipping.

 

[Blix]

I wouldn't buy an UA Apollo. While they are good, they are getting extremely long in the tooth now and you pay a lot for the built-in processing.
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