Which audio interface

Lestratcaster

After discovering my onboard laptop audio soundcard is crap via a 3.5mm RCA aux connection and my desire to record guitar for YouTube covers, demos etc its become evident I need an audio interface.

I also teach lessons via Zoom so the ability to run my Kemper Profiler plus an XLR microphone for my voice direct rather than use the in-room mic sound is more professional and better sounding.

There are several interfaces on the market and a bit stuck on which one to get (originally wanted a 2 in 2 out interface). Some of the Focusrite ones look good, maybe the 8i6 or 18i6? Those have a SPDIF input which I could plug my Kemper into the back? Or is a TRS into the line in of a 4i4 sufficient?

Steinberg is another brand I've heard about but never used any of their products.

Any help appreciated.

Corporeal_bodies

Hi so what price range are you looking at?

Lestratcaster

Well originally I was going to get the 2i2 which is around £140 but I might want more options to record more inputs in the future. I only wanna pay once for the right thing. So around £300?

Corporeal_bodies

Ok so I would suggest this
 https://motu.com/en-us/products/m-series/m4/

I have this and find it very good, very low latency and the metering at the front is a nice touch also, the preamp sounds good to my ears, driver seem solid and havent had an issue with it so far. Check it out to see if it has the connections you want. 

Lestratcaster

Looks similar to a 4i4 Focusrite, no SPDIF inputs though.

PolarityMan

I think I got my 18i20 for about £300 by keeping an eye on ebay and that would see you through to tracking a whole band (just about), plus can be expanded with a behringer ADA8000 for an additional 8 channels.

Lestratcaster

An 18i20 might be overkill for what I need it for even if I do expand. The highest one I probably want is the 18i8 perhaps. Unlikely I'll use more than 4 xlr inputs in the near future.

PolarityMan

I'm looking for either an 18i8 or a clarett 2 pre too. I have the adat preamps to pair with already and an 18i20 in the band PA rack so I can live with less channels in my home setup too

Lestratcaster

What's the soundcard like on the Scarletts? Must be better than a laptop's internal one...

My needs are quite basic really, audio playback from laptop to monitors, guitar lessons via Zoom using Kemper/XLR mic and guitar recording.

PolarityMan

I mean the sound quality is better but only in that its got better noise floor, higher dynamic range, more power to drive headphones and stuff but where you're really going to see the difference is the mic-pres compared to you laptops line in / mic in
Oh and the latency if you are tracking through it. 

stratology

I did a side by side comparison of several interfaces 2 years ago, and was surprised how large the sound differences were. UAD came out far ahead, the - much less expensive - MOTU interface was also surprisingly good.

I owned a Focusrite Clarett briefly, didn't like it at all.
A friend had a Scarlett, much preferred that..

Good preamps in Presonus interfaces.

As for the Kemper - I don't use SPDIF, because it forces its clock on the audio interface. Audio out of the Kemper to inputs of the audio interface works just fine. I always record 3 channels: mono DI out with the dry signal, and the regular stereo signal.

TheBigDipper

Lestratcaster said:

What's the soundcard like on the Scarletts? Must be better than a laptop's internal one...

My needs are quite basic really, audio playback from laptop to monitors, guitar lessons via Zoom using Kemper/XLR mic and guitar recording.

You seem to be veering between "buy what you need right now" and "buy higher in case you need it later and therefore only buy once". Neither is a bad decision, just pick one of them! 

My suggestion? Buy an inexpensive, used 2 channel audio interface like a Focusrite or a Presonus. It will help you get in the game and meet your immediate needs. If you subsequently decide to upgrade, to get more input channels or better preamps, you'll be able to move the used one on without losing too much money.

Lestratcaster

PolarityMan said:

I mean the sound quality is better but only in that its got better noise floor, higher dynamic range, more power to drive headphones and stuff but where you're really going to see the difference is the mic-pres compared to you laptops line in / mic in
Oh and the latency if you are tracking through it. 

What about latency during playback too? I notice when I play Spotify tunes off my rca 3.5m headphone jack the song takes a few seconds to start.

Lestratcaster

stratology said:

I did a side by side comparison of several interfaces 2 years ago, and was surprised how large the sound differences were. UAD came out far ahead, the - much less expensive - MOTU interface was also surprisingly good.

I owned a Focusrite Clarett briefly, didn't like it at all.
A friend had a Scarlett, much preferred that..

Good preamps in Presonus interfaces.

As for the Kemper - I don't use SPDIF, because it forces its clock on the audio interface. Audio out of the Kemper to inputs of the audio interface works just fine. I always record 3 channels: mono DI out with the dry signal, and the regular stereo signal.

UAD look expensive more like, depending on which model you get. Presonus has come up a few times. Don’t know much about them though.

what does “clock on the interface” mean? If I was to Xlr way out of the Kemper I’d 3 ports on the interface minimum. Cos I’m running a mic too for Zoom.

Lestratcaster

TheBigDipper said:

Lestratcaster said:

What's the soundcard like on the Scarletts? Must be better than a laptop's internal one...

My needs are quite basic really, audio playback from laptop to monitors, guitar lessons via Zoom using Kemper/XLR mic and guitar recording.

You seem to be veering between "buy what you need right now" and "buy higher in case you need it later and therefore only buy once". Neither is a bad decision, just pick one of them! 

My suggestion? Buy an inexpensive, used 2 channel audio interface like a Focusrite or a Presonus. It will help you get in the game and meet your immediate needs. If you subsequently decide to upgrade, to get more input channels or better preamps, you'll be able to move the used one on without losing too much money.

I was just saying to @PolarityMan in comparison to what he was using it for it’s not as much but I’m just sitting on it a bit to do some homework, will probably pick the 2nd option though!

Relatively easy to find a used Focusrite on eBay and they seem popular enough to sell on.

PolarityMan

Lestratcaster said:

PolarityMan said:

I mean the sound quality is better but only in that its got better noise floor, higher dynamic range, more power to drive headphones and stuff but where you're really going to see the difference is the mic-pres compared to you laptops line in / mic in
Oh and the latency if you are tracking through it. 

What about latency during playback too? I notice when I play Spotify tunes off my rca 3.5m headphone jack the song takes a few seconds to start.

I would have thought that's just spotify buffering

Lestratcaster

PolarityMan said:

Lestratcaster said:

PolarityMan said:

I mean the sound quality is better but only in that its got better noise floor, higher dynamic range, more power to drive headphones and stuff but where you're really going to see the difference is the mic-pres compared to you laptops line in / mic in
Oh and the latency if you are tracking through it. 

What about latency during playback too? I notice when I play Spotify tunes off my rca 3.5m headphone jack the song takes a few seconds to start.

I would have thought that's just spotify buffering

It doesn’t occur on my desktop, iPad, Samsung s7 though so though it might be just the laptop.

ThorpyFX

I have a focusrite 6i6 i am going to be listing here for sale. Its ace. 

Lestratcaster

ThorpyFX said:

I have a focusrite 6i6 i am going to be listing here for sale. Its ace. 

Does that have an SPDIF input? Ive seen more retailers taking them off their sites, is it cos they’re bringing a new generation out?

stratology

Lestratcaster said:

stratology said:

I did a side by side comparison of several interfaces 2 years ago, and was surprised how large the sound differences were. UAD came out far ahead, the - much less expensive - MOTU interface was also surprisingly good.

I owned a Focusrite Clarett briefly, didn't like it at all.
A friend had a Scarlett, much preferred that..

Good preamps in Presonus interfaces.

As for the Kemper - I don't use SPDIF, because it forces its clock on the audio interface. Audio out of the Kemper to inputs of the audio interface works just fine. I always record 3 channels: mono DI out with the dry signal, and the regular stereo signal.

UAD look expensive more like, depending on which model you get. Presonus has come up a few times. Don’t know much about them though.

what does “clock on the interface” mean? If I was to Xlr way out of the Kemper I’d 3 ports on the interface minimum. Cos I’m running a mic too for Zoom.

I've used a Presonus interface for years, loved it. Some companies, like Presonus and MOTU, are very good at releasing timely compatibility updates when new versions of the computer OS are released.


About the clock: when you connect multiple digital devices to exchange data digitally, one of them has to be the 'clock master' to keep the digital data in sync. So, when you connect an audio interface to a computer, the audio interface is the clock master, and the computer receives the clock from the audio interface. When no audio interface is plugged in, the computer uses its own internal clock.

The Kemper can only send, not receive, digital clock, so if you connect it to the audio interface via S/PDIF, both the interface and the computer receive the clock from the Kemper. Many audio interfaces work better when they use their internal clock than when they receive clock data. Also, there are clocks of different qualities, which is one of the competitive factors that differentiates interfaces from different manufacturers.

Lestratcaster

stratology said:

Lestratcaster said:

stratology said:

I did a side by side comparison of several interfaces 2 years ago, and was surprised how large the sound differences were. UAD came out far ahead, the - much less expensive - MOTU interface was also surprisingly good.

I owned a Focusrite Clarett briefly, didn't like it at all.
A friend had a Scarlett, much preferred that..

Good preamps in Presonus interfaces.

As for the Kemper - I don't use SPDIF, because it forces its clock on the audio interface. Audio out of the Kemper to inputs of the audio interface works just fine. I always record 3 channels: mono DI out with the dry signal, and the regular stereo signal.

UAD look expensive more like, depending on which model you get. Presonus has come up a few times. Don’t know much about them though.

what does “clock on the interface” mean? If I was to Xlr way out of the Kemper I’d 3 ports on the interface minimum. Cos I’m running a mic too for Zoom.

I've used a Presonus interface for years, loved it. Some companies, like Presonus and MOTU, are very good at releasing timely compatibility updates when new versions of the computer OS are released.


About the clock: when you connect multiple digital devices to exchange data digitally, one of them has to be the 'clock master' to keep the digital data in sync. So, when you connect an audio interface to a computer, the audio interface is the clock master, and the computer receives the clock from the audio interface. When no audio interface is plugged in, the computer uses its own internal clock.

The Kemper can only send, not receive, digital clock, so if you connect it to the audio interface via S/PDIF, both the interface and the computer receive the clock from the Kemper. Many audio interfaces work better when they use their internal clock than when they receive clock data. Also, there are clocks of different qualities, which is one of the competitive factors that differentiates interfaces from different manufacturers.

They seem more affordable but I don't know if that reflects in the quality of the products. 

I think I understood most of the clocking explanation, I just thought with a SPDIF it wouldn't have to convert digital to analogue then back again to the interface? I mean, the 18i6 has enough XLR ports for me to go main out with 2 x XLR's into the front of the interface then another 2 spare for whatever else I want. But the interface costs more than a 8i6 for the extra inputs but both have SPDIF.