4 input soundcard

chrispy108

Yo!

My brother-in-law does a podcast, and they're looking to upgrade their setup.

They need to plug in 3 mics, and have them each end up on a separate track in garageband, so they can adjust levels and mute coughs etc.

They were going to get 3 USB mics, but that seems doomed for problems?

I suggested a usb soundcard, but they seem to be in no-mans land between a home unit with 2 inputs and a bigger unit with 12/16 for a whole drumkit?

Does anyone have any experience of this? http://www.thomann.de/gb/alesis_io4.htm or anything else to suggest?

ecc83

Does Bros have a mixer perchance? 

If so he will not beat the Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6. Two excellent mic inputs but also 2 more line ins for the mixer and two more mics. 

That Alesis unit sort of came and went some years ago (about Vista time) and I seem to recall peeps having driver issues? It crtainly has left no lasting impression (like say the Emu 0404usb and the Tascams) 

The Akai EIE might be a better bet, much more recent design. Make sure to get the "pro" version tho'. I don't think the cheaper one does 4 discrete tracks.

Dave.

chrispy108

Ah, good point about using the mixer as two mic pre-amps, might be a few too many cables for them though, good idea though! I'll pass it on.

I looked at the cheaper Akai EIE, and it has four mic pre-amps but can't record all four at once, bit of a con!

Drew_TNBD

Loads of them about mate. Steer clear of Alesis though; unless they've improved their drivers, which I doubt.

Try the Roland Capture interfaces, supposed to be quite good. Also the Scarlett ones are good - we use some of them at work.http://uk.focusrite.com/usb-audio-interfaces/scarlett-6i6

ecc83

Drew_fx said:

Loads of them about mate. Steer clear of Alesis though; unless they've improved their drivers, which I doubt.

Try the Roland Capture interfaces, supposed to be quite good. Also the Scarlett ones are good - we use some of them at work.http://uk.focusrite.com/usb-audio-interfaces/scarlett-6i6

The Rolands are said to be excellent. They have recently "fixed" the drivers and are now very low latency.

Dave.

IanSavage

I've had good experiences with M-Audio, their Quad should do the job (http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/recording-studio/detail.asp?stock=13012510433788&gclid=COuSsZu_t7sCFaXMtAoddjoARw).

I've never used one of these, but I kind of want one just because it looks like it came out of the Tardis - http://www.proaudiocentre.com/shop/studio/audio---midi-interfaces/products/akai-eie-pro-24-bit-electromusic-interface-expander.html?utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google+Shopping+Results&utm_medium=Product+Feed&gclid=COn86Pe-t7sCFW_MtAodC38AgA

There's the MOTU 4Pre as well, which are excellent, but probably overkill price-wise for your needs (£300+ IIRC).

ecc83

Yes Ian, I was attracted to the EIE but was eventually put off because of Akai dragging their feet in bringing the unit (one originally) to market, not having any decent info or speccs;' and the absence for over a year of a reliable review (which STILL hasn't happened IMHO) .

The NI KA6 came to my notice, I jumped and have never regretted the decision. 

I do however scour the Cash Converter shops looking for an EIE at a decent price. My local CC has a Scarlet 2i4 but want £150 for it..TOOOOOmuch!

Dave.