Yet another "which audio interface" thread

Jeremiah

For various reasons I'm looking for a new audio interface, so welcome any thoughts and suggestions. The requirements I have are:

4 in / 4 out
Inputs with phantom power and combination mic/jack sockets that can also take instrument level signals
As many inputs and outputs as possible accessible from the front

Budget around 250

I'd really like it to be bus-powered, but from looking at what's available I suspect that this may not be possible - maybe because the USB bus does not supply enough power to send phantom power to the mic inputs as well as power the device itself...

What I have found so far:

Focusrite Scarlet 18i8 - a bit over budget

Presonus Audiobox 44VSL - almost looks great, but WHY DID THEY PUT THE HEADPHONE OUTPUT ON the BACK?? FFS...

M-Audio M-Track Quad - could be OK, but I'm a little suspicious of the quality of M-Audio's mic preamps

Akai EiE Pro - is this the same as the M-Audio repackaged in a different box?


Anything else?

Fretwired

I have a Steinberg UR44 - it's Yamaha technology and I find it great - super stable, quiet and low latency. Comes with some great Yamaha plugins.

http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/audio_interfaces/ur_series/models/ur44.html

Jeremiah

Thanks, that looks pretty good.

I also noticed the Tascam US 4x4

Ben8010

The Focusrite Scarlett range is really nice and you get some very nice plug-ins from softube & focusrite themselves with them. Really good value all things considered so that's my recommendation.

dragonb4llz

Another shout for the Tascam 4x4.

blobb

NI KA6

Jeremiah

blobb said:

NI KA6

Hmm, I was looking at this, but it only has 2 mic premps when I was really looking for 4. Not that I really need four, but I'd like to be able to experiment with multi-micing from different positions etc. On the other hand, it the bundled software looks quite interesting

blobb

2 mic / line combi + 2 line level + 2 digital in's (so they label it as '6 in / 4 out')  so yes, only 2 mic inputs. You're going some if you need 4 mic in's. I always found 2 mic positions to be sufficient but now I tend to record a mic plus direct out with a cab sim and they sound identical. So much so that I may be done with mic's on amps.

Best bits are:
- driver stability
- latency
- pre amp quality
- build quality
- software

bad bits are:
- can only use the direct monitor on input 1&2 - which are the combi's (although you can send it to headphone and out 1/2 or out 2/3) you can still monitor all in's via DAW.
- only 1 headphone out.

Pro's outweigh the con's by miles.

GavRichList

I have the Scarlett solo, but would definitely like the 18i8. Think you could get it on budget.