What are some good audio interfaces?
Are there any good ones in the $100~$200 range?
I can't find any that only have 1 quarter inch output since I don't need anything else
schiit stack
http://www.alesis.com/products/legacy/core-1
See if you can find one of these
>>53080482
ESI waveterminal 192l PCI interface
EMU 1212m / just the 1010 pci card
m-audio 1010 pci card w/ breakout
the only good usb interfaces cost over 500 dollars. usb interfaces are fucking shit. firewire was slightly less shit, so it was canned for something more shit. ADAT converters are your best option. if you get the 1212m you can get good DAT boxes from the 90s for cheap.
just get this, look up if you can get pci324 drivers on your computer working...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOTU-2408-Mk-I-Includes-PCI-324-Card-Extras-/131707915658?hash=item1eaa674d8a:g:80sAAOSwu4BV4M4Q
if you can't get the drivers for it get this.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AUDIOTRAK-MAYA-1010-PCI-10-IN-10-OUT-DIGITAL-AUDIO-INTERFACE-W-CARD-DRIVER-/181887881180?hash=item2a595ccfdc:g:8kwAAOSwKIpWC4EB
you almost certainly want this anyways.
I've had a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 for about a year now
It's great, works well for my needs at least
I'd suggest getting it because of it's 2 combo inputs, just in case you ever need more than just one input.
Costing about $150 it fits in your price range
>>53081678
I've had the same one for about 2 years and have had no problems with it.
got it used on ebay for $80
>>53081678
i do not recommend these budget grade cards whatsoever unless you are doing some sort of budget grade tasks with it. it will work satisfactorily as a second out jack for your computer, it will be shit for guitar and mic ins, let alone anything else. it will be halfway acceptable for webcam mic. i had one for a long time too, before i realized that that current market of interfaces is pure fucking cheap shit and that stuff made 10 years ago still works and is far superior.
that maya 1010 will have near zero latency, an actually superior signal to noise ratio, higher gain, and better software than any cheap usb interface made today.
>>53081769
>>that maya 1010 will have near zero latency, an actually superior signal to noise ratio, higher gain, and better software than any cheap usb interface made today.
did i mention 10 ins and 10 outs and a digital mixer and it only costs 99 dollars?
fuck cheap usb interfaces. on all levels they suck worse than everything else that exists.
I have a UR22 and haven't had a single issue since I bought it. Drivers work perfectly with both Linux and Windows.
>>53080482
From memory when I worked in a recording studio
The ones that look like wider VGA inputs >> Firewire >>>> USB
USB has always had latency issues on top of quality of sound issues.
Firewire had considerably better latency, but would still fall short in terms of how it sounded. Although sound was a bit 'wider' than USB in that there was greater range of frequency
The VGA-looking ones had little to no latency and great sound, if you have a good setup it'd be hard to tell if it was recorded digitally or analog.
Look around on ebay for used ones, or check craigslist to see if any studios in your area are purging old equipment.
If not, just get a usb one like the focusrite 2i2 (it's the upgraded version of your pic). Unless your actually working on the semi-professional level recordings you probably wont notice a difference.
>>53081952
someone that knows what they're talking about, finally.
i reiterate: there are no good USB interfaces that are not very expensive and there is almost no good reason to get those instead of PCI cards. if you had to get one i'd get an RME babyface which is 800 new and 500 used.
Focusrite 2i2 is good shit. Can't go wrong there.
>>53081952
>but would still fall short in terms of how it sounded. Although sound was a bit 'wider' than USB in that there was greater range of frequency
fuck off
>>53082026
compared to fucking WHAT???????
what other soundcards have you had to compare it to?
its fucking garbage. it is literally the first soundcard that every wanker buys when he first in his life tries recording guitar on fruity loops, when he has no idea that there is a difference between soundcards, no need for anything of quality, and no idea what else is out there even.
its not even cheap when compared to used PCI interfaces on ebay. it costs twice as much for a tenth as much hardware. its a goy interface. its vomit in the form of hardware shilled out to the masses to replace the difficulty of making good interfaces, and then to bump good interfaces into the 3000 dollar price range when it was 300 dollars in 2001.
fucking cheap usb trash.
>>53082097
are you aware of what bandwidth is, or are you just saying shit to not feel like your USB interface is trash that you paid for?
>>53082111
I used to use this little beauty but I was only getting approximately 50% of my tone. With the Focusrite I feel like I'm getting at least 150 to 200% of my tone.
>>53082175
in reality you were getting 10% with that inline thing and you're getting about 40-50% with the focusrite, you could get 80% with an E-MU and its probably not worth it to you to pay for 95 or 100%. i've had focusrites, presonus, ESI, lynx, RME, motu, m-audio... PCI, PCIe, PCMCIA, firewire, USB... and man i am telling you that usb is not where it is at. it might be satisfactory to you but there is no reason you should not get something better for the same or lower price. if you're happy with it whatever.
>>53082147
the bandwidth of usb 2 is 60mb/s
which is about 100 channels of 192kHz/24bit audio
>>53082220
This sounds like corksniffing to me.
I'm looking to do some real-time LADSPA effects with MIDI control via JACK on Linux.
My first thought was to get a Scarlett 2i4, which covers the XLR in, and MIDI in. Are there better sub-$300 options that I'm not aware of?
It is going to run off a laptop, which means nothing but USB, although I can use USB3.
>>53082285
more like broscience
>>53082223
yeah, *if* it didn't have to sync, convert, return clock, return hardware values, return audio AFTER it goes through your entire computer, and buffer. in actual, useful terms, you will be lucky to get 1 good input at a marginally functional latency. and PS, most usb ports are going to have hum and noise issues unless you're working with something like a supermicro, sun, or TYAN motherboard, and even then...
tell you what, go try and record two inputs simultaniously on your daw with a couple plugins with a focusrite usb interface. your latency will be at best 15-25ms round trip.
like, if you don't need anything specific, don't worry about it.
by the by, usb bandwidth is largely THEORETICAL and few if any actually achieve full bandwidth, with most manufactured devices getting less than half of the full i/o throughput
>>53082299
not much going on the market for USB3 on windows machines right now, i think. apogee has some presumably decent usb3 stuff for mac. out of your price range. if you're using a laptop for whatever reasons i can't fathom, pretty much any USB interface will be the same. just get whatever off of ebay, m-audio is probably going to be better than focusrite at that price range. you might find a gem from a higher price bracket however. do your research on each option if you really care.
>>53082285
>>53082301
yeah man. all audio interfaces are the same. buy scarlett at best buy. you are going to be a rockstar anyways so it doesn't matter.
>>53081952
it's all about the quality of the preamps and converters, what ever bus is used to transfer the digital data has no influence on the sound whatsoever, obviously. with good drivers there's no latency differences as well, it's all about the buffer size. yes, in some cases, especially with bad or old usb driver architecture there were issues so that the buffersize couldn't be as low as a firewire counterpart's without putting a huge load on the cpu, but that's a thing of the past.
man, just look at beautiful things like the RME Madiface USB, it shoves down 64i/o a usb line with a 64 sample buffer
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RME-Babyface-Blue-USB-Audio-Recording-Interface-w-Original-Box-Accessories-/222012037296?hash=item33b0f2d8b0:g:XDQAAOSw5dNWr04A
>>53082360
>15-25ms round trip
>caring about half a cunt hair
LOL
>>53082673
good luck making music that doesn't sound like washed out shit due to phase issues and your likely slothful incapability of crawling inside the waveform to align push-pull phases.
wait, it doesn't matter to you.
proceed.
but for your information, 25ms is practically unusable, 15ms is disturbing and will sound better but still not go down on track propery, and 10ms is still noticeable consciously. 5ms can be corrected on the whole by a global offset, 1ms or less is professional.
and yes, you can hear the difference between 10, 15, and 25 milliseconds latency. clearly. and it matters. if you have any quality in your soul you will not tolerate such slop.
>>53081678
ye same
>>53081769
bro i'm famous you're not, stfu
>>53082807
>>im famous
ha
>>53082831
ha your way to irrelevance, faget
>>53082766
>and yes, you can hear the difference between 10, 15, and 25 milliseconds latency. clearly. and it matters.
Lol hell no.
>>53082840
im in the illuminatii pleb i could have you kidnapped and brainwashed and programmed into a fucctoi for old men and then told to go commit suicide by cop after chaining the doors to a daycare and lighting it on fire.
i could tell you to get on your knees and suck off a dozen old men and then stab babies to death and drink their blood and you'd do it.
i could make you kill your own mother with a hammer.
>>53082884
u think i think ur kidden but i kno sh*t like that goes on
>>53082878
>>i can't imagine it being possible
>>so it can't be
tv didn't tell you it was possible my bad.
but absolutely you can and one hour spent playing around with a guitar and a cheap trash interface like the scarlett will teach you to. if you're capable of learning anything whatsoever. 10-15 will take some experience and listening but 10-25 is immediately obvious.
>>53082899
my fathers job was abducting children in thailand. i was helping him since i was 8. father teaches son. lots of pills.
Poorfag reporting in.
I can't hear any noise at all so it's good enough for me.
>>53081952
USB is indeed still the worst connection for audio, but it doesn't affect the sound quality.
(Well, most cheap USB shit is marketed at amateurs and is of questionable quality, but that's a market thing not a technical reason.)
>>53083216
idk, it could've been different for me since this was all during the early-mid 2000s. I'm sure that USB interfaces are a tad bit better nowadays than back then.
But even still, those VGA-looking ones probably won't be topped for some time now in my opinion, it's what we use to this day where I work and won't be switching any time soon.
>>53082995
Behringer makes some amazing products for the price. Fuck the haters.
>>53082409
>what ever bus is used to transfer the digital data has no influence on the sound whatsoever
The bus is the bottle-neck. With USB you'll be running into latency, which is VERY annoying (understatement)
Try playing to a clicktrack with latency, kek.
>>53082673
>confirmed for never having played in time
>>53083610
latency over 10ms isn't just annoying, its unusable for anything except just fucking around to no effect.
Are USB interfaces decent if I'm not doing any recording and just want to hook a pair of bookshelf speakers into for listening to music and whatnot? I can't remember if I've got a PCI slot free on my board.
>>53080482
This things are to connect a guitar/keyboard to the PC, right?
>>53083632
10ms is inpercievably small. I play with 37ms of latency and I'm in time.
>>53082933
k well u & ur dad are still garbage compared 2 me
I bought a Mac Pro in like '09 and run an Apogee Ensemble into Logic and Ableton on it. Still works to this day, noticeably less latency and better sound than the Focusrite I'm using with my current PC.
The Focusrite is good, though, especially for the price. Probably worth noting that its direct monitor mode affects a drop in volume.
>>53083662
yeah just for like some regular speakers for regular listening a random cheap usb interface will be fine, i'd recommend the soundblaster SBX. it has good output, rca outs, headphone outs, mic in, rca line in, and optical. 99 bucks.
>>53083681
>>I play with 37ms of latency and I'm in time.
record a fucking video of it then. everyone who knows anything knows that you're fucking lying.
>>53083707
you will have to choice between having your wife fucked by a bunch of other guys or being outed as a pedophile and committed to an insane asylum and being chemically lobotomized.
you will gargle piss for the reward of being able to use a fucking canadian rosicrucian swimming pool.
lol
>>53083681
Bullshit m8.
Trying to play drums with >10ms of latency is hell.
>>53083746
>Soundblaster SBX
will look into it, thanks angry audio anon.
>>53083785
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/111889899544?ul_noapp=true&chn=ps&lpid=82
60 bucks free shipping 4 U
>>53083746
nah im good. aint married aint pedo. wat a crappy shot in the dark. dont b frustrated cause no one listens to ur garbage-sounds.
>>53083911
im not some retarded fucking musician trying to get people to listen to aural feces in order to validate myself as a person to compensate for the emptiness that a conditioned upbringing as a fucking automaton made me.
and it doesn't matter what you are, people will treat you exactly how your masters tell them to treat you. enjoy your life of grovelling fear, you pathetic slave puppet.
i could literally make a phone call, go into a little bit of debt, and murder you in whatever way i chose in a fucking dungeon. fucking dyncorp would set it all up for me and i'd just have to do some shit for a while. i can't afford to just pay upfront for the privilege of ending your life in terrible pain and misery desu.
>>53083983
> have to do some shit for a while
story of ur garbage life.
i have inspired ppl. i have lifted souls. i have maintained a childlike innocence & channeled it into artistic endeavors. i have created & brought wonderful new things into this world enjoyed by many. you're a giggling monkey in your dingy dying-corner trolling away. troll s'more, nobodyface.
>>53084064
you are a special snowflake and you know this because you were told this. stimulus response.
btw i'm aware you're a half assed joke of a musician that got some fuckwits to appreciate your talentless gibberish by a innate sense of sympathetic failure. you don't have to tell me by talking about how you've inspired people and lifted souls like this is a emo band myspace.
This topic is funny.
Le kek, upvotes for everyone!!!!one!
>>53084102
that's some thousand-lumen projectin ur doin. i am a goddamn visionary. the fruits of my labor are the result of informed musicianship, steely sensibilities & a keen sense of whimsy all developed over a hyperproductive half-decade. & i'm jus gettin start'd. you... you're dirtgum on my shoe. remove yourself.
I have a RMD soundcard since 8 fucking years and it still works perfect, it had never made any truble on any Linux and windows.
RME is probably a good buy.
>>53084144
wew lad
>>53081678
This interface is a meme, see >>53081769
I got one after years of putting it off, used and cheap, but it was still too much to pay for an XLR input with 48V. Cheaply constructed and a weak amplifier for headphones monitoring it.
>>53080482
Any simple firewire 800 interface?
I need to connect a pair of monitors on it.
The 2i2 is good for that price and works as well as you'd expect.
It's not the best out there but it's not really bad either
>>53084760
Presonus firestudio is pretty much as simple as it gets.
Are you looking to record or just playback audio? For just playback there are probably better solutions.
>>53085065
Probably record some simple stuff, but mostly reproduction on Sibelius, Logic and all that jazz.
>>53085522
Thanks.
At the risk of starting another shitstorm.
I have a modmic (just needed something for the occasional voice chat), however the volume is too low.
But I have no idea what kind of things I need to look for to find a soundcard to solve this problem. Any pointers?
>>53080482
I currently have the speakers in my pic, the amp broke and I'm looking to upgrade the whole set, I'm currently looking at Logitech z906, the requirements are my PC must be able to use them which has a regular audio jack out and my TV which only has a digital optical out.
Any recommendations over the z906? They are at the top of my budget
>>53086226
What you are looking for is an amplifier, not an audio interface.
>>53086300
there's no digital optical input on these so I can't use them with my tv, they're also only a €50 set so I want to upgrade the entire set anyway
Is the Focusrite 2i2 at least good enough for just spoken audio? The thread seems pretty polarized on the subject. Me and a buddy are starting a podcast and we just need an interface to record two microphones, nothing crazy.
>>53086438
yeah, it should be fine for that. Just get a decent couple mics and you'll be golden. Make sure to get a pop-filter as well, it'll block out a ton of clutter/white noise and is only gonna set you back another 20 or so dollars tops.
The only time the usb debacle is really going to matter is for multitrack recording/mastering, and even then the difference is pretty negligible for amatuer-level producers. It's a good start, but don't expect to have great sounding mixes with it.
>>53080482
just get anything. there's some guy here that's mad as shit and wants you to buy 10 years old used hardware, don't listen to him.
you are not going to get a decent track out of anything you can afford, so get what's ubiquitous and passable. there's a reason engineers spend decades and thousands upon thousands of dollars building their setup. you're not one of them.
you're a bedroom musician and you should be content with the cheap focusrite model, because you're demoing, not producing.
>>53085895
software gain all the way! not like whoever you talk to needs to know what you're saying in the first place.
>>53084832
$150
>REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
but fine for >>53086438 as long as you're not speaking in time to a click track, UNDER $100 USD. If you're just speaking, there are even cheaper alternatives.
>>53087187
Cheap is the qualifier here.
>>53087656
Tried that already, boosting the audio from within Windows' control panel adds a bunch of static/background noise
>>53087751
Build a cone around the top to funnel the noise. Otherwise mod yourself an amplifier.
I know /g/ isn't for tech support, but I really want to know what you guys recommend.
Over the next 6 months I'll be recording a solo EP. I'll be recording using the following set up, my acoustic guitar and my bass and drums.
I'll record my guitar using my microphone, but I want to use an audio interface for my bass.
I'm looking for a audio interface that only I will use for bass since I use a USB microphone. All I need is 1 quarter inch output on an audio interface that I can plus into my computer through my USB port.
If it's needed, I'll post my computer specs too.
>>53080482
there are cheap mixers available that have usb audio support. look at alesis or mackie.
>>53081678
I tried out one of those once. On the lowest possible gain setting, it would clip when I played guitar into it.
>>53082995
This
>>53082878
Try using a hardware synth with digital drumkit on your computer. Recently started buying hardware and the 9ms latency gives me a fucking headache. If you don't hear that you're obviously haven't developed any sense of rythm.
>>53082995
Using one of those, good enough for recording shit, bad for actively using external instruments with digital ones at the same time.
Whats a good audio interface for a microphone like an AT2020?
I dont need anything crazy, just an input for voice.
>>53080482
I legit have no idea what to look for, but essentially what I want is an amp that can power both my bookshelf speakers, and also have a plug for my headphones.
I don't really care about quality, since I'm only using cheapass dayton bookshelf speakers.
Something under 30 bucks? Any suggestions?
>>53089482
Get a DI box, problem solved. You should have one anyways.
>>53092879
Why does it have a fucking guitar setting if it can't handle a guitar?
>>53081678
Do you use the line outs on that? I was thinking about getting a focusrite but I'd be mostly using it as an out bound signal DAC going into a mixing board for playing soft synths on my laptop.
In my home studio i use the Mackie Onyx Blackbird as my main interface, and when on the go, i bring my Edirol FA-101. Fucking love that little unit, it's a good 15 years old and solid as fuck. 10 in/10 out bus powered. All 1/4", plus a bunch of other shit. Man, they don't make units like this no more.
>>53090685
>I dont need anything crazy, just an input for voice.
well then go with whatever
the first stuff I always recommend the newbees is Steinberg, Steinberg UR22 something like that
>>53082360
man you're an idiot
you have been reading plenty of blobs written by audio scamworld professionals who are just idiots
computers can do all that shit you mentioned in no time at all. thats what they're designed to do
we're talking clock cycles here.
you can break down each operational abstraction, but this all happens literally instantly and only an idiot would use this as an excuse
really, shitty equipemnt which is plagued by high latency is because the chinese idiot who developed this crap has no fucking clue how to interface with an IC
the audio world is such a huge pile of bullshit ripoff hardware.
any person who becomes moderately proficient in EE can design pro audio at a slightly reduced markup and still make millions
digital audio is no difference
dont be such a cock smoker
>>53081769
>maya 1010
Can I use it with a laptop?
>>53087013
>The only time the usb debacle is really going to matter is for multitrack recording/mastering
Aren't you doing all the mastering inside the DAW? How does the USB bus speed affect the mastering process?
>>53087656
>speaking in time to a click track
aka rapping
>>53080482
>Are there any good ones in the $100~$200 range?
Yeah, some old E-MU stuff from ebay.
In terms of sound quality this shits on anything under $1000 and you can find it for $50 with some luck. The 1616m goes for a bit more, but it has lots of I/O as well.
Drivers aren't being updated, though.
>>53089021
>since I use a USB microphone
Watch out with that, most usb mics have very shitty DACs
>>53095856
bump for this one.
Can one use PCI hardware via PCMCIA or whatever connection and don't loose any performance?
>>53097370
Yes, maybe not on PCMCIA (not been used for over a decade, doubt your computer has that) but on something newer like expresscard you can hook up external pci(-e) with an adapter without getting performance losses.
>>53085895
Modmic can't be powered by an audio interface, if that's what you're wondering. The best you can do is use a sound card with a decent mic in jack, and use the software mic boost as you see fit.
They're working on an XLR version, but I haven't heard any progress.
>>53095856
External thunderbolt PCI case is probably the only way to use it properly.
>>53096026
sorry, you're not going to get any of those off of ebay, because i buy every single fucking one hahahaha
>>53096221
you might be shocked at how good a BLUE snowball is.
>>53095832
right man, right, there is no difference between anything and it doesn't matter at all, enjoy your scarllet ti2 or whatever.
I'm considering picking up a used pair of Tannoy Mercury M2s for £50 or Microlabs SOLO6cs for £70, any recommendations for one of the other?
>>53099408
i recommend you fucking kill yourself you british piece of shit. british people are worse then niggers, jews, mudslimes, all of them. fucking disgusting piece of shit. we should burn every fucking british person to ashes.
>>53099531
>Only brits live in Britain
I'm American. It sure is a shit hole though, I'll give you that.
>>53099557
go thou in peace brother
>>53080482
Don't die audiophiles!!!
I mean bump.
>>53081393
>linus shill
>>53084832
but for that price you can get a UR22 which is way better
>>53099965
or a gun to kill yourself with
>>53099964
u wot m8?
>>53100136
>>53099557
>>53099531
>being rude on the internet
>>53099965
UR22 is shit in terms of sound quality.
It has the SNR of an average onboard Realtek.
They only improved it a bit in the mk2 version.
>>53101011
>>being british
>>not instantly committing suicide upon birth
i have the 2i4, it works, but if you have a laptop (a shitty one) and windows 10, you might run into driver problems. spent a lot of time reading reviews about it, and it was between the ur22 and the 2i2, but i wanted to hook up a sub too so i went with the 2i4. never got the sub but thats another story
just do what this guy said >>53087187
>>53098344
Should have explained it better, I'm aware that I can't use an XLR input with the standard 3.5mm modmic.
But I have no idea what to look for to find a good mic in jack.
Right now I'm using the mic jack of my mobo (Gigabyte Z87X D3H) and like I said boosting the volume from within windows gives a lot of background noise
