ok @300
you got some options, i mean i realy hear someone complain about the 212
but check out audient the little id14 seems in your range
@ about 400 you get a used fireface 400 or babyface mk1
smalest uad desktop is about 670 also the babyface 2 and used metric halo 28

people on this board and around the net like the steinberg offerings

but it depends what you need
io, monitoring, preamps, dsp or not

 

Last edited: Feb 3, 2016

i recommend
Presonus Audiobox 22VSL. has dsp with zero latency monitoring with effects on the way in, kinda lika uad. solid

 

If you can stretch a bit for around 300$, you can get easy UAD, RME sound quality or even better. It doesn't have all bells and whistles, as is pretty simple unit, but what is doing, is doing very good. Driver seems to be solid(user reviews), user interface is simply one of the best you can get in any price, even better converters als focusrite and consequently sound that can be hardly matched by any other unit at that price point.
https://audient.com/products/id14

 

I could get that for around 270€ which is a fair price if the unit is really that great. Never really heared about Audient but I guess they are pertty good. Any one have more experiance with id114 ?

 

Stay Tight With Focusrite
Be smart...be bright
You can't go wrong, no, no, no, no!

 

A nice feature!

 

Last edited: Feb 3, 2016

Audient is a British company with a history of making of top class analogue consoles, plus they use Burr-Brown AD/DA converters in the iD14

 

Last edited: Feb 3, 2016

Audient is great. ex MCI projectists (google for MCI JH series mixers, for what I know the top of the analogue era)

 

about audiocards I m happy with my RME Hammerfall, Digiface and ADI 8 DS converters.
on a bigger budget, I would say Lynx Aurora or Lavry blue line

 

Last edited: Feb 3, 2016

Presonus Audiobox 22VSL I've been using this on the road, durable, works and sounds great. I also use a Presonus1818VSL, had it for about 2 years, my friend has had his longer, Both of us have had no problems. I would recommend going with the VSL digital mixer version it is worth the price.

 

Im surpprised how many of us are using focusrite! - i would like to test the UR22 tho. see what all the fuzz is about

i could use a 2nd audiointerface for my laptop for when on the road or in someones studio. any recommendations ?

 

E-MU 1212m or 1616M (if you need more inputs),you can get the first one for 50$ and the second one for 200$ on ebay.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Oct 17, 2017

Thunderbolt was developed by Intel and Apple licensed it exclusively for 5 years. That five years is up. Check this out for just one instance http://www.gigabyte.com/microsite/306/images/thunderbolt.html . So my next PC laptop or workstation will have thunderbolt ports without the need for an add-on card. So those Clarett 2s seem doable.

Also check out the Audient Id14 or Id22. Super nice cards.

 

Let's just hope developers catch up on writing up the drivers for Windows.

 

My first interface was a Saffire 6 USB which never caused me problems. I now use an RME Babyface which is great sounding with much less latency, but I sometimes miss the preamps on the Saffire. They have a nice thing going on with the high end making transient rich sources like rattles, metal things that I tend to bang on and shakers ear friendly. They are definitely not as revealing as the Babyface press and the conversion seems to me not as deep or as wide to my ears, but the Focusrite stuff is great, especially for the price. People speak adoringly about the Steinberg offering but I never that I am aware of have heard it at work. Since this thread is like three years old, you probably are onto still another interface, so....

 

Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 it's the best, I have most of them, but KA6 stay mainly in my Setup. Second: Steinberg's UR22 just when I need to brind up the volume level of my Headphones. (K6 is good for this but UR22 does it better).

My 2 cents.

 

If you live in the USA (which could be since you got Cubase EDU so cheap........) watch this offer:

https://us.focusrite.com/scarlett-for-electronic-musicians

 

Depends upon your budget and needs. Thunderbolt/light peak can't beat the Apollo Twin, though expensive has added advantage of UAD. New Clarett range from focusrite meant to be great. SPL crimson looks great with it's main contender being the Audient iD22.
There a huge range and the Akai EIE Pro is very reasonably priced and pack quite a few nice features

Well established stuff such as RME Babyface Pro can't go wrong with and it is really fantastically designed.Apogee duet is great also.

Motu do some pretty damn good stuff also

Depends really on your needs i/o's etc. Can't go wrong with focusrite with it's great preamps for USB 2, scarlett 18i20 makes a great rack unit and reasonably priced at 350 ish. Also bundled with some great plugins and makes a cool centre piece for a home studio.

Anything by Universal Audio is top notch and about as good as it gets but can get pricey ie Universal Audio Apollo 8P will do everything but comes at a cost i'e 2 grandish.

For huge bandwidth with ability for loads of inputs/outputs then USB 3 way to go with all the bandwidth u need and not overly expensive at 600 gbp and will integrate nicely ino DAW.

More expensive units such as RME Fireface UCX, Metric Halo will do everything u need in a home studio and more

If u can afford it then the Apollo Twin at around 600 gonna give you the best of everything with the ability to run the best plugins around i.e UAD at reduced CPU usage etc.

Is a winner all round imho unless you need loads of i/o for recording a band then maybe the presonus 192 the way to go although I hear there still a few problems and at that price I don't expect there to be problems. SPL Crimson would make a great desktop unit and will be quality thru & thru

Is really all about budget and what your specific needs are i.e recording a drum kit or jst a few i'o's then a desktop unit such as the crimson maybe the way to go. SPL stuff normally quality thru & thru. 'Horses for courses' and all that.

Good luck

 

Not true: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan13/articles/alva-nanoface.htm

 

I dont think so
I got both and i prefer the sound of the MR the EMU 1616m sounds a bit muddy compared to the MR i also think the preamp is better on the MR
And the Emu is way more fragile then the MR
I have already broke one volume pot without ever take it away from the studio desc
And the other one is about to go the same way so i open the breakout box and i must say it was three very very very thin pins on that pot so no wonder why it broke from the board so easely.
And it is not easy to find a replacement pot i only have found one from the taiwan factory and no resellers.
Also the drivers to the EMU after XP suck big time not so stable as the XP was on my Win 7 64 bit got some blue screen of death sometimes and it is always the EMU driver that causes those B.O:D:s

 

Last edited: Feb 11, 2016