But MIDI?

 

Did you mean the Focusrite 8Pre? I know someone who is using it and loving it. I am for sure an RME fanboy but the 8Pre sounds like a lot of what you are looking for, including the important midi in/out.

 

never thought about the id not having midi
but nowadays any keyboard controller has midi over usb+ midi in,out,throu
like the maudios about 30 bucks for 64keys

if not focusrite seems alright

.ps
dont forget rme 2nd hand ;)

 

I had to decide for a great-sounding and low-latency usb audio+midi interface lately, and I wanted to know if finally there would be any alternative to RME. There are many interfaces out there, but one that both matches the RME sound quality and low latency over USB seemed close to impossible.
However, I have found something close: The Zoom UAC-8. This is imho a fantastic interface both in terms of audio recording and playback quality, *and* low latency.
The only thing I'm not sure about is how it handles some headphone models.
I don't use the interface with headphones, but if you want me to test one of them, I have various AKG/Sennheiser models with 32, 100, 120 and 300 Ohms here.

 

Cheapest on the market:

 

Last edited: Mar 16, 2017

How do you know about the street price of the Tracktion Copper Reference? It's not even out yet.

 

€1,350 at Thomann gets you an Audient ID 22 with the 880 and that is a very, very nice setup and fair for the price also.
However I'd go with the Focusrite Clarett 8Pre (the 8PreX version preferably), The 'Air' feature is really useful not just gimmicky crud and if you are planning to use thunderbolt it just makes sense, The mic pre-amps are very clean and have plenty of quality, clean gain on tap.
Then I'd hunt around for an Audient ASP800 or 880 when you wish/want to expand, Yes second-hand/used if you find one and are able to test it/see it fully functional so you know you ain't buying any lame duck, You get a little more character available also via the variable mic pre-amp's impedance which is great for matching certain microphones but also just useful for trying with any/all microphones as on your source material as the impedance differences do change the sound/character of a microphone.
Of course RME are great but personally I feel/find that they are just a shade on the stingy side with mic pre-amps and that makes some of their interfaces to me personally slightly overpriced, However if you find a suitable candidate used then have at it as the converters are excellent, Mic-amps are clean and have plenty, Again I suppose it depends on what you are planning to use for interfacing (USB3.0, FireWire, Thunderbolt).

The street's wisest merchant aka as Fagin from Oliver Twist say's: Oy Vey goy, All God's chosen people instinctively know that the best option is always the one that does the least amount of damage to pocket. So the Behringer FCA1616 (For those that are FireWire'd up) and not a lot of shekels for quite a lot of very respectable, absolutely usable interface option that actually punches above it's weight, Due in no small part to MIDAS mic pre-amps and much better converters which stem from the flagship X32 and offspring. Also if you are only requiring additional mic pre-amps that can hook up via ADAT then for even less shekels the ADA8200 Ultragain is packing those MIDAS based mic pre-amps.

All the best to all as always

Dean

 

Well, that was quite sensible. I have to think some more!

 

RME

 

Happy to help and indeed it is always worth planning as much as possible setup wise so that you do not find yourself with fine quality interfacing that won't damned well interface due to different ports used, So yeah having at least some feelers/eyes into the future is well worth it. I guess FireWire 800 being dropped for Thunderbolt is the obvious example, I know that it's possible to use adaptors but it is not optimal, Not tenable for a long period. Unless a person has built a hackintosh so that it already has a ti IEEE 1394b firewire 800 chipset card and also the other part being the availability of drivers so it's compatible with the OS version.
It is just the ultimate shits to have something which is perfectly fine, works great and delivers sound wise rendered obsolete due to support being dropped after a certain OS version so the drivers will not work, If there is one thing that I can not stand it is gear that gets dropped due to some fancy new range, Software wise it is pretty frustrating but hardware wise just beyond the pale, At least some still allow being hooked up without the need for the converters and interfacing stages which salvages the microphone pre amps to send on to a line in but still I dislike that happening. Therefore as fellow user's have mentioned, Solid drivers that you can depend on are extremely important I know with OSX it's possible to just use Core Audio and with Windows it's possible to use ASIO4ALL but still, Always better to have dedicated drivers for getting optimal performance.
Sure you'll find a setup which is right for you that will last and pay for itself hopefully after a period of time, That is how I always weigh up something when it comes to an interface that depends on hardware and software

Best as always

Dean

 

get second hand RME Fireface 802 and you won't need to seek for any other interface again,
if I remember well I got one of mine's for about 880€ still covered by warranty, rock solid piece, supports both Firewire and USB 2.0,
it's one of very few interfaces with two ADAT pairs (16in/16out yay), 4 mic/instr. pre's, 8in/8out line's, pair of headphones...what more to ask for in 1U rack unit :D
btw stay away from Fireface 800, it cannot run simultaneously all the 4 mic pre's and 8 line in's (!)