Having upgraded my (offline) studio machine to Windows 10, my Mackie Blackjack is no longer supported with drivers so I guess it might be time to ditch my trusty $150 interface. Given that rap is very focused on precise rhythm and I sometimes record additional takes after many plugins are added to a project, it's essential to me that I get an interface that can bypass my DAW/computer when monitoring.

Any suggestions?

 

I did find this: Zoom UAC-2

Anyone have experience with this interface/brand?

Edit: the Presonus Audiobox 22VSL seems to have it too

 

Last edited: Jun 21, 2016

I'm still using my 002 rack as the new drivers (supposedly untested/unsupported) still works flawlessly.

 

002 rack?

At any rate, mine actually stops me from installing. I get an error notification that my OS is not supported. I haven't yet tried to run in compatibility mode. Guess I'll try that when I get home

 

The Focusrite Scarllet has zero delay direct monitoring. It's a great affordable interface. I would certainly recommend it.

 

Yup old Betsy but still does the job

 

I see - according to the specs it's 'near zero' which isn't really a problem for me as long as it's inaudible. I see the 6i6 comes with two headphone jacks as well, which is great for me, bc my brother and I record together (but obviously don't have a control room). Comes with some Softube plugins as well. Great suggestion. Thanks buddy!

 

Do you mean an audio interface with built in dsp effects like the UAD apollo? Because many other interfaces in addition to those you mentioned have direct monitoring or zero delay monitoring: Focusrite, NI komplete audio 6, Novation audiohub...

 

Now that the concern has surfaced. Do you guys know ultraportable devices (USB powered, 2 preamps, phantom power) with DSP reverb o delay? The problem with near zero or direct out from input routing is the inability to track vocals with real-time effects, a downer for singers.

 

Audigy platinum,lol.

 

No I don't care about (or even really want) built-in effects. I just want an interface with direct input monitoring.

 

I am a fan of PreSonus Audiobox. Very flexible when it comes to monitor mixing/multiple mixes.

 

I ALWAYS record with direct out. As long as you route the vocal to a send and use something like Image Line Edison to record the performance all is wonderful and the singer can have reverb in the cans to enhance their performance. If you put a reverb on the channel of course it will not work. The track will be recorded dry, of course. I even used to be able to do this with my old Focusrite Saffire. I use FL Studio and this way is great for me.

 

i recommend the presonus or the scarlett interfaces. the 22vsl is a good choice!! but always think just a bit further, so go with the 44vsl!!

 

All of you should take in account that he's using Windows 10. Not many interfaces are 100% compatible with W10 and that's one of the 100 other reasons why I stay away from it. So since I don't have any experiences with W10, I don't know if some of them are not working properly with it. I was going to suggest Focusrite Scarlett, too, but the driver on the FR site is rather old [2013 IIRC?] so it probably doesn't work with W10.

If making music is important to you, it's better to stick to some older Windows OS, really, and use it only for music making.

 

Yeah, it was a trade off. My Push 2 had compatibility problems on Win 7, which I endured for seven months until I built a new PC and it had the same issue on 7. So I decided to suck it up and use 10.

 

I don't have a Focusrite Scarlett but a Saffire, the live monitoring is flawless. The scarlett is usb and the saffire is firewire, but I'm guessing they have the same feature.
Win 10 sucks btw..... Your win 7 problem with Push2 probably came from a missing library which was included in the win 10 iso you got, it should run on win 7.

 

Nah it wasn't the library. I went through that with support. trust me, it was just messed up in a bunch of ways.

 

It's cool Windows 10 fixed that for you....Push2 is nice, specialy with all its features. Did you get that partition space on your ssd back ? How is working your new setup, you like it ?

 

Yeah after I did the "correct" method of deleting Windows.old I lost the use of my Push. That's what I get for trusting microsoft not to fuck it up. So I did another system restore and took ownership of Windows.old to override W10's nannying and then deleted it manually. Got my space and my Push back. Now everything is running very smoothly. It's hard to say whether it's better or worse though bc the computer is clearly a couple leagues above the old one.

PS check your pm