RME.

 

Totally outside the budget in focus but one of the more portable options with great sound quality for sure:
Teenage Engineering TX-6.

 

Rme babyface, buy it used if money is an issue and don't look further. Thread closed
EDIT: It's not only the quality of pres and converters (you can get good sound even with 100 euros/dollars these days) but the rocksolid drivers and their CPU efficiency (very important point). There's simply no comparison with other interfaces at that price. Spend one time and stop spending for a lot of years. I'm still on a FF800 that is serving me well after 16 years. No reason to upgrade for now.

 

Last edited: Jul 25, 2022

I've had 5 or 6 different audio interfaces over a lot of years. Most turned out to be disposable junk. One of those Focusrite Scarlett models was falling apart after 6 months. The only decent one was made by M-Audio, but that one had a card you had to install in your PC, and as PC specs changed over time, their product became obsolete (a long with their company too!).

2 1/2 years ago I bought a Babyface Pro FS. I've never had a better experience with one of these devices, nothing comes close. 2 years and not one down day or broken recording session due to equipment failure or screw up. Other than after firmware updates, I've never even had to re-boot the damn thing. Were I to add up all the money I spent on other interfaces that wound up in the junk heap, it would be a lot more than what I spent on the Babyface. I have complete confidence that 5 years from now I'll still be able to say the same about the Babyface because I'm convinced RME will continue to update the drivers/firmware if needed; that's what they always do at RME.

Though I've never had to contact RME on a warranty-type issue, I have written to them with questions a few times. They always got back within 24 hours with solid solutions to whatever was puzzling me. Contrast that with a company like Presonus who I had a warranty issue with about a year and a half ago. Getting their help was like a death-match scene from Game of Thrones! It wasn't a question of whether or not they'd help you, more like which of you would die first in battle. Based on the experiences of several friends, UAD is no better when it comes to similar issues. Once you fork out your money the company is nowhere to be found.

RME has, or at least had, a software giveaway with the Babyface Pro. I purchased mine before that giveaway began and so I wasn't eligible for it. I wrote to them asking if I should hold off on my next purchase with them because I didn't want to lose out on their next giveaway. The next day they emailed me licenses for the entire Babyface software package. Good luck finding music equipment companies that will be so nice. I certainly haven't seen it very often and have been buying music equipment for decades.

I know you said its currently beyond your budget, and I truly sympathize. Lots of people having a tough time of it nowadays. But if there's any way for you to work it out, go for RME Babyface. Over the course of time I truly believe you'll see that you did yourself a favor. After all, less frustration in life is always better.

 

You forgot the word "affordable" in the thread title, so you can't really blame someone for jumping to page two without reading the first post. It explains how you go from an option like an M2 for about 200 bucks, to a 800/999$ RME.

The inclusion of the Volt instead of an Apollo Twin would make a little more sense to them. No Apogee for 200 bucks either. lol.

In what use circumstance would someone want a (around) 1000$ interface to be truly portable?
They even put Kensington locks on some cheap synths now, I recently noticed. You can spend like 100$ on a lock for your 300$ keyboard.

 

Last edited: Jul 25, 2022

What is this? Some kind of RME religious fanaticism??

Ok ok, it is - "me too". I admit.. I have a Babyface PRO here for my home setup (also I used RME gear before). For "home" IIRC I was going for medium tier Audient, Focusrite etc. Those cards were 300-400€ but, there were reports with drivers problems, latency wasn't so good on some aso..

At that point I said to myself - if the price for BF ever drops under 600 (new), I'll take it. A couple of days later a shop in GER was selling it for 599 and here she is. I'll just give you my reasoning behind my decision: those other interfaces are not free! You spend 300 or 400 and (possibly) get a headache bundled.

So, if possible, I'd go either for something like under 200, or something like BF. Not that "in the middle" stuff unless I'd be 110% sure it ticks all the boxes.

That being said, I can see the prices for BF Pro FS are much higher than what I paid. I guess the Audient line should be just fine - in fact I plan do get one of those for my gf (for teaching over zoom). AFAIK they have (like MOTU) a simple loopback capability, which is great if you want to stream audio, collaborate etc.. Always check as many forums as possible if ppl are pissed over the SW/drivers functionality and/ or other important things.

 

Based on my experience for affordable Interface I would recommend Motu or Audient

But this cheaper one is also good
Midiplus Studio 4
https://www.midiplus.com.tw/en/product-detail/Studio4/

 

Last edited: Jul 25, 2022

Audient ID14 is my stationary input device, but I don't see why it wouldn't be amazing portable. Switched from a reliable PCI Card (AP/2496) to this and WOW - what a difference. So amazing to work with. Only drawback is not being able to adjust headphone volume onboard the PC using the interface - have to hand crank the little sucker ... but not a major drawback.

 

I have several friends using the Focusrite Scarlets, from the smallest to the largest, either at home or live.

While I've not got one myself they seem to be rock solid, both physically and software-wise. And from what I have heard they sound very good as well (again, live and recordings) and the preamps can handle a wide variety of inputs.

So if you don't want to splurge these would be solid options, or if you like the "MOTU sound" stick with those.

 

I use the minifuse 1 and its perfect : cheap, sturdy, very small, absolute pristine sound (no glitches like I had with my old m-audio interface). Once you installed the drivers you can plug out and in and it will setup automatically. Tho I must say I only had it for about 5 months so I don't know how it will face the test of time.

 

If midi inputs are important then the SSL2+, two SSL preamps, 2 headphone outputs, what's not to like. If midi isn't then Audient iD14 MKII has expandable option through adding another 8 preamps via ADAT giving you 10 inputs. Swings and roundabouts and comes down to individual needs. Good luck.

 

The best cheap interface recommendation would be the STERLING H224. I use one of these with a 7700k sff pc for production tasks. It's rock solid. Not sure how long they'll support the driver, but it fk'n works excellent, is full of options, and has a minimum 32 block buffer. Built like a tank. Completed a ~120 track project full of serum, diva, sugar bytes, waves, kontakt libraries, blah blah... The PC CPU was eventually brought to its knees, not the interface. Check it :
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro...interface-with-192-khz-sample-rate-capability ($109)
https://www.guitarcenter.com/Sterli...erface-With-192-KHz-Sample-Rate-Capability.gc (32 reviews)

 

Last edited: Jul 25, 2022

This one definitely seems interesting and a good price. However, doesn't seem to be available in the UK, unfortunately!

 

They're being sold all over the place. Used is a great option too. eBay UK has a couple new and 1 used! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325267423666?epid=8045261555&hash=item4bbb7301b2:g:ZPgAAOSwnjlhxXBx
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175183723891?epid=8045261555&hash=item28c9c37d73:g:DL4AAOSw0t5iH~U4
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304400331403?epid=8045261555&hash=item46dfac728b:g:8S4AAOSw~AxiMhq6

I recommended this interface to a friend in the states who just bought a new Acer laptop Ryzen 7. He got one used, mint condition on eBay for $40! Pretty sick, imo.

 

Last edited: Jul 25, 2022

They're available on eBay UK, but are actually being sold by US sellers if you look. Might be ok still, but can be a hassle if any issues with sale when dealing with international sales though. It does seem like a good interface though!

 

eeeh, I think I have about 8 nice RME interfaces by now, all bought used, all functional, rock solid, don't use anything else because there isn't really anything more stable on the market I guess,

but, to be honest I don't think you really need RME interface for your use case,
if you work mostly in the box, then all you need is solid drivers (preferably no drivers - "class compliant" interface) and comfortable physical volume control knob (eventually separate physical knob for headphones volume control),
with Babyface and Babyface Pro you don't get Dynamics, which is a deal breaker for me (can't do gain adjustments, safety limiting, compression/expansion on monitoring path),

from the list of yours, I'd pick Native Instruments Komplete Audio 2, it's relatively very new so should have good driver support, and isn't too expensive for what it offers, I think they're using thesycon.de drivers on Windows and on MacOS no drivers needed,
from past experiences, Presonus, M-Audio and Focusrite are quite bad for driver support, Behringer is screaming cheap, and Steinberg is trying to catch up, UA and SSL are overrated, Swissonic is in-house Thomann brand no idea what to think about it long-term....

 

Last edited: Jul 25, 2022

So, I've been having a look around my local area for used deals, and got a couple of decent sounding ones. These are mainly for a cheap shorter-to-mid term solution, then hopefully selling for buy price (or thereabouts) and picking up an RME Babyface Pro FS in the longer term. The deals I've found locally, all used, are:

• £25 - Donner Livejack Lite (clone of Focusrite 2i2)
• £45 - Focusrite Saffire 6 USB
• £65 - Focusrite 6i6 1st Gen
• £80 - Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 Mk2
• £85 - Audient ID14 Mk2
• £120 - SSL2

I think I know which I'm leaning towards, but just gauging thoughts....

 

Last edited: Jul 25, 2022

Hoping to pull the trigger on one of these today, so any last minute input would be hugely appreciated!

When considering, my main goal is to have good sound sound quality, relieve my laptop of some of the audio processing pressures (ideally with as low latency as possible, but not critical as I mostly work with MIDI/VSTi/VST), and something that will be supported for at least the next 12 or so months.

 

I'd skip the Focusrites. Do you have any intention of using any digital connections? One of them I would pick is adat optical, and the other is spdif coaxial. They all look like decent deals used, but I'd go with the Audient. I have heard too many good things, and nothing at all about the Komplete.

 

have a MOTU M2! stable and great interface! under WIN10......
have fun time.