Shopping for an interface

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Wed Feb 13, 2019 11:57 pm

So yeah, I've decided to enjoy the future, quit living in the past, gave up on being one of those dudes that only fucks with tapes in 2019 and decided to give the digital game a shot, took a class on recording to learn about DAWs and sweet recording techniques. Now I want an interface. I've been toying with MIDI instruments and all that stuff and wanted to try it at home with my band so I got a fancy MacBook Pro, but need a good interface to go digital. Looking at 4 input ones for my band so I could try and get 4 tracks going at once if I have to, and

1. Resident Audio T4.
4 inputs for the band, thunderbolt 2 (for less latency?), MIDI inputs, sleek and easy to power. Nice and small, one cable, Ive really been stuck on this one.
Buuut I hear reviews all over the place with this thing. For the price it doesn't seem like the biggest miss because it probably can be returned, but I hear it really doesn't like working with new Macs and you need this "cable matters" thunderbolt 2-3 adapter. still $200 all together. Anyone ever fuck with one of these? or should I just avoid?

2. TASCAM "US" series.
The 4 AND 8 input one is in my price range, I've heard good things about these, and am interested. This guy is USB, so I don't have to worry about rolling the dice on a thunderbolt adapter that may or may not work.

3. BEHRINGER UMC404HD
Another affordable simple 4 input interface, also read promising stuff on these. The word Behringer kinda sketches me out though.

Any recommendations in the 200-300 range? I know the thunderbolt interfaces can get pricey, and they're all thunderbolt 2 anyway so I'm not trying to go crazy on one of those, would bite on that resident audio one though if someone has experience with it. Really just looking for something reliable and easy to use that doesn't produce much latency.

I've also read about the Focusrite stuff but it gets kinda pricey and I don't think it has MIDI inputs, any input on these too?

Thx homies

ultratwin · Post by **ultratwin** » Thu Feb 14, 2019 12:28 am

Reading things over, I'd probably just get a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 for a sub-$300 interface, MIDI and all.

Focusrite has hammered out a lot of the early kinks in the line, and as long as the internal buffers in your DAW are set to kill, you'll have a fine AD/DA converter with a Scarlett. Also, as you won't be running 8+ inputs at once, will be USB will be plenty fast and I wouldn't worry about needing Thunderbolt.

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Thu Feb 14, 2019 1:52 am

The behringer is great, had mine for about a year. I used 2 inputs for instruments + 1 in and out so I can use my pedal board as outboard fx, low noise and latency and the pre' S are quite nice.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Thu Feb 14, 2019 9:21 am

I also have a behringer recording interface and it's awesome. I much prefer it to the focusirite saffire pro I used to have, mainly just for the ease of use. I plug it in and it just sounds good.

I record all my videos direct into a UMC202HD

[youtube][/youtube]

George · Post by **George** » Thu Feb 14, 2019 10:55 am

Yeah I have that 2 input Behringer. So good for the money.

sunshiner · Post by **sunshiner** » Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:01 am

Noob question: why do I need a 2 input interface for home recording over a 1 input (intrument+mic) one?

And what kind of daw are you planning to use?

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Thu Feb 14, 2019 11:11 am

sunshiner wrote:Noob question: why do I need a 2 input interface for home recording over a 1 input (intrument+mic) one?

And what kind of daw are you planning to use?

You don't, but the original post was planning to record 4 tracks at once so needs 4 inputs. I still use a line 6 ux1 for my guitar as I like amp farm and the behringer is for my synths and fx.

sp3k · Post by **sp3k** » Thu Feb 14, 2019 6:25 pm

I got the behringer 8 input one. It's awesome and only like 180, even if it breaks in 2 or 3 years it's still way cheaper than anything else with 8 inputs.

Post by **Mike** » Thu Feb 14, 2019 9:21 pm

ultratwin wrote:Reading things over, I'd probably just get a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 for a sub-$300 interface, MIDI and all.

Focusrite has hammered out a lot of the early kinks in the line, and as long as the internal buffers in your DAW are set to kill, you'll have a fine AD/DA converter with a Scarlett. Also, as you won't be running 8+ inputs at once, will be USB will be plenty fast and I wouldn't worry about needing Thunderbolt.

I have the 2i version of this and itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s fucking MINT

sounds bloody lovely and very easy to use

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Sun Feb 17, 2019 3:01 am

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! Gonna look into that Focusrite and Behringer more, that resident audio is so tempting but that thing looks like a boatload of problems. Wanna have my lil' home studio up by the time spring semester is over. I'm stoked, got 2 albums planned.

plaidbeer · Post by **plaidbeer** » Mon Feb 18, 2019 12:46 am

I have the Scarlett 2i4 and only use it for a couple of things but I really like mine. Prior to that, I had a Personus Firebox that lasted me for years.

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Sat Feb 23, 2019 10:40 pm

Nice, I was thinking about using one of the presonus ones because they make studio one, but I think I'm about set to order up one of these Focusrite's here soon. Either gonna snap up that 6i6 or the 18i8.

Also found out my E-drum set has MIDI in and out. Can I monitor this in real time like a midi keyboard? Was doing some research and it looks like it'd be a lot of fun to just record my e-drums with MIDI so they're easier to edit. Anyone have any experience with that?

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Sun Feb 24, 2019 7:51 pm

I've done a bunch of theatre gigs where they use V-drums to trigger a drum plugin on a laptop. Seems to work well most of the time, there will be some latency however which may alter the feel.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Mon Feb 25, 2019 3:43 pm

I had a Scarlett but had to ditch it as I had serious latency issues with it. I replaced mine with a Roland Quad Capture and it's been rock solid. When I googled the issues I was having with the Focusrite it seemed to be a fairly common issue. Basically if it works its fine, if it's remotely weird on your setup take it straight back. Mine was def a hardware issue.

Post by **Doog** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 2:17 pm

Can anyone recommend a 12+ track interface compatible with Mac OS?

I'm looking at getting a half-decent Macbook Pro for developing/farting around at home, and would love to be able to record all drum tracks on one machine, preferably for not an additional grand.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:35 pm

Doog wrote:Can anyone recommend a 12+ track interface compatible with Mac OS?

I'm looking at getting a half-decent Macbook Pro for developing/farting around at home, and would love to be able to record all drum tracks on one machine, preferably for not an additional grand.

you just fuckin said you cant record weezer because you cant fart around at home.

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 4:46 pm

Doug's voice must be seriously fucking loud...

► Show Spoiler

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 5:37 pm

Doog wrote:Can anyone recommend a 12+ track interface compatible with Mac OS?

I'm looking at getting a half-decent Macbook Pro for developing/farting around at home, and would love to be able to record all drum tracks on one machine, preferably for not an additional grand.

you really need 12 inputs just for drums or are you going for full band tracking? I use a Tascam US-1800 with my Mac mini, nothing to compare it to but it works and was cheap for the amount of inputs.

Post by **Doog** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 7:17 pm

robroe wrote: you just fuckin said you cant record weezer because you cant fart around at home.

'Farting around' meaning the same farting-around I do on my current desktop machine; not recording vocals. This is for future sessions where I've got studio/practice spaces booked that are not my house and will definitely not involve farting-around.

Nick wrote:you really need 12 inputs just for drums or are you going for full band tracking? I use a Tascam US-1800 with my Mac mini, nothing to compare it to but it works and was cheap for the amount of inputs.

I mean, I've already got that little Zoom R-16 (8 inputs tho) thing I could use as an interface, but I really wanna make the leap to make it worthwhile. I did 9 drum mics for the last Doog thing, but had to use my work Macbook for the room mics; kinda messes with the whole 'hear everything together' aspect of engineering. I'd love to be able to do live sessions with it, just as an option.

Weirdly, the US-1800 did come up in my searches earlier; I'd be happy enough putting a snare-under mic straight to 1/4" input, leaving me with 8 XLR inputs, with entire phantom power for 4 condensers.

Will give it a proper look, thanks man!

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Thu Feb 28, 2019 7:55 pm

A Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 or Clarett 8Pre with the matching OctoPre would give you 16 balanced XLR inputs but might be more than you want to spend?