can you recommend a good cheap low latency board/box

[mhog]

The Scarlett 2i2 has two mic/line/inst inputs, I think it's useless for your real needs. The Scarlett Solo has the same identical technical features and software bundled (Ableton Live Lite, Pro-Tools first, Bass Station, Scarlett plug-in suite and 1 gb loopmasters samples). The only difference is that it comes with one only input, therefore it costs less.

Hype here:
https://us.focusrite.com/usb-audio-inte ... rlett-solo

Product here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Focusrite-Scarl ... 1413183366

Last but not least: Focusrite gives away third party commercial plugins and instruments every month or so to registered users, for instance:

https://us.focusrite.com/addictive-keys

For your needs, I would go with this one. Not in case you own and play external hardware synths/devices and want to send their MIDI output to your DAW (and viceversa), because it has no audio/input MIDI ports (not a big issue, actually, since a midi-to-usb cable costs 10$ or less). The others have, as far as I know.

[bmrzycki]

There are reasons to purchase the 4-input version of a box instead of the two other than the number of inputs. Several companies put different chipsets inside the entry level device (to save cost) and can sometimes cause problems with drivers or overall stability. A good example of this is the Steinberg UR22 (not mkII). Amazon reviews and the Steinberg forum both discussed it at length.

My brother had a Scarlett Solo and switched to a Presonus Audiobox USB due to flaky driver support. I've had no experience with the Scarlett 2i2. To kevvvv, my brother loves his Audiobox. He too never uses the inputs, just uses it as an audio device to drive his monitors.

[mhog]

There are reasons to purchase the 4-input version of a box instead of the two other than the number of inputs. Several companies put different chipsets inside the entry level device (to save cost) and can sometimes cause problems with drivers or overall stability. A good example of this is the Steinberg UR22 (not mkII). Amazon reviews and the Steinberg forum both discussed it at length.

My brother had a Scarlett Solo and switched to a Presonus Audiobox USB due to flaky driver support. I've had no experience with the Scarlett 2i2.

I have both (Solo and 2i2). On my macs + LogicPro they are rock solid (native "plug and play", no driver needed), on PC (Ableton Live) there's a tiny "ASIO driver software" (whatever) to download via their site. What does "flaky driver support" mean?

[Dominus]

I have both (Solo and 2i2). On my macs + LogicPro they are rock solid (native "plug and play", no driver needed), on PC (Ableton Live) there's a tiny "ASIO driver software" (whatever) to download via their site. What does "flaky driver support" mean?

It means that if you have a problem with the driver, you're SOL. I fought with Focusrite when the Scarlett series first came out. Their driver was absolute garbage. Noise, blue screens, the Scarlett would just disappear and require me to reboot the computer. It was ridiculous. I wasted weeks trying to make it work.

I learned then that you get what you pay for. I upgraded to a used MOTU unit, used that (troublefree the whole time) then upgraded to a used RME unit. I'll never use anything else.

[mhog]

I have both (Solo and 2i2). On my macs + LogicPro they are rock solid (native "plug and play", no driver needed), on PC (Ableton Live) there's a tiny "ASIO driver software" (whatever) to download via their site. What does "flaky driver support" mean?

It means that if you have a problem with the driver, you're SOL. I fought with Focusrite when the Scarlett series first came out. Their driver was absolute garbage. Noise, blue screens, the Scarlett would just disappear and require me to reboot the computer. It was ridiculous. I wasted weeks trying to make it work.

I learned then that you get what you pay for. I upgraded to a used MOTU unit, used that (troublefree the whole time) then upgraded to a used RME unit. I'll never use anything else.

So, you mean one of the most prestigious audio interfaces companies (Focusrite), best sellers everywhere (the Scarlett series is the top-seeling in the world, as far as I know) has "garbage drivers"?! It makes no sense at all. As far as I'm concerned, I just plug, play and record, listen, play, record, play, listen and so on again and again and again and again and everything goes smoothly. If these products work is such bad ways, why they are best seller, then? Couldn't it be that it's your computer that has some issue? I have four computers (two macs and two pc) and I have had one single issue in years (some crackles while changing bit resolution). I emailed Focusrite and they solved it within 24 hours: it was my pc hardware, not the audio board. I guess most of the times people think "it's the audio board", but it's the pc. Infact audio board models are all the same, while computers are all different. Or I'm just lucky

[Dominus]

So, you mean one of the most prestigious audio interfaces companies (Focusrite), best sellers everywhere (the Scarlett series is the top-seeling in the world, as far as I know) has "garbage drivers"?! It makes no sense at all. As far as I'm concerned, I just plug, play and record, listen, play, record, play, listen and so on again and again and again and again and everything goes smoothly. If these products work is such bad ways, why they are best seller, then? Couldn't it be that it's your computer that has some issue? I have four computers (two macs and two pc) and I have had one single issue in years (some crackles while changing bit resolution). I emailed Focusrite and they solved it within 24 hours: it was my pc hardware, not the audio board. I guess most of the times people think "it's the audio board", but it's the pc. Infact audio board models are all the same, while computers are all different. Or I'm just lucky

At this point, I can't tell if you're trolling or just that naive. It's really hard to tell with all the nonsense you've posted in this thread.

I bought a Scarlett in July of 2011. I returned it in August. The first *fairly* workable beta driver came out in September:

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/product ... ces-3.html

Feel free to read through that thread. There's DOZENS more threads with people having problems with the Scarlett interface. They're a best seller because of the price... because people are cheap and don't want to spend money. Focusrite released the unit before they had a decent working driver. Any company that does that does not get my money or my recommendation.

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-c ... ivers.html

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much ... -hell.html

[mhog]

So, you mean one of the most prestigious audio interfaces companies (Focusrite), best sellers everywhere (the Scarlett series is the top-seeling in the world, as far as I know) has "garbage drivers"?! It makes no sense at all. As far as I'm concerned, I just plug, play and record, listen, play, record, play, listen and so on again and again and again and again and everything goes smoothly. If these products work is such bad ways, why they are best seller, then? Couldn't it be that it's your computer that has some issue? I have four computers (two macs and two pc) and I have had one single issue in years (some crackles while changing bit resolution). I emailed Focusrite and they solved it within 24 hours: it was my pc hardware, not the audio board. I guess most of the times people think "it's the audio board", but it's the pc. Infact audio board models are all the same, while computers are all different. Or I'm just lucky

At this point, I can't tell if you're trolling or just that naive. It's really hard to tell with all the nonsense you've posted in this thread.

I bought a Scarlett in July of 2011. I returned it in August. The first *fairly* workable beta driver came out in September:

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/product ... ces-3.html

Feel free to read through that thread. There's DOZENS more threads with people having problems with the Scarlett interface. They're a best seller because of the price... because people are cheap and don't want to spend money. Focusrite released the unit before they had a decent working driver. Any company that does that does not get my money or my recommendation.

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-c ... ivers.html

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much ... -hell.html

What cheap price? The price is within range ($100 to $1000), they aren't neither "cheap" nor "pricey". Again I guess these of yours are sort of geeky issues, sorry. As far as I am concerned, I just use audio boards to play my music, and they work. I'm not an audio engineer, I don't know what you are talking about (or better: I'm not so interested in chips, chops, ircs, roms, leds, tests... whatever , since I use computer to play music, not viceversa, as you seem to do, honestly)

[Dominus]

What cheap price? The price is within range ($100 to $1000), they aren't neither "cheap" nor "pricey". Again I guess these of yours are sort of geeky issues, sorry. As far as I am concerned, I just use audio boards to play my music, and they work. I'm not an audio engineer, I don't know what you are talking about (or better: I'm not so interested in chips, chops, ircs, roms, leds, tests... whatever , since I use computer to play music, not viceversa, as you seem to do, honestly)

By your own admission, you have no idea what you're talking about.

You saw the word "cheap" and that's where you stopped reading. I've given my opinion on "good and low latency" and what happens when you try to go "cheap".

[mhog]

What cheap price? The price is within range ($100 to $1000), they aren't neither "cheap" nor "pricey". Again I guess these of yours are sort of geeky issues, sorry. As far as I am concerned, I just use audio boards to play my music, and they work. I'm not an audio engineer, I don't know what you are talking about (or better: I'm not so interested in chips, chops, ircs, roms, leds, tests... whatever , since I use computer to play music, not viceversa, as you seem to do, honestly)

By your own admission, you have no idea what you're talking about.

You saw the word "cheap" and that's where you stopped reading. I've given my opinion on "good and low latency" and what happens when you try to go "cheap".

As far as I know the Scarlet audio boards have the lowest latency among consumer interfaces. You can find lower latencies (0.5 or so) only on pro interfaces. So:

$100 = high quality, low latency, useful for hobbist

$1000 = top quality, near 0 latency, totally useless for home recording musicians (99,9% here)

This is the real difference IMO

[mhog]

Conclusion: no need to waste $1000 when you get the same results and audio quality with a simple $100 board, unsless you like to show up in front of your friends or smth (which I honestly would find rather embarassing)

[bmrzycki]

What does "flaky driver support" mean?

On Windows 10 he had problems with it working sometimes. He'd have to unplug the unit and re-attach it. He changed USB ports, cables, re-installed the driver. Nothing fixed it. He went with the AudioBox and hasn't had a single problem since. I'm glad you haven't had problems with the Solo: he did.

[mhog]

What does "flaky driver support" mean?

On Windows 10 he had problems with it working sometimes. He'd have to unplug the unit and re-attach it. He changed USB ports, cables, re-installed the driver. Nothing fixed it. He went with the AudioBox and hasn't had a single problem since. I'm glad you haven't had problems with the Solo: he did.

Again, I guess it was his computer then. Otherwise these issuea would happen to every Windows10 user, right? I guess this is not the case, since they sell thousands of items.

By the way, all the other interfaces are good, I suggested the Scarlet Solo, only because it is the simpler one (1 input), it is made by a renowned company, it has the lowest latency among that range and it works like a charm both on my macs and in my pc. I don't think it "sounds better" or whatever. They all sound the same IMO. The only difference is in the number of input ports. Since the thread opener has no need of recording external instruments AND WANTS a cheap product and low latency, I guess this is the best he can find. Of course the higher the price the better quality. But why having 12 inputs if you don't even use one? Dust collector or what?

[t3toooo]

Again, I guess it was his computer then. Otherwise it would happen with every Windows10 user, and I guess this is not the case, since they sell thousands of items.

By the way, all the other interfaces are good,

For you as a Mac user,many issues with Windows though.Can't you read?
How often must this be repeated to understand.There are Satisfied Windows users but a lot are not.
That's why some people including me are suggesting devices with good (Windows) driver support...

[mhog]

Again, I guess it was his computer then. Otherwise it would happen with every Windows10 user, and I guess this is not the case, since they sell thousands of items.

By the way, all the other interfaces are good,

For you as a Mac user,many issues with Windows though.Can't you read?

I use them both on my 2 macs (native, no need of driver) and my 2 pc (w7 and w10) and have no issues at all. "Can't read"?

[t3toooo]

Again, I guess it was his computer then. Otherwise it would happen with every Windows10 user, and I guess this is not the case, since they sell thousands of items.

By the way, all the other interfaces are good,

For you as a Mac user,many issues with Windows though.Can't you read?

I use them both ony 2 macs (native, no need of driver) and my 2 pc (w7 and w10) and have no issues at all. "Can read"?

Can't read for f**k sake reviews?

This is going nuts i'm out,bye.