Which audio interface (budget) for use with Studio One 3? Help appreciated.

[wltchris101]

Hi all,

I'm about to do a long overdue update of my pc (new i7 CPU, motherboard, RAM and Windows 10), which unfortunately also means I need a new Windows 10 compatible audio interface. I'm looking at the NI KA6 or the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, or perhaps even the Scarlett Solo (I'm on a fairly low budget after the layout for the pc components). I mainly do in the box midi composition, so my main concern is driver stability and low latency performance. I will spend the extra for the NI KA6 if this is going to give me better stability/performance. Does anyone have experience of using either of these interfaces (or viable alternatives) with Studio One 3 in Windows 10 64-bit?

Thanks

[sprnva]

Taking drivers into account, I've heard good things here about the Steinberg interfaces. Haven't heard the same for Focusrite or NI.

I have a 6i6 but as I run it on a Mac it doesn't require any drivers as it runs in class-compliant mode. I had an Audio Kontrol 1 before this but crappy drivers meant I had to replace it eventually.

With the Scarlett, there's a second generation of them launching soon, so you might get a good deal on the old models. I got my LaunchKey 49 half price when they announced the second generation one. The 2i2 is known to have problems when recording guitar into it (I think this is due to the lack of a Pad option). If that's something you'd like to do down the line, maybe consider a higher up model.

[EnGee]

I have Presonus iTwo which is a budget audio interface. I had it for one year and it is really good.
Latency is not great but it's good enough for me. I use 44.1k sample rate with 265 buffer and I get about 5 ms latency in Win10 64bit.

[zArt]

I read a lot of things about many interfaces, in the end i went with Steinberg UR22 mk2 about 2 months ago.
Great build quality, very good drivers and support.

[wltchris101]

Thanks for the replies so far. I hadn't considered Steinberg, but with 2 out of 3 people so far recommending them, I will have to give them serious consideration. Also, the info about the 2i2 not being so great for recording guitar will probably push me away from that choice as I do occasionally record guitar. Thanks.

EnGee, those performance specs for the Presonus iTwo aren't bad. Do you use a lot of vsts/plugins? I've rarely been able to get down to 265 buffer settings (usually run at 512), but I do tend to be using a fair few cpu hungry vsts. But I have also been running a pretty old cpu for a while, and the upgrade I would imagine will help out with that.

[BrokenTrance]

https://www.zoom-na.com/products/produc ... -converter might be something to consider. Saw it after i bought my m-audio m-track plus mk2. The m-audio one is so so with the drivers. Can't recommend the zoom one though haven't been using it. Is usb3.

[Photo_G]

This looks pretty cool, even though it's refurbished:

https://shop.presonus.com/products/hard ... e-Platinum

G

[wltchris101]

I was looking at the Zoom UAC-2 but I found several stories of it having a very poor quality headphone output. Plus it's a bit more expensive (with perhaps USB 3 not outperforming a good USB 2 unit by that much).

The refurbished Presonus doesn't seem to be available in the UK.

Cheers.

[wltchris101]

After a bit more research it does indeed seem like the Steinberg UR22 mk2 is going to be my best option, so I think I'm going to go for that one. Thanks for all the replies.

Cheerio.

[EnGee]

EnGee, those performance specs for the Presonus iTwo aren't bad. Do you use a lot of vsts/plugins? I've rarely been able to get down to 265 buffer settings (usually run at 512), but I do tend to be using a fair few cpu hungry vsts. But I have also been running a pretty old cpu for a while, and the upgrade I would imagine will help out with that.

Yes, I run mostly Vsti plugs but I also use the audio input for my Blofeld, Casio digital piano and sometimes my iPad synths! Also I use sometimes a cheap mini mixer. I don't have any problem with audio inputs or outputs.

I use now heavy synths like Bazille, ACE and Diva. But with the multi cores enabled in the synths and setting the power options to high performance, I really don't have a problem with the cpu performance. I could run multiple instances of the hungry cpu plugs without even reach 50% and I have i5-4570 not modern i7.

I think the Steinberg audio interfaces are also very good and I can imagine Yamaha quality behind them but I haven't tried them, so it's only an impression from reviews.

[wltchris101]

Thanks for that Engee. Given that the price of the Presonus iTwo in the UK is about £45 more than the Steinberg, and also that it seems to be harder to find the same level of enthusiasm for the Presonus unit, I do think that Steinberg is the way to go for me though. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on that tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

All the best.

[EnGee]

Good choice

[DubLifeSD]

I've been using the original UR22 with Studio One for the last 3-4 years, and it's been great.

[chk071]

Good choice with the Steinberg interface. Quite unbeatable for that price. I hope you're not one of the (few) unlucky people though who experience this: https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewto ... cf4c507fe2 Don't want to scare you off, just a heads up, if you run into such issues. For me, deactivating my wifi adapter worked. Works fine then. And on my laptop, i didn't have any issues at all.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

if you can stretch to a UR44, you'll have a wonderful interface with extra i/o in case you ever need it, 4 pre amps, but most of all, excellent dsp effects for zero latency monitoring That's my recommendation.
Or the little motu or UR22 if the UR44 is too expensive