KVR Audio

Bansaw · Post by **Bansaw** » Sun Sep 24, 2017 1:12 pm

I've got a lowly Beringher UM2 and not happy with it.
We have a Focusrite at work and thats better.
But now that there's USB3, is there any audio interface out there thats snappier than Focusrite, or some kind of internal desktop PC card that will do a better job.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Sun Sep 24, 2017 1:19 pm

What is a "snappy" audio interface?

Boone777 · Post by **Boone777** » Sun Sep 24, 2017 1:32 pm

Bansaw wrote:I've got a lowly Beringher UM2 and not happy with it.
We have a Focusrite at work and thats better.
But now that there's USB3, is there any audio interface out there thats snappier than Focusrite, or some kind of internal desktop PC card that will do a better job.

They offer a lot it terms of hardware but in terms of drivers in my experience it's been not so good. You can buy it and make sure you can return it hassle free if it doesnt work well on your system. Chances are it's not very future proof if it tends to be not working well on a lot of systems.

Apratim · Post by **Apratim** » Sun Sep 24, 2017 1:42 pm

yes there is usb 3.0 in zoom's audio interface
but that wont cause anything to become faster (may be 0.5ms to 1ms may differ than your current setting for playback)
usb 3.0 only increased the bandwidth from 40megs/sec to 400megs /sec which will be only useful if you are recording multi track sessions of around 10 inputs at high sampling rate
and bandwidth and latency are two different things
and for
bang for buck i would say get Beringher 202HD may be 204HD those xyney preamp are shit as f**k i also hated them so got the HDversion(202HD)

JJ_Jettflow · Post by **JJ_Jettflow** » Sun Sep 24, 2017 2:37 pm

Another thing to consider is the preamp impedance. For modern high-output guitars, an impedance of at least 1 Meg Ohm is needed. The Focusrite 2i2 V2 has these. The V1 does not.

https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advi ... s-and-mics

Bansaw · Post by **Bansaw** » Sun Sep 24, 2017 7:24 pm

Thanks all.
What I am looking for is low latency (i.e. the time it takes for me to press a key on my midi controller to the time it takes to come out of the speakers.)

JJ_Jettflow · Post by **JJ_Jettflow** » Sun Sep 24, 2017 7:53 pm

Bansaw wrote:Thanks all.
What I am looking for is low latency (i.e. the time it takes for me to press a key on my midi controller to the time it takes to come out of the speakers.)

The Focusrite 2i2 is pretty good for low latency.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Sun Sep 24, 2017 7:57 pm

I found the Steinberg interfaces to be the best price/performance ratio. At least i didn't found anything else in that price range, which has features similar to the UR22 mk2.

Not really sure about latency, because, i didn't optimized my Windows computer for audio, but, i figure it's as good as anything else in that regard. I don't need extremely low latency for what i do anyway.

JJ_Jettflow · Post by **JJ_Jettflow** » Sun Sep 24, 2017 7:59 pm

chk071 wrote:I found the Steinberg interfaces to be the best price/performance ratio. At least i didn't found anything else in that price range, which has features similar to the UR22 mk2.

I had one of them too and they are very good. But I put some HO pups in my guitar and it started overloading the input. This is how I found about the input impedance.

Bansaw · Post by **Bansaw** » Sun Sep 24, 2017 8:13 pm

JJ_Jettflow wrote:
Bansaw wrote:Thanks all.
What I am looking for is low latency (i.e. the time it takes for me to press a key on my midi controller to the time it takes to come out of the speakers.)
The Focusrite 2i2 is pretty good for low latency.

What about the Focusrite Solo. I guess the same latency performance since it will be the same circuitry , right?

JJ_Jettflow · Post by **JJ_Jettflow** » Sun Sep 24, 2017 8:16 pm

Bansaw wrote:
JJ_Jettflow wrote:
Bansaw wrote:Thanks all.
What I am looking for is low latency (i.e. the time it takes for me to press a key on my midi controller to the time it takes to come out of the speakers.)
The Focusrite 2i2 is pretty good for low latency.
What about the Focusrite Solo. I guess the same latency performance since it will be the same circuitry , right?

Appears not to be the same. It says 52K ohm.

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

JJ_Jettflow · Post by **JJ_Jettflow** » Sun Sep 24, 2017 8:20 pm

Didn't look down far enough! yes its the same.

Astralv · Post by **Astralv** » Mon Oct 02, 2017 12:32 am

Apple or Mac? What will it be used for? What is your budget? How many channels are you looking for? Presonus makes good audio interfaces. USB 2 will work as good as USB 3. If you need only few channels, Universal Audio would be great- this is Pro level. If you dont care about "Pro Level", get Presonus, or MOTU. MOTU has different options for all budjets. I switched from Presonus to MOTU AVB Thunderbolt. But most of their devices work with USB 2/3.

Bansaw · Post by **Bansaw** » Mon Oct 02, 2017 12:52 am

Astralv wrote:Apple or Mac? What will it be used for? What is your budget? How many channels are you looking for? Presonus makes good audio interfaces. USB 2 will work as good as USB 3. If you need only few channels, Universal Audio would be great- this is Pro level. If you dont care about "Pro Level", get Presonus, or MOTU. MOTU has different options for all budjets. I switched from Presonus to MOTU AVB Thunderbolt. But most of their devices work with USB 2/3.

My budget is about $100, WindowsPC. Does the Presonus have its own proprietary ASIO drivers? Focustite does, but my current one (Beringher) does not and wants me to use ASIO4ALL.
Is presonus as good with latency as Focusrite? I am assuming it would be. The Presonus usb96 comes with a midi interface at the back which is nice.

ontol · Post by **ontol** » Mon Oct 02, 2017 2:43 am

I have a Presonus 44VSL and experience crackles and bad latency. (Win7/64, i7 920, 18G RAM, StudioOne 3). It doesn't even handle iTunes very well.

I used the VSL to dump down old cassette 4 tracks to digital since I could jack up the buffers and the latency wouldn't matter. Once the transfer was complete, I'd switch back to my old mBox 3 (only 2 inputs), which works flawlessly on my system.

I am sure with any interface there will be some custom system which won't play nice. Mine just happens to not like Presonus.

Is Focusrite the best bang-for-the-buck audio interface, or is there something thats better ?