KVR Audio

danyo2008 · Post by **danyo2008** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 9:35 am

Hi,

I have the problem, since my projects becomes bigger, that I have a CPU usage of nearly 100% and also audio buffer problems. That sounds really horrible during playback the project in my DAW. I have resized the buffer to the maximum now, what didn't solve the problem.

What could be the problem here?

I have an i7 processor with, quad core, 2,3 GHz, 8GiB RAM.

What I do not have is an Audio Interface. Until now, the on board Sound did the Job.

I produce electronic music and I do not want to record any external instruments. Midi input would be nice to have, but have also a midi keyboard plugged in via another port. So, only nice to have. I also need a Mic Input.

Because at the moment, I just do it because it makes fun, the Audio Interface should have a good price-performance ratio. Nothing too expensive.

Is there something, you can recommend?

Thanks and regards
Danyo

ganym3d · Post by **ganym3d** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 9:50 am

Hmmm, you can buy this one: https://www.steinberg.net/de/products/d ... /ur22.html

I have this and i would sell this for 40€ (approx. 50 Bucks in the USA).

Cheers,

ganym3d

Septimon · Post by **Septimon** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 10:10 am

Any decent audio interface will Improve the Performance of your system significantly. I can recommend Focusrite (good value and performance) and MOTU (very good value, exzellent performance, but more expensive than focusrite)
It really depends on your budget.
The steinberg interface might also do its job.
If you buy Second Hand, always Check the compatibility with your System. Some manufacturers don‘t Provide drivers for older devices!

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 10:16 am

Yeah, I'd also recommend the UR22. Works rock solid here, and seems like the best bang for the buck.

danyo2008 · Post by **danyo2008** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 10:54 am

ganym3d wrote:Hmmm, you can buy this one: https://www.steinberg.net/de/products/d ... /ur22.html

I have this and i would sell this for 40€ (approx. 50 Bucks in the USA).

Cheers,

ganym3d

Hi,

What is the difference to the MKII Version?

ganym3d · Post by **ganym3d** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 11:01 am

danyo2008 wrote:
ganym3d wrote:Hmmm, you can buy this one: https://www.steinberg.net/de/products/d ... /ur22.html

I have this and i would sell this for 40€ (approx. 50 Bucks in the USA).

Cheers,

ganym3d
Hi,

What is the difference to the MKII Version?

Hi,

hmmm, the additional Port for an external Power-Supply is the difference (has to do with iPad & Co., so this might be not relevant for your case of use). And, as somebody mentioned before, there IS an actual driver...

Greets,
ganym3d

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 11:07 am

I've had a good experience with NI audio interfaces. I use the AK1, a friend has the Komplete Audio 2 ... both reccomended.

Apratim · Post by **Apratim** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 11:24 am

I have the umc202hd and never had any problem with it till now and is quite good for audio playback from daw

And some one from a forum did the dac comparison of the umc202hd or 204hd with iFi iDAC3 and the umc had lower third harmonic distortion than the iFi iDAC3 while iFi iDAC3 also produced 2 harmonium distortion as well which was absent in umc

In short get umc202hd

mindnoise · Post by **mindnoise** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 11:49 am

IMHO any audiointerface under $250 is not better than the usual onboard sound.

like the iConnectAudio2+ / 4+ sound pretty much the same as my Mac mini onboard sound.
You just get more I/O. So if that es enough for you I can recommend them. PLUS they have vast internal routing capabilities and digital Audio Passthru meaning: you can connect 2 Computers (Desktop or iOS) and stream multichannel audio between them.

Presonus Studio 6|8 great sound - even (slightly) better sound than the big Presonus Quantum - I A/B'ed that. Don't get the smaller 2|6 the sound is really worse than the 6|8.

Yamaha AG03 is also very nice for the price. The bigger AG06 is not worth it, IMHO

Motu Microbook IIc (IIc is important) great sound but no MIDI.

Other than that I'd wait for the new Steinberg UR-RT2 / UR-RT4 . They seem to be a great bang for the buck with extensive iOS support and Neve input transformers.

And they are all iOS-compatible.

mindnoise · Post by **mindnoise** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 11:58 am

danyo2008 wrote:
ganym3d wrote:Hmmm, you can buy this one: https://www.steinberg.net/de/products/d ... /ur22.html

I have this and i would sell this for 40€ (approx. 50 Bucks in the USA).

Cheers,

ganym3d
Hi,

What is the difference to the MKII Version?

MkII is iOS compatible / USB Class Complient, I would not recommend an earlier version.

FunktionMusic · Post by **FunktionMusic** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 9:19 pm

I love my Scarlett 2i2 Gen2!

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 9:24 pm

mindnoise wrote:IMHO any audiointerface under $250 is not better than the usual onboard sound.

Not true at all. Onboard chips are still worse than even moderately cheap consumer sound cards. There's not too much of a difference between those, and budget audio interfaces though. But, every onboard chip i ever tried was definitely worse than any audio interface i ever tried. In fact, most of them plain sucked.

I'm not sure if you actually mean PC mainboard onboard sound though. Of course, the sound chips in Macs or Macbooks will be better than that. No wonder, considering the high price of those. Would be a joke if Apple built in sucky sound chips then, considering a part of their clientel fiddle with audio apps.

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 11:28 am

Septimon wrote:Any decent audio interface will Improve the Performance of your system significantly.

Sorry, I cannot agree with this. Sure the sound quality will improve, but system load remains about the same. Onboard sound doesn't use that much resources to warrant any significant change if the system load currently is too high already.

Freezing some tracks will work though, and doesn't cost anything.

Septimon · Post by **Septimon** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 2:22 pm

BertKoor wrote:
Septimon wrote:Any decent audio interface will Improve the Performance of your system significantly.
Sorry, I cannot agree with this. Sure the sound quality will improve, but system load remains about the same. Onboard sound doesn't use that much resources to warrant any significant change if the system load currently is too high already.

Freezing some tracks will work though, and doesn't cost anything.

With my MOTU Ultralite i can set the buffer to a much higher setting (256 and above) and still get good latency values. With onboard Chips the latency with a Setting of 256 is mich higher. Higher buffer means less CPU usage, so yes, a good Audio Interface Improves Performance.

rotku60 · Post by **rotku60** » Wed Apr 18, 2018 2:45 pm

I have been using the Steinberg UR22mkII. Works without any issues. Buffer set at 256 is solid for CPU performance. My old Echo MIDIMIA was a PCI card that had a little better latency but not by much. I imagine most interfaces at this price point function pretty well.

Which Audio Interface would you recommend