As a newbie I got a pair of question regarding the buying of an external audio interface.
My actual setup is iMac8,1 (Intel Core 2 Duo, 2,66 GHz) with 2 GB Ram
A pair of ESI Near 05 monitors and a Novation Remote 25 SL Compact keyboard, Ableton Live.
I think I'm going to buy an USB interface, as I want to plug the guitar in and record audio, using the onboard effects of Live or third part plugins (as GuitarRig or similar).
I was thinking about the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB, as the reviews are positive.
Questions are:
1) will I miss the lack of Midi In/Out? (I guess no, as the Novation runs midi trough USB, but what if I'm going to buy a hardware synth?)
2) Will I notice an improvement of outgoing sound, through my monitors?
Will the sound of the onboard Ableton softsynths really improves?
Will the general sound be actually "better" listening to everyday music ( I mean CDs, Mp3s, FLAC files, etc.) compared to the iMac onboard sound card?
Focusrite Scarlett for a newbie
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- KVRian
- 838 posts since 7 Jul, 2008 from Lost in the wilderness
I bought a Scarlett 18i6 and I'm VERY HAPPY with it indeed! The technology is the same, so the sound quality is surely the same -- and that means yes, you'll surely notice a big improvement in sound quality especially when compared to internal generic audiocards (that nowadays are almost all just inbuilt in the motherboard). I also have a Novation SL (the ReMote SL61 in my case) Mine has to have batteries or an external power suply if one wants to use the traditional MIDI in/out/thru. If only used with USB then it doesn't need any external power, but the traditional MIDI in/out/thru will not work without the external power supply (or batteries). Also, if you want to sequence external hardware you'll need a MIDI out on the interface itself, not on the keyboard. I would recommend any of the FocusRite audio interfaces that also have MIDI in/out, because the differences in price are not that big, IMHO. Compare here: http://global.focusrite.com/usb-audio-interfaces I would recommend the Scarlett 8i6, just because of the lack of MIDI in the 2i2. The 8i6 does have MIDI in/out. Good luck with your choice 
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