RME Babyface Pro or Focusrite Scarlett? (Quality vs Inputs)

K

Klof

New member
Hey.
So finally I could make some deals and got everything I need to record my songs the way I want to (Martin D-35 with Shure Sm81, AKG414 for my golden voice :rolleyes: haha, and a Shure57 just in case)

I just need now a interface.

Yes it's going to be basically Singer/songwriter kind of stuff with just Voice and guitar.
And I'll mostly record them together.

The thing is I don't want to close the door to more mic inputs, for duets and other kind of live recordings... with cajon, 2 guitars and other stuff.

So I'm torn between the quality of the new Babyface Pro and the more mic inputs in the Scarlett (without mentioning that the Scarlett is way cheaper, I'd probably go for the one with 4 preamps).
That is, considering there are probably a ton of other differences between those two.
What you guys think? Which one?
Or is there another way out?
 
That's one only you can decide. If you need the inputs, you need the inputs. The Scarlett is by no means a bad interface but the RME is better.

However, let me toss in a thought...

Unless you have a properly treated acoustic space with room to put performers far enough apart to avoid cross talk, ever extra mic you open multiplies issues. Even though I have the technical capability to record huge multitrack sessions in my badly-treated home studio (up to 32 if I'm pushed though I've never come close to that), 99.9% of the things I record involve either a single mic or a stereo pair at most.

Of course, just to confuse you, unless your room sounds good, you won't get the most out of a better interface either!
 
Bobbsy said:
That's one only you can decide. If you need the inputs, you need the inputs. The Scarlett is by no means a bad interface but the RME is better.

However, let me toss in a thought...

Unless you have a properly treated acoustic space with room to put performers far enough apart to avoid cross talk, ever extra mic you open multiplies issues. Even though I have the technical capability to record huge multitrack sessions in my badly-treated home studio (up to 32 if I'm pushed though I've never come close to that), 99.9% of the things I record involve either a single mic or a stereo pair at most.

Of course, just to confuse you, unless your room sounds good, you won't get the most out of a better interface either!
Click to expand...

okaaaay hehe
I'm aware of that. But I'm pretty new in this recording thing and I need to learn... I'll be treating a room soon and will be working there. But now the money will go for the interface cause it's just the logic step to got me learning :)

Plus (that may sound dumb...) I always realized and had a friend here who owns a studio telling me the same thing how amazing is that my room doesn't reverberate at all, it's almost boring to play and sing inside. That might help for a while. Or not... But you get the idea hehe :)
 
The Babyface Pro has line, S/PDIF and ADAT inputs, so if you want to expand the number of inputs you can use an external preamp. It'll handle up to 12 inputs altogether. It's a pretty sweet little box.
 
Tadpui said:
The Babyface Pro has line, S/PDIF and ADAT inputs, so if you want to expand the number of inputs you can use an external preamp. It'll handle up to 12 inputs altogether. It's a pretty sweet little box.
Click to expand...

Oh you can add more mic pre amps? I didn't know that...
You can't do that on those Apogee duet and Focusrite Forte right? (or even on the scarlet) or am I totally lost? hehe
 
It looks like the Apogee Duet just has the 2 analog inputs, so that's all you could hook up to it, as far as inputs.

The Focusrite Forte looks to be the same, with just 2 analog inputs and no digital inputs.

The Babyface is a 12-in/12-out interface. It has 4 analog inputs (2 mic, 2 line), and 8 ADAT inputs. So you could feed up to 2 analog preamp channels into the line inputs, or up to 8 preamp channels via digital ADAT (not sure how S/PDIF fits into this, I was a little confused by the literature).
 
Klof said:
So I'm torn between the quality of the new Babyface Pro and the more mic inputs in the Scarlett (without mentioning that the Scarlett is way cheaper, I'd probably go for the one with 4 preamps).
Click to expand...
Are you on Mac or Windows? If you're on Windows, Focusrite's ASIO drivers are extremely high latency at any given sample rate/buffer size versus RME's USB ASIO drivers, which offer the lowest latency on the market. I don't know how the Focusrites perform on Macs... ASIO is a Windows thing. If you can live with direct monitoring, latency is sometimes a moot point- but some vocalists and guitarists like to be able to apply effects to their voice/instrument while tracking, in which case reliable low-latency performance is a must-have.

In general, the biggest differences between interfaces are I/O options (number and type of connectors), mixing/routing features, and performance/latency. Some interfaces have boutique preamps which can enhance the sound if you use them properly. They don't all necessarily sound alike, but the differences are usually very subtle and which one you like the sound of best is purely subjective. Also, when determining how many inputs/outputs you need, try to imagine how many you actually need to be able to record live at any one time. I currently have literally 48 channels of audio wired up to my patch bays right now, but I hardly ever need to record or even monitor more than 1 or 2 channels at once. I could totally get by with a 2-in/2-out interface if I had to.

I've never had a Babyface, but my primary interface is a RME Fireface UFX, and I have owned a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 in the past. I did some recordings of the same output source into both of those interfaces (and several more). You can hear them side-by-side below. (You can also download the uncompressed WAV files individually if you want to compare them in more detail.)

Recordings done at line level (preamp gain turned down, or interface without any preamp).

Recordings done with preamps turned up. (2 of the devices from the other playlist didn't have preamps, so only 6 recordings here.)

Those playlists use a Yamaha SY85 synth as the signal source. I have a few other playlists up there with different synths as sound sources. (Roland D-110 line level. Virus TI2 with preamps. Virus TI2 line level.)
 
Tadpui said:
It looks like the Apogee Duet just has the 2 analog inputs, so that's all you could hook up to it, as far as inputs.

The Focusrite Forte looks to be the same, with just 2 analog inputs and no digital inputs.

The Babyface is a 12-in/12-out interface. It has 4 analog inputs (2 mic, 2 line), and 8 ADAT inputs. So you could feed up to 2 analog preamp channels into the line inputs, or up to 8 preamp channels via digital ADAT (not sure how S/PDIF fits into this, I was a little confused by the literature).
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I get all of this. So how many mic pre amps could I get in the end?
The 2 already built in plus ???
 
You only need a couple inputs if you're only tracking yourself. More than 2 usually for micing a drum kit or recording a full band live.

If you're being a purist and recording guitar while singing - stop it! Guitar/vocal bleed from one mic to the next effectively cancels the benefits of having separate tracks for them. The point is to record as if in a studio, which means tracking the guitar, then heading into the sound booth to track vocals.

You can always add an external mixer later. I used to use one, and never had any noise or sound floor noise issues, and it was just a cheap Behringer mixer. With the cost of the lower end multi-input interfaces it's making less sense to go this route now though (see Tascam US-1800 for an example).
 
Pinky said:
You only need a couple inputs if you're only tracking yourself. More than 2 usually for micing a drum kit or recording a full band live.

If you're being a purist and recording guitar while singing - stop it! Guitar/vocal bleed from one mic to the next effectively cancels the benefits of having separate tracks for them. The point is to record as if in a studio, which means tracking the guitar, then heading into the sound booth to track vocals.

You can always add an external mixer later. I used to use one, and never had any noise or sound floor noise issues, and it was just a cheap Behringer mixer. With the cost of the lower end multi-input interfaces it's making less sense to go this route now though (see Tascam US-1800 for an example).
Click to expand...

I've seen it but people seem to hate it... I've never used so no thoughts, but never herad any great of it hehe :P

Well sorry, I'll be recording guitar and vocals together and then deal with the bleed... Better deal with that than have to deal with a bad performance :P

[
 
Tadpui said:
You could use the 2 already built in, plus another 10.
Click to expand...
okay but the ones via digital input would need something else to make it work right?
A conversor I've read... is that right?

I'm not even sure what's that, how pricey can it get? or how would I conect via this inputs?
 
Klof said:
okay but the ones via digital input would need something else to make it work right?
A conversor I've read... is that right?

I'm not even sure what's that, how pricey can it get? or how would I conect via this inputs?
Click to expand...

There are preamps with integrated ADC. Some more budget friendly ones would be the ART TubeOpto8 or the Behringer Ultragain Pro 8. Focusrite and Presonus male ones that are more expensive, and RME makes a couple that'd cost a couple of mortgage payments. You can search for "preamp adat output" and find all sorts.
 
Pinky said:
What "it" are you referring to?
Click to expand...

The Tascam US-1800 hehe :)
Is it good?

Tadpui said:
There are preamps with integrated ADC. Some more budget friendly ones would be the ART TubeOpto8 or the Behringer Ultragain Pro 8. Focusrite and Presonus male ones that are more expensive, and RME makes a couple that'd cost a couple of mortgage payments. You can search for "preamp adat output" and find all sorts.
Click to expand...

Amazon.com: Focusrite OctoPre MkII Dynamic Microphone Pre Amp: Electronics

So I would conect one of these into ONE INPUT and get like 8 more pre amps?
If I conect one of those in each input I would be with 16 pre amps? Or am I atripin totally?
(that would go into the digital inputs also?)
Thxxxxxxx
 
Klof said:
The Tascam US-1800 hehe :)
Is it good?



Amazon.com: Focusrite OctoPre MkII Dynamic Microphone Pre Amp: Electronics

So I would conect one of these into ONE INPUT and get like 8 more pre amps?
If I conect one of those in each input I would be with 16 pre amps? Or am I atripin totally?
(that would go into the digital inputs also?)
Thxxxxxxx
Click to expand...

You would connect the BabyFace and the OctoPre with a TOSLink (optical) cable. They both have a dedicated input/output for this purpose. So you would then have the 2 preamps on the Babyface available, plus the 8 preamps on the OctoPre. In your DAW, you'd see the inputs named something like:

- Babyface Analog IN 1 (this is mic input 1)
- babyface Analog IN 2 (this is mic input 2)
- babyface Analog IN 3 (this is line input 3)
- babyface Analog IN 4 (this is line input 4)
- babyface ADAT IN 1 (this is digital input 1)
- babyface ADAT IN 2
...
- babyface ADAT IN 8 (digital input 8)

or something along those lines.

There will be a little bit of configuration required to tell it which device is in charge of the word clock, and to make sure that you're all set at the correct sample rate between the 2 devices (Babyface will handle up to 192 kHz, OctoPre will handle up to 96 kHz). so there may be a bit of a learning curve, but I'd bet that the RME manual will explain it pretty well.
 
A few people around here use the Tascam US1800, and get very good results. I wouldn't imagine that it would be a weak point in anyone's setup. I'm just a bit of an RME fanboy because their drivers are so solid, and the low latency they can achieve is remarkable. But that Tascam and the more recent update of the US1800 (I think it's called the US-16x08) are solid performers at a much more affordable price point.
 
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