Audio interface

H

HippieSteve

New member
Am looking for something relatively inexpensive(good bang for the buck) to use between my mackie1202vlz mixer and computer.Lately I have been recording rock/blues/country vocals and acoustic guitar thru a lightsnake.Also mic electric guitar amps with sm-57.Looking to upgrade a little.
 
mjbphotos said:
What is your budget? How many separate tracks do you want to be able to record simultaneously?
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Also, what kind of computer, laptop, desktop, tablet/phone (they are computers and people are trying to record on them)?
 
HippieSteve said:
Am looking for something relatively inexpensive(good bang for the buck) to use between my mackie1202vlz mixer and computer.Lately I have been recording rock/blues/country vocals and acoustic guitar thru a lightsnake.Also mic electric guitar amps with sm-57.Looking to upgrade a little.
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One interface that has garnered a good rep' is the Steinberg UR22, another is the Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 (but that does not have MIDI, shame on them I say!) . Both are priced around the £100 mark here and that is about a s low as I would want to go*.

But to make the best of that mixer you really need an AI with 4 inputs. The Native Instruments KA6 is one such. Two very good mic inputs and two further line ins that would take the mixer giving you 4 track recording. The Ka6 is nearer £200.

*If you are REALLY strapped, look for a Behringer UCA 202. At about £20 these little boxes are just a basic RCA in/out stereo line level interface but if you watch your levels, i.e. don't overload it, they give surprisingly good results for the money..Way better than built in sound cards. And don't overlook second hand, a Fast track pro or Tascam 122 or 144. If you are still running XP, an Emu 0404usb is a very nice interface.

Oh and.."Upgrade" the SM57? Well for guitar cabs there is not a "better" mic, just a different "flavour" in most people's opinion I would think. If you wanted a big change in sound, a big ass condenser?

Dave.
 
mjbphotos said:
Let me guess .... mixing? :thumbs up:
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Ha! Tres droll.
In fact mixers in home studio set ups rarely "mix" ! The one man band has only one source at a time (well, you could stretch to 3, mic on amp, DI git' and singer but 'tis rare) .
So, what's to mix?

HR is not the only forum I infest that has a few peeps with an automatic down on mixers. In fact they often have better mic amps in terms of gain and noise than some AIs and of course have more controls. You only ever get mic gain on an AI, not channel level, main out level and pan, say nothing of EQ. Yup! I know! "We" do not EQ when tracking..But for most signals you might as well roll off the bass pot and clean up the bottom end, nothing to see down there.

If a mixer is all you have you CAN get a 1/8th (ugh!) stereo jack to RCA lead and record straight into a PC or laptop, far from ideal we know but it DOES work and gets the noob a'doing something.

Of course if you DON'T have a mixer or can spring for one, an Audio Interface is the way to start.

Dave.
 
I own 1 mixer and 1 interface.

My primary recording interface is my Scarlett 6i6.
I also own a Yamaha MW10 (Mixer.)

A (usb) mixer and audio interface are essentially the same thing in terms of computer recording. The major difference is with a mixer you'll sometimes have more control over the signals from a hardware level before it hits your DAW. Whereas the interface is a one-stop shop for recording everything, think studio in a box. That said, you won't really need both - but its good to have them both based on your project.

If you're starting out, I personally would go with any sub $200 2-4 channel interface. Your best bet would probably be the Scarlett 2i4 ($200) which is adequate for learning and allows for growth. If you find you need something more robust, the scarletts have excellent resale on eBay. Hell, I just sold my old FTP for $100 and it was 5-years old.
 
mjbphotos said:
Let me guess .... mixing? :thumbs up:
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Really? :laughings:

As ecc83 has pointed out, probably not, actually. ;)

And everyone's just jumped in and thrown interface recommendations at the guy without understanding what, exactly he's trying to do and how he's trying to do it ...

If he's doing single source then his Mackie pres are probably fine and he just needs conversion.

Noobs often ask the wrong question and supply insufficient information to allow an appropriate answer for the question they haven't phrased correctly. :)

I'm all about digging for information...:thumbs up:
 
Armistice said:
Really? :laughings:

As ecc83 has pointed out, probably not, actually. ;)

And everyone's just jumped in and thrown interface recommendations at the guy without understanding what, exactly he's trying to do and how he's trying to do it ...

If he's doing single source then his Mackie pres are probably fine and he just needs conversion.

Noobs often ask the wrong question and supply insufficient information to allow an appropriate answer for the question they haven't phrased correctly. :)

I'm all about digging for information...:thumbs up:
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Err...Yes! But the problem is that there is not, to my knowledge a really good line level A/D-D/A converter on the market at anything like reasonable money ( we'd ALL love Benchmark DAC-ADC but have to pay the bloody gas bill!) .

There is (was?) an ESI unit but I have never read a review and do not know of anyone that has used one. Latency could be lousy?

So, in a case like the OP's there is no real alternative to start talking AIs?

BTW and FYI. I am presently getting to grips with my ZED10 usb and an HP i3 laptop. Seems fine but there are set up things one needs to know. I am hoping to use the rig on a two piece guitar, violin, vocal ensemble in the next few weeks. Will tell all as and when.

Dave.
 
Mainly need conversion.Am using Audacity right now and would like to be able to input 2 channels.Have desktop computer with windows Vista and notebook with windows7stater.
 
HippieSteve said:
Mainly need conversion.Am using Audacity right now and would like to be able to input 2 channels.Have desktop computer with windows Vista and notebook with windows7stater.
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Ah! Blista! I know because I have tried it, that the NI KA6 works with Vista. I have also used an M-Audio fast track pro and a Behringer UCA202 on the OS without problems. However, for any other interface check with the manufacturers that they positively have a dedicated Vista driver NOT a beta version or say "use the W7 driver"...Might work. Might not. Steinberg do list a driver embracing XP, Vista, W7 and W8 and given "who they are" as it were, I would think it would be fine.

However, if the desktop is a fairly well specc'ed machine and especially if it will run a 64 bit system I would look to upgrading it to W7/64 in the very near future.
The WIN 7 starter notebook? I have no idea but it should run a class compliant usb device, might not give very low latency.

Dave.
 
I know this thread is old, but rather than start a new one, thought I'd see if anything had happened in the last six months or so? I have the same Question as HippieSteve. I do home live recordings of my bluegrass/americana band. We use good studio condeneser mics and mix via an Allen and Heath Zed14 deck, which has a USB out to the PC. To date, I've been recording that way into the PC, and --I presume (but I'm SUCH a novice!) -- that the Anol. to Dig. conversion is being done by my on-board sound card. (ASUS P8Z77-V LE motherboard...ivy bridge intel chip). I also listen to music primaily from digital music files on the PC fed into a reasonably high end audio system (Harmon Kardon amp; B&W speakers). So, I would like to get the best quality analog to digital and digital to analog conversion I can get that I can afford. My budget is probably under $300. But i have no idea what is out there. With the Allen & Heath, I don't feel that i need the features of an AI. Mostly I just want high quality conversion both ways. Any thoughts?
 
Hi Dave ,
No, the Asus OnBoard Sound is not doing the A to D conversion (might be doing the D-A, don't know how you have things set up)

The A&H is the converter and I have the ZED 10 and have tried the usb side and it is not, err, bad! But my PCI sound cards, MA-2496s are 15dB quieter overall and will run 24 bits. I also have a USB AI with MUCH later converters in it , the Native Instruments KA6 and that is better by a few dB than the 2496 (tho a -101dBFS noise floor means buggerall in practice!)

So, I would look for a 2496 card to compliment the mixer. If you can run to it and have 2 spare PCI slots buy two. They can be linked by S/DIF and give you 4 discrete tracks, I am sure you can jolly up the mixer to give 4 outs? I know I can with the Ten.

A better card, with balanced I/O is the M-A 192 but they are getting scarce now and are 2x the price of a 2496.
The only other sound card I know of at fair money is the Juli@ which is made in PCI and PCIe format.

Or, just get the KA6!
Dave.
 
Thanks Dave...I actually had a 2496 card in my old PC, but it was a constant PIA because I run a Linux OS and there was a fundamental incompatibility...There were work arounds, but it was a problem. That's one reason I was intrigued by the Zed board's USB out...though I never obviously thought through where the analog to digital conversion was going on. Thanks for the clarification. So, the NI KA6 sounds intriguing...--do you lead an audio out (one of the rca alt outs for example) from the Zed into the KA6, and then hook the KA6 to the computer via USB?
 
". So, the NI KA6 sounds intriguing...--do you lead an audio out (one of the rca alt outs for example) from the Zed into the KA6, and then hook the KA6 to the computer via USB?"

No, no point Dave. The KA6 is a portable AI that I bought to work primarily with my HP i3 laptop (which it does supremely well I might add!) .
The standard home rig (that son used) was Main XLR outs from the ZED10 over to a home brewed transformer unbalance box (using the excellent OEP 10k bridging transformers) and then a short run into the 2496 . This setup gives me a basic noise floor of 95dBFS and when I can get the room quiet enough (2am say!) I can record acoustic guitar with an SM57 (son's preference) and get a noise floor of ~ -75dBFS, i.e. way better than any tape even with Dolby A.

If you still have the 2496 and are now running Windoze, I suggest you give it a do.
Should you get a KA6 you would have two very good mic pres in the AI and then you could feed the mixer into the line inputs 3&4 and get 4 discrete tracks. Incidentally, the KA6 runs perfectly well on Linux* I know a guy who bought one and does it!

*NB If you are a Linux lover you almost certainly know more about computers than I! Analogue is this old dog's bag especially valves!


Dave.
 
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