best portable interface under $300??

themdla

themdla

New member
Hello HR,

i'm looking for a recommendation on a portable interface to use with my laptop for recording.

i need a USB interface with 2 to 4 channels, midi, low latency/hardware monitoring, sub $300, etc...

mainly i'm looking for any personal experience you may have had with a particular interface because most of the interfaces in this price range have similar specs.

thank you for your consideration,
 
i was looking at that one but read it had driver issues...

also i am using windows 7 home prem. 64-bit, using either reaper, cubase, ableton, and possibly protools 9.
 
themdla said:
what kind of stuff have you guys been recording with it?

DI or mic?
Click to expand...

I've used mic, DI, and MIDI with it and they all work great. The preamps have a really flat response, especially with DI. This can be considered a pro or a con, but you might have to get used to EQing your DI tracks to make them sound right (which is something you should do anyways, regardless of if the preamps are flat). If you have any other questions about it, feel free to post.
 
This might be a kludge setup but I use a PCMCIA FireWire card (Adaptec) and the M-Audio Firewire SOLO with my laptop. No MIDI but I got a generic USB MIDI cable interface for $7 off of eBay. The FireWire Solo cost me $60 from a pawn shop.
 
I'm always interested in trying out interfaces that have analog inserts. I just play differently with an effect (EQ, or compression, or whatever) that playing playing clean and adding a plug in later. Right now I'm in the middle of getting familiar with an M-Audio Fast Track Pro, but there's also the Alesis i02 and the Tascam US122. All under $200, and all have inserts.
 
Get the Focusrite..I tried Edirol and Tascam...nothing but driver issues/latency...etc.

Took 2 min to set up..rock solid ( I use Cubese 5)...and the mic pres are pristine...very natural and warm..

Latency is about 10 ms but that is because I am running XP...not an issue as I use the Direct Monitoring..they have updated Windows 7 drivers...
 
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