Upgrading USB Interface, Motu, Roland or other?

B

bicko19

New member
Hi all!
So I've decided the time has come to upgrade my recording interface. I currently use a Focusrite 2i2 which I like except for the fact it has no headroom and clips way too easily.

What I need in an interface:

Front panel design
A pad
Decent preamps will plenty of headroom and control
Headphone jack

I am weighing up between these interfaces:
Motu Pre4
Motu Ultralite Mk3
Roland quad capture
Roland octa capture.

The Pre4 and the Quad have less features but have everything I need. Are the Ultralite and the Octa worth the extra money? I do like the idea of having an inbuilt compressor, and I also like the auto sens feature on the Roland.

Are there any other interfaces I should look into?

I record a variety of music using acoustic guitars, electric guitars and vocals!

Cheers!
 
Well, I can heartily recommend MOTU as a manufacturer but have no personal experience with either of the models you mention.

But...and it's a big but...the 2i2 is an extremely good interface for the money and, in my experience, has tons of headroom before clipping. I'm not sure that a move to MOTU (or Roland) will necessarily fix your problem and suggest that, before spending a ton of cash, you may wish to review how you're setting your gain staging. Unless you have a mic with some kind of extremely high output or something, I can't see how/why a 2i2 would be so prone to clipping.

So...if you're interested, perhaps some details of what mic(s) you're using, what you're recording and how you set things up might save you some money.
 
Bobbsy said:
Well, I can heartily recommend MOTU as a manufacturer but have no personal experience with either of the models you mention.

But...and it's a big but...the 2i2 is an extremely good interface for the money and, in my experience, has tons of headroom before clipping. I'm not sure that a move to MOTU (or Roland) will necessarily fix your problem and suggest that, before spending a ton of cash, you may wish to review how you're setting your gain staging. Unless you have a mic with some kind of extremely high output or something, I can't see how/why a 2i2 would be so prone to clipping.

So...if you're interested, perhaps some details of what mic(s) you're using, what you're recording and how you set things up might save you some money.
Click to expand...

Hi, thanks for the reply!

For recording a use a Shure KSM44, a K&K Quantum Blender with my acoustic, and a Line 6 Pod and Eleven Rack for my electrics.

I've found with my electrics I virtually have to have the gain completely off and even then the signal is too hot. I turn down the 11rack and pod and it becomes inaudible. It's not too bad with the mics and my acoustic!

I figured getting an interface with a pad would rectify this?

Cheers!
 
Your electronic stuff will be outputting line level signals. A couple of things to check are that you're using the quarter inch connector in the centre of the XLR, not the XLR itself, and that the "Line/Instrument" switch is in "Line". (Of the gear you mention, the only one I know personally is the Line 6 pod but it's likely the others are similar.) Using the TRS in the centre and setting things to Line should work fine. If levels are still too high, reduce the levels out of the electronics where possible so you an work with the 2i2 gain settings somewhere around the half way mark--known ins the trade as "gain staging"

Hope this helps!
 
Thanks for the reply! I use XLR leads out of my gear into the interface, is this making a difference as to which connection I should be using/the amount of gain running into the interface?
 
Yes...a big difference.

The XLR inputs to the 2i2 are expecting a mic level input which is 40 or 50dB less than the output of your electronic gear. Move to the quarter inch socket in the middle of the XLR and your level problems should go away since those are designed for the sort of levels you're sending!
 
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