Cheap MIDI + mic + guitar/line USB-interface?

R

rileyw

New member
I used to have an Mbox 2 Pro as interface for my home studio, but it's incompatible with the last 4 or so years of Mac OSXs.

Now I need to get started with simple pre-production and I need a new interface, something like this:
* 1 channel MIDI-in (DIN)
* 1 line-in 6.3 mm mono jack for guitar
* 1 mic input XLR with phantom power and good enough preamp
* USB-connected and Mac compatible.

Are there any cheap alternatives for this? It seems I can find pretty cheap MIDI interfaces and mic/guitar interfaces, but not combined. Or am I better off just getting these cheap individual MIDI to USB, guitar to USB, etc. to start off with?
 
Hi [MENTION=200151]rileyw[/MENTION]
What model+year of mac do you have?

As a broad answer, I'm always in favour of an all-in-one interface because then you have main speaker outputs, all inputs, and headphone outputs in one neat box.
Using individual adapters can get messy and maybe even cause issues with latency and whatever else.
 
Take a look at the Zoom range - the U24 would probably do what you want though I've not tried plugging a guitar directly into my U44 yet.
 
For what you want $30 and you're golden sans the midi Behringer U-phoria almost to good to be true...but it really is that good and that cheap....$100 and you have 4 inputs

I really am impressed with Behringer lately I purchased the xr-18 and am just blown away..

Not sure why you want midi but starting at $129 the U-phoria
404HD has in and out
 
I'd throw in the Roland Rubix 22 as well. It's won out as my favorite of the 2x2 interfaces of the ones that I've tried so far. I can't speak for its behavior on Mac, but on Windows it's shown me no flaws in hardware or software. Well, it does have a half-assed ASIO control panel, but otherwise I can't recommend any other 2x2 more highly.
 
My go-to reccy is the Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 but might be too pricey new but I have seen them in S/H shops at £100.

Some care in the choice of AI (and drivers!) is needed where MIDI is concerned because you usually want low latency and that is a function of the inteface, its ASIO drivers and whether your mac has enough CPU grunt to run with low sample figures.

The Steinberg UR22 also has a good rep.

Dave.
 
Thanks for your replies!

So in general I gather this much:
A decent audio interface with just mic and line can be found in the 20-40 USD/EUR/GBP range
...but as soon as MIDI is added I have to look in the 100-200 USD/EUR/GBP range
In contrast, simple individual "MIDI to USB", "guitar to USB" and "mic to USB" cables can be found around 10-30 USD/EUR/GBP.

But I guess Steenamaroo has a point here, paying more for an all-in-one interface would probably make more sense as it will be a higher quality product overall and I'd find it tedious to plug USB-cables in and out of my laptop when switching instruments.

Another general question would be: what is the expected life-span of an interface these days? I get that my 2006 Mbox 2 Pro is old, but it's still frustrating to have an otherwise good piece of recording hardware become obsolete in less than 10 years.

Steenamaroo:
I'm currently using a mid-2012 MacBook Pro, but I'm looking to upgrade to a current MacBook soon.

TAE:
Regarding the "why MIDI" question, I want a physical keyboard to control virtual synthesizers and I have a pretty good 90's Roland workstation with 61 keys. Obviously only with DIN-connectors. So either I need a separate MIDI to USB cable or MIDI input as part of the audio interface.
 
WRT the various USB MIDI cheap "dangly things". I have been infesting audio/recording forums now for over ten years and have read of many instances of people having driver and other issues with them. On the other hand folks that used an interface with MIDI ports or a decent soundcard* rarley had problems. I DO agree that adding MIDI to a device like an AI which already has a CPU in it must cost peanuts.

I suspect the reason the danglers often don't work so well is because they never, AFAIK come with well written ASIO drivers? (Tho' I understand this does not apply to macs? )

*Some 8 years ago I was getting MIDI sorted out for musical son (brill guitaists, not bad on keys and clarinet either) The rig finished up as an M-Audio 2496 card in a pretty puny PC by today's lights, an Evolution EK49 dumb keyboard and Cubase Essentials 6. That gave him very acceptable latency. The NI KA6 actually beats the 2496 for latency and noise floor!

Dave.
 
As mentioned, at the bottom of the price band is the Behringer U-Phoria line. The 204HD is right at $100USD and has what you're looking for.

Behringer U-Phoria UMC204HD | Sweetwater

I would stick with a single piece of gear if you're trying to get all pieces up and running and not wrestling with compatibility issues, though Macs tend to be pretty consistent in using older hardware, even after it's presumably not supported or being cared for, I suppose. (My 2012 Mini and 2010 MBP still run my Firewire interface fine on High Sierra.)

Now, looking down the road, it's a bit murky as the Intel/Apple/USB folks are doing a weird dance around this USB 3.0/Thunderbolt connector thing. How long will a USB 2.0 interface continue to work? I'd guess a long time because there have to be a billion pieces of USB 2.0 gear out there (more or less :)). But, 10 years? Not placing bets.

Given your plans to upgrade the computer, I'd probably get by with the minimal piece that works now, and almost certainly will work on any computer made in the next year or two, but start thinking about upgrading to USB 3.0/Thunderbolt technology when it gets more common (and affordable).
 
ecc83 said:
I suspect the reason the danglers often don't work so well is because they never, AFAIK come with well written ASIO drivers?
Click to expand...

ASIO only applies to audio Dave - MIDI uses the standard Windows multimedia drivers.

There are a few decent MIDI only interfaces about (I have secondhand ones from M-Audio and MOTU) and there are no problems using a separate MIDI interface on Windows.
 
rileyw said:
A decent audio interface with just mic and line can be found in the 20-40 USD/EUR/GBP range
...but as soon as MIDI is added I have to look in the 100-200 USD/EUR/GBP range
Click to expand...

Annoyingly the Zoom I mentioned was only £59 a few weeks ago but the price has crept back up.

rileyw said:
Another general question would be: what is the expected life-span of an interface these days? I get that my 2006 Mbox 2 Pro is old, but it's still frustrating to have an otherwise good piece of recording hardware become obsolete in less than 10 years.
Click to expand...

My experience with RME is that a 20 year old design can still be used with Windows 10 but only the 32 bit version. Their newer generation (from about 2002) onwards are still fully supported. This is a pretty good record for computer hardware and most manufacturers would probably stop supporting stuff much sooner.

My first interface (a Turtle Beach Multisound) was introduced in about 1991 and was officially supported up to Windows 98 but thanks to Sonic Foundry's Peter Haller it could be used in Windows 2000 too. The main problem was that it was an ISA bus device so motherboard support rapidly disappeared in the late 90's. The same happened to Firewire around 15 years later. The RME PCI interface that replaced the Multisound is still in use.
 
jamesperrett said:
ASIO only applies to audio Dave - MIDI uses the standard Windows multimedia drivers.

There are a few decent MIDI only interfaces about (I have secondhand ones from M-Audio and MOTU) and there are no problems using a separate MIDI interface on Windows.
Click to expand...

I meant ASIO drivers for the interface that turns the digits into audio. I was always under the impression that these were needed for low latency?

I am sure there are very good MIDI interfaces. I was refering to the $15 jobs.

Dave.
 
rileyw said:
Another general question would be: what is the expected life-span of an interface these days? I get that my 2006 Mbox 2 Pro is old, but it's still frustrating to have an otherwise good piece of recording hardware become obsolete in less than 10 years.
Click to expand...

You can never really know for sure but a company's history and reputation usually say a lot.
Companies like Motu and Presonus, for example, have drivers going back some time and tend to stay up to date and support legacy hardware.
The Mbox 2 was digidesign, as far as I remember, and that company was bought over by Avid. I think they picked up, or merged with, maudio too.
There was a lot of rebranding going on and, for some time, there was an M-Audio-exclusive Protools version.

The Mbox 2 was part of digideisgns 'compatible with Protools' range when Protools forced non HD users to use their branded interfaces.

Now that such a hardware requirement is gone and there are now Avid branded interfaces out there, I'm not really surprised they dropped support for the Mbox.
It does seems strange, though, to open the playing field allowing users to use whatever interface they want, except the ones which were previously the only PT compatible interfaces! :P

As far as I can make, though, out it's still unofficially compatible with modern MacOS.
Depending what software you're using, you may yet be OK.
 
Steenamaroo said:
You can never really know for sure but a company's history and reputation usually say a lot.
Companies like Motu and Presonus, for example, have drivers going back some time and tend to stay up to date and support legacy hardware.
The Mbox 2 was digidesign, as far as I remember, and that company was bought over by Avid. I think they picked up, or merged with, maudio too.
There was a lot of rebranding going on and, for some time, there was an M-Audio-exclusive Protools version.

The Mbox 2 was part of digideisgns 'compatible with Protools' range when Protools forced non HD users to use their branded interfaces.

Now that such a hardware requirement is gone and there are now Avid branded interfaces out there, I'm not really surprised they dropped support for the Mbox.
It does seems strange, though, to open the playing field allowing users to use whatever interface they want, except the ones which were previously the only approved interfaces! :P

As far as I can make, though, out it's still unofficially compatible with modern MacOS.
Depending what software you're using, you may yet be OK.
Click to expand...

I have mentioned a few times here the back catalogue of the SoS "PC Notes". I am sure there is similar for "Mac Notes"?

Dave.
 
Maybe so? Would be a good think to have on hand.

I got a bit lucky, really. I had an mbox2 and digi003 back when ProTools had the digidesign-hardware requirement.
They day the announcement for Protools 9? came out, opening up third party interface use, I sold both.

If I'd waited a few months, or probably even weeks, the value would have plummeted; Particularly the value of the 003.
That was around 2011, I think. 828mk2 and firestudio mobile have been rock solid since then.

Both firewire, though. Not much use with a brand new mac unless you want to pay the £40 for FW to TB adapter.
 
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