External Audio interfaces - are they needed for electronic based musicians?

[Darryl Feldman]

Hi,

I am a semi-newbie and have an important question relating to my general setup and the use of audio interfaces in a mac / usb world.

My setup (hardware)
-MacBook Pro (mid 2015)
-iPad pro / iPad air 2
-External monitor
-Panorama P4 midi controller
-AKAI MPK Mini midi controller
-Blue snowball ICE usb mic
-AIAIAI over ear headphones
-Kanto YU2 mini monitors
-ROLI blocks lightpad & loop controller
-Focusrite Scarlett 212 audio interface

My setup (software)
-Logic Pro X
-Various apps on iPad (synthesizers, drum machines, instruments)
-ROLI studio

Use cases
Currently I am connecting all external devices directly via USB or in some cases bluetooth
-Connecting external midi controllers (Keyboards, drum pads, iPad) and recording into Logic
-Recording iPad instruments into logic
-Arranging and outputting songs from logic
-Recording vocals from external mic
-Monitoring audio with external headphones and monitors
Note: I do not want to record guitars or other live real instruments

Big and main question:
-What would be the main reason based on my setup to use the Scarlett 212 as an audio interface, is it basically redundant?
-If you have a similar setup do you have any tips to optimise for sound quality and ease of managing all the inputs / outputs

Thanks for any insights before I decide to get rid of my Scarlett audio interface!!

Cheers

Darryl

 

[Ponder5]

The only "electronic based musician" that doesn't need an audio interface is one that works solely in VST or virtual instruments.

That's not many.

But I wouldn't rid myself of your decent interface. As you progress, you will someday find a need for something that doesn't synthesize or sample very well.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

The microphone implies you're doing some vocals. As Ponder5 said, this means you're not purely VSTi based, and you want a decent pre-amp for the live parts.

It's also good to have a decent interface since it will have better digital-to-analog converters than your mac's built-in sound card, so you'll have less noise when you listen back.