Best interface for around 200.00

J

John Stevens

New member
I had posted about buying a Boss multi track but now looking at the interface units for my laptop. Spent the afternoon at a Guitar Center, they had around 5 different units in the 200.00 range. Is one better than another? I want something quiet with good sound quality. Not concerned so much about the amount of inputs, mostly me playing different instruments one at a time.

I looked at this unit:

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB Audio Interface | GuitarCenter

Any advice on this unit or something better?

Will a unit like this correct "latency"?

TIA,

John
 
You could get a zoom h4n and have a portable 4 track and field recorder in addition to the interface for 200. Never used it but pretty much only heard good things about it. There's also the h5n, h6n, and r16 for 400 or less. My experience with the r16 has been good but not great. The preamps could use a little extra juice but you could add a preamp of your choice later if you wanted to. The above are good, multifunctional and can get you into digital recording though. Hope that helps.

-Chris
 
"Will a unit like this correct "latency"?"
You cannot "correct" latency John but a good interface with good drivers can make it very, very low. One such AI is the Native Instruments KA6 and if you are very quick, Sweetwater have it at just $199!

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
"Will a unit like this correct "latency"?"
You cannot "correct" latency John but a good interface with good drivers can make it very, very low. One such AI is the Native Instruments KA6 and if you are very quick, Sweetwater have it at just $199!

Dave.
Click to expand...

Depends what the OP actually meant.

On any decent interface with direct monitoring, there's still latency between what you playback and record. Most DAWs correct this for you (so transparently you're not aware that it's happening) but they depend on latency information from the interface to control this calculation. I was involved recently in some testing (specific to Audition in this case) and there was a fair bit of variation in the accuracy of the info provided by different interfaces. (My M Track and Profire Lightbridge were within a few samples BTW--some "better" interfaces didn't do nearly so well.)
 
"Depends what the OP actually meant." As ever Bobbs, as ever!

I was assuming the simple case of, "When I twang a string, can I get the effected result from a plugin to come back with zero delay?" No, of course not, even so called "zero latency monitoring" incurs some delay tho' normally no more than any other A/D-D/A system such as an FX pedal or synth.

That Tascam 2x2 looks ok...See Focusrite? Peeps CAN put MIDI on an AI for around the ton!

Dave.
 
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