Money to burn need direction

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dadhead82
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Gee Jason, you kind of blew that $1000 budget in one shot. The Royer itself is $1300. The UA preamp is almost 3 grand alone.

That's not too helpful for someone just starting into recording, is it? It's like getting your license at 16, having a part time job and buying a Ferrari.
 
If you're just starting out, I'd recommend the M-Audio M-Track 2x2. It's a great starter interface and it's very affordable. As for preamps, I'd recommend the PreSonus TubePre V2. It's a great tube preamp and it's also very affordable. For microphones, I'd recommend the Shure SM57 and SM58. They're both great microphones and they're also very affordable.

--
Jason Hook. I enjoy remixing old songs using Audacity together with UnMixIt for vocal removal or isolation
 
So is it the Royer or the 58/57? Thats a strange couple of recommendations.
 
Jason is also known as Mike Williams on the SOS forum and Mike Brown on The Gear Page and posts similarly strange recommendations there. I'm guessing he's just here to promote the link in his signature.
 
Ah... the split personalities come out.

I can ignore the drivel, until they start posting erroneous info. We don't want to lead someone down the wrong path if we can avoid it.
 
TwinMikes said:
For the USB audio interface, the Motu M4 and Steinberg UR-RT2 are both excellent choices. The Motu M4 is a solid, budget-friendly option, and the Steinberg UR-RT2 offers great quality if you're willing to invest a bit more.
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Come again? The interfaces are similar in price but the UR-RT2 has two fewer outputs. The M4 has a specification close to state of art so I doubt the Steinberg is any better, certainly could not be told apart from the M4. Except! It has transformers in it!
Now, as a tekky old fart I have always considered the audio transformer as a very useful device for certain application* The problem is that no matter how good or how expensive the transformer is it will add some, measurable distortion,especially below say 80Hz. I don't want that permanently in my audio signal chain.

*Can be used to make very low noise, simple mic pre amps. Gives very good RFI immunity. And of course is invaluable for fixing ground loops.

Dave.
 
I simply don't get this? The M4 and the UR-RT2 are BOTH in the £225-£250 bracket depending upon where you shop.
If you are saying the Steinberg AI is better quality than the MOTU because it has few facilities then that is a very big stretch in my view. In terms of dynamic range and distortion, both interfaces are not far short of 'state of art' and you would have to pay significantly more to get a few dBs of improvement which, unless you had £3k monitors and a very well sorted room plus impeccable sources you will never hear...if then.

I know I am an M4 user and therefore might be accused of bias but to declare the M4 a "budget" interface and the Steinberg not and of "better audio quality" is simply wrong. They are BOTH excellent and people should base their choice on the facilities offered.

I assume the Steinberg comes with a form of Cubase? The MOTU with Digital Performer. Might be a decider?

Dave.
 
The sad thing is that Dadhead52 hasn't been back since March of 2022, so we don't know if he's using it or if he decided to take up mountain biking instead of music.

There are pluses and minuses to both interfaces.

Looking at the two interfaces, the Motu beats out the Steinberg in terms of dynamic range/noise floor by 10 to 15 dB according to the specs. I have no way of knowing if that is due to the use of the transformers, or if the basic circuitry design is just noisier. As to whether than extra noise floor is valuable depends on how quiet your recordings are. Rooms and mics can be noisy. There's not a lot of advantage if your base noise floor is -60dB to start with. I know that there are lots of people who think that transformers make "magic" but we all know that just having a transformer isn't going to make or break a recording. However a bad performance will!

I like the option of having metering on the front panel, vs Steinberg's peak light.

Both spec at +60dB mic gain, so it's a tie there.

The Steinberg has internal DSP, so it's possible to do Zero Latency with Reverb, some amp sims and a basic channel strip with compression and EQ. That can be quite handy for situations where you want to do the recording real time and not add in effects later. I have some basic DSP with my Tascam interface, and I have used the internal compressor and EQ to tweak things going in before. It can be a really handy thing, vs having outboard effects or dealing with any latency from a plug-in.

Maybe I'm old school, but I like having a separate power supply vs all USB supply. It seems that most units are going the way of the Motu, with computer supplied power, tho.

In short, they both will work, and offer different advantages. There's a $100 difference in price here in the US, so that might be a factor, but if you're serious about recording and want the options, then the extra money for the Steinberg might well be worth it. In the end, $100 is a couple of pizzas and drinks, which will be gone in a few hours.

If you want budget, then get your Berry Uphoria and use the extra money on a microphone.
 
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Did not spot that DSP Rich but I reckon with any 1/2 decent W10/11 PC the M4 would give you low enough latency for some 'vanity verb' if you needed it.

I would only suggest the UMCs if someone is REALLY strapped. They start to distort 3 or 4 dB before 0dBFS and all the range have a really piss poor output level that makes them hard to interface with some gear.

Yes, many new AIs are just 'bus' powered but unlike the aforementioned Behrrys it does not impact on their performance so long as you don't need +22dBu output levels and nobody but "professionals" do. It is the extra DSP that needs the extra amps.
BTW the M4 can be powered from any 5V 500mA source. I have run mine for 20 mins from a phone backup battery, Thus you have a 'stand alone' mic pre, and headphone amplifier.

Dave.
 
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