Upgrade Audio Interface: New AI or Analog mixer?

[ciotevai]

Hello everyone. I have in mind to make the leap in quality by wanting to buy a new professional audio interface that can last me from here to 100 years.
As a budget I have €1000 and for now I have a UA Volt 276.
My requirements are:

- Record at the same time as my friends (a guitar, synth and drums)
- Usually use: two spaces for amplifier microphones. One space for the synth and three spaces for the drum microphones.
- Overfine audio quality. It must surprise me
- That the spaces for additional microphones/instruments can be increased
- Dual headphone input and that doesn't make strange noises.
- Be compatible with Ableton
- And I repeat: I would like it to be super reliable and that it can keep it for me for many years.

For now I was undecided on two products: the Audient iD48 or the M16 pocket.

Let me know, thank you very much!

 

[sweetbeats]

Hi. I’m a little confused. The thread title suggests you are trying to decide between a computer audio interface or an analog mixer, but your first post suggests you are only weighing computer audio interfaces. If you are only looking for feedback about computer audio interfaces may I suggest posting in the Digital Recording & Computers forum?

 

[rob aylestone]

I've moved it out of the analogue forum - the folk there have quite different ways of looking at things, and as sweetbeats says, you haven't mentioned analogue.

 

[ecc83]

Let us dispose of one matter straight away? If Cioteval you seek an interface that will make a "night and day" difference from your Volt, you are, WTGR living in la-la land. No matter how much you pay for an AI I do not think you will detect ANY improvement in sound quality. I would even go so far as to say you could compare a Behringer UMC204 with Prism or RME box and find it hard to tel them apart. That assumes such factors as pre amp noise and headroom are ruled out but recording with say any decent capacitor mic and keeping to an average of -20dBFS...you won't tell! Maybe if you had a pro treated room and $10,000 monitors?

The most common answer to "best AI" is often "RME" and for sure that kit will meet your tongue in cheek requirement of "100 years of life" Not only is RME gear very reliable but it keeps going through decades of both Microsoft and Apple "orphaning" much other gear through OS changes. But it is perhaps out of your budget?

MOTU are close to RME in general terms I own an M4 and love it. The M4 maybe does not though have the connectivity you seek? M6?
Maybe it would be better to look for interfaces with some ADAT facilities? That future proofs you in that you can rapidly expand to another 8 mic/line pre amps. Look also at "interface mixers" by the likes of Zoom and Tascam and others. These mixers can form the basis of a very comprehensive "studio".

Dave.

 

[TalismanRich]

If you're looking for "future proof" equipment, then expandability is probably the first thing you should consider. Today you might want 3 drum mics and a synth, but is that as far as you will ever go? I have an 8 channel recorder that I use for remote recordings, and I wish I had 8 more. At home, I've never gone over 8 at once, but I could do that with my lowly Tascam 16x08.

The ID48 you mention would certainly fit that bill. So would the Clarett+ 8pre and the Motu 828, although the Motu would require an extra preamp to get the mic input number up. All should give you excellent sound and lots of flexibility.

RME stuff is great, but it comes at a cost. €1000 means you're in the Babyface or Digiface +mic preamp realm.

If you like working in an "analog style" with knobs and sliders, you might look at Tascam Model 16 and 24. Everything can be self contained, or you can hook it up to a computer and use it as an interface, but you have all the typical knobs for EQ and volume.

As for an interface that can "surprise you", I would suggest that a change of microphone will make 10 times more difference than the interface. I see lots of claims that the preamps tend to sound the same until you push them (how much distortion do you want). I don't tend to drive preamps into distortion. You'll see most preamps and interfaces will be +/-0.5dB or better from 20-20K. Mics can be +/- 5dB between about 30 and 15K. Unless you've got REALLY GREAT ears and REALLY GREAT monitors and a REALLY GREAT room, I doubt you'll hear that broad 0.2dB peak at 4K in the interface.

Lots of people have orphaned equipment due to lack of driver support, but part of that is due to the changes from 16 and 32bit OS changes to the current 64bit OSs. Windows 10 had a 10 year lifespan (2015 to 2025). The drivers for my Tascam started on Win 7 and still work with Win 11, so I figure I'm good to go for another 5-7 years. So we're talking at least 15 years.

Will Windows 12 break the drivers? Who knows. I understand it won't be released for at least another year. I suspect the computer will be obsolete before the interface. Then again, I could always stay with Win 11. There are people still running their recording systems on Win7.