Should I get an audio interface?

Schvletski

New member
Hey guys I'm trying to get the best understanding of what an audio interface does and if it'll be worth it. I was looking at the focusrite scarlet 2i2 and wanted to know if it is a good choice. Should I invest?
 
An audio interface in general does the following: 1) it provides physical connectivity for a number of devices; inputs and preamps for microphones, instruments like guitars and synthesizers and external fx processors; outputs for monitors, headphones and fx processors 2) it improves the latency performance and 3) the analog-to-digital and the digital-to-analog converters are probably better than those in your built-in soundcard. Additionally built-in units are often prone to interference from the computer itself and thus an external box circumvents this problem.

Contrary to popular belief, an audio interface doesn't magically "make things sound better", but the combination of the things above contribute to achieving better results. So usually getting one is a good idea.
 
Headphones
Interface
quad core lappy or desky at 2ghz minimum, or dualcore 3ghz minimum.

And you are set for beatmaking in general.
 
adding on to what krushing has said:

If anything, an audio interface and proper monitors will allow you to hear the flaws in your mixes better. The flatter frequency response coming out of the interface and flatter monitors will expose everything wrong with your mixes.

I'll give you an example: Back around '97 I was making music using an AWE64 and a pair of Bose Roommates for monitors. I could mix some shit and have it sounding dope on my rig, but when I got into a car, on someone's stereo, or even on my walkman the mix would be all screwed up. I copped a pair of Alesis MEQ230's and rented an RTA from a local car audio shop and managed to fix the problems in my environment using eq, but that would have been unnecessary had I just used a decent interface and monitors in the first place. (incidentally, I still own those Bose)
 
adding on to what krushing has said:

If anything, an audio interface and proper monitors will allow you to hear the flaws in your mixes better. The flatter frequency response coming out of the interface and flatter monitors will expose everything wrong with your mixes.

That said, the monitors (and the room they're in) are far more important in this equation than the differences in D/A conversion; D/As in even modest/low-end interfaces are actually really good these days, compared to what the prosumer stuff was 10-15 years ago: back then there definitely was a marked difference. Not to say there isn't any, but basically it's easy to get the impression that you need to spend a lot of money on this based on forum discussions.
 
Back
Top