Recommend me an audio interface

T

timemass

New member
And yes, I am doing my homework on here, and elsewhere on the web, but one on one advice is always nice...

So, I am looking to record bass, potentially guitar down the line, and although my keyboard has USB, I wouldn't rule out keys that pre-date USB to be safe. To be able to record two of the prev. instruments at the same time would I guess be nice, down the line. I also want to record vocals, and spoken word (for podcasts). I would like to have at least 2 mic ins to have a second podcaster.

Also, not sure if this is feasible with an audio interface, or if I'd need a second piece of hardware, but I'd like to be able to listen to music while doing the podcast (as the music is related to the podcast). So the setup would be CD or audio file playing to headphones, while podcasting, and being able to at least her a little of our voices I would assume (to know how we sound) would be ideal. Thanks very much!
 
Look at the Focusrite Scarlett line. They have the 2i2 ($149) which has 2 ins (mic/line) and 2 outs, 8i6 ($249) with 8 ins and 6 outs, and the 18i6 ($299) with... well you get the picture. As far as being able to listen to music while recording your podcast, that's simple. Each of those interfaces comes with a copy of Ableton live lite, so you can put the music you want to listen to while you record on one track, then record on other tracks.

I always recommend Focusrite interfaces because they have excellent preamps. Now of course there are better interfaces out there but without knowing your budget I can't recommend much else. But from what you described, either of those should work for you.
 
Cool. I'll take a look into them. I already have Ableton though...

Budget is around 200 ideally, but with audio interfaces, there's usually good deals on ebay.
 
im not really good at this but why are there 2 inputs and 2 outputs in the first one and 8 inputs and only 6 outputs on the other? shouldn't it be equal?
 
Check out the A/Is from Echo, read some reviews about them.
You can also just directly connect your guitar/bass guitar to it.
Echo's got a very good rep.
I'm very happy with Echo gina 3G.
 
UnkNowNGenius said:
im not really good at this but why are there 2 inputs and 2 outputs in the first one and 8 inputs and only 6 outputs on the other? shouldn't it be equal?
Click to expand...

No, not at all. Basically they don't really have anything to do with each other...your inputs come from your sound sources; the outputs go to your monitors and possible outboard gear - the latter which obviously needs inputs as well. So for example with the 8i6 you might have your mic & guitar going to the inputs (one input each); the monitors being fed from one pair of outputs (4 still unused), an outboard stereo compressor that's being fed from your DAW (two more outputs; two unused), then going back into it (two inputs). So now you'd have two inputs and two outputs left - you could add a synth, for example, and leave the remaining outputs for something else, or you could add another one (stereo) or two (mono) effects processors, or whatever.

...although now that I actually looked at the Scarlett 8i6, it's a bit misleading - they're treating the combo jacks as two inputs each, but you obviously can't connect two cables into them at the same time...
 
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