Ok I’m thinking to buy a new audio interface to my studio as I am downgrading my studio .
Going to put my Soundcraft MTK 22 for sale any soon .
Looking for the best audio converters at 500€ max. It would be hooked to a analog 12 channels mixer . Audient ? SSL ? Other ?
Could be only 2 channels to Rec .
Best converters would probably be audient but the difference in sound quality will be negligible with entry level interfaces. Comparing preamps and converters that cost maybe £30 per channel is a waste of time imo. The fact that you can get something clean with decent gain for £200 or less is such a win for consumers these days. I chose the MOTU m4 for metering, latency performance and extra io over the audient, which I’ve also used extensively.
2nd hand MOTU and you’ll have change. You can find MOTU 828mk3 for £250. Good drivers too, very flexible units.
The Audient drivers were generic asio drivers, they were meant to have updated them but afaik it was underwhelming. They sound good, but I feel I prefer the MOTU, it just sounds so accurate.
A used RME babyface pro?
UA Arrow is an option if you have a Thunderbolt 3 port.
Thanks guys , well if I remember I didn’t like so much the MOTU software mixer , maybe too complicated .
RME always loved to have one. I always compare it to Apple in the sense that they are always upgrading and long life support but pretty expensive for my wallet . But gonna check the price of Babyface RME
I’ve had the Audient ID14 for 3 years, very pleased with it.
Aso Nice that UAD yes ,but I read somewhere that it’s hasn’t enough power if u buy some heavy plugins from them
Nice to ear that . What interface did u had before ? Did u notice sound recording improvements?
I prefer to buy one that has very nice sound with only 2 INS instead one with a lot of INS but not that great
What about the recent SSL 2+? Has that “4k” option. That’s my next interface I think.
Motu M2 or M4
or
Whit until you can buy the RME Babyface Pro FS
It was my first interface.
One of the reasons I got it was because of the headphone amp, it’s supposed to be one of the most powerful ones in this price range, because my HD600’s need a lot of juice.
I’ve been using Focusrite Clarett 2Pre usb-c for a couple of years now and it’s a very high quality piece of kit for the price. Super solid manufacturing and spec wise latency is extremely low. It can also be powered over the usb-c cable to my MacBook pro so it’s easy for me to move around if necessary.
Hmm could be a nice option too. SSL is a great brand …
grrr why is it so tuff to choose a interface
I’ve got a nice Mac mini 2018 , it has thunderbolt or usb-c , can’t remember so maybe it’s better to choose a faster interface
Yeah, the plugin overhead varies massively. An SSL channel strip is going to be heavy, of course. The 610-B tube preamp/EQ is also heavy, to name one off the top of my head. On the other hand, many of the plugins (e.g. the 1176LN legacy) are quite light and sound good to me. Also bear in mind you’d only be applying them to a stereo buss, it’s not like trying to put a channel strip on every one of 10+ inputs (I have 8 channels of ADAT coming into my Apollo so I’m balancing CPU across 10 channels quite often). What would you be thinking of using? Buss comp? EQ?
In any case, a “normal” interface won’t do any of that stuff and you can always just treat it like that, bring it through dry and add your existing fx/EQ in the DAW (and not get sucked into buying more and more plugins). But then I suppose the question is, are you getting the value out of it.
FWIW I love my Apollo. I haven’t properly A/Bd it against the Focusrite Saffire I was using, and I am aware confirmation bias is very much a thing, but I swear the monitor output sounds way better.
I just bought an Arturia Audiofuse Pro and love it, I assume the standard Audiofuse will be just as good. Best i/o I could find for the price and the preamps have enough gain to drive whatever you throw at them.
Hey guys , so just decide to go with the Behringer Ucm1820 so if in the future I want more ins , they’ll allready there .
Manny thanks for all your help 
Peace
Apogee, Antelope, UAD are the best Ive used.
There were several complaints about them on Gearslutz, have a read