Recommend an audio interface

Go with a used h6. You get multiple microphones for nearly the same price. And a better unit.

The H6 does look potentially cool for mobile stuff. Thinking about it. I nearly pulled the trigger on an Antelope Audio Zen Tour. Seriously cool looking interface, but expensive and I heard too negative stuff about customer service. For less dough, the Focusrite Clarett 4pre looks like a decent choice

i have a BLA modded Motu. and got an Audient ID14 a few years back.
the Audient blows away the Motu. itā€™s an impressive sounding IO. if you need more routing they have bigger units. but the ID14 sounds great to me.

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Iā€™m now considering selling my h6 to get a zoom f1. Way smaller, and I donā€™t use the h6ā€™s combo inputs that often.

I use an RME Fireface for recording mainly. I also have a Focusrite Saffire for streaming, an X32 for my big venue stuff but I just picked up a Behringer 404HD ($99) for my Elektron Case so I can use it as a Mixer/IOS recording interface for small shows and quick recording capture and honestly itā€™s pretty damn good especially for the price. Itā€™s a tad bit harsh in the high end compared to my other gear but for live use itā€™s absolutely fine and like you mentioned in you OG post, the sounds are getting so mangled that I doubt anybody would even noticeā€¦I barely do.

On a side note, I bought the Roland Go Mixer originally and it was a total POS. Weak sound, constantly clipping and horrible hum noise whenever connected to an IOS device (which is itā€™s main purpose). It was a fragile piece of plastic too and the Behringer 404HD is solid metal with MIDAS pres and surprisingly quality knobs and buttons. Iā€™m honestly amazed for the $99 it cost.

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thank you all for plenty ideas regarding my situation. nice to see that Iā€™m not alone with this questions

mobility and specially spontaneity became an important issue for me since Iā€™m very often on the move or have a feeling for just using a synth for pleasure (the Blofeld) ā€¦ so i just plugin the cables to the recorder and press record without using a PC - the H4n Pro will become handy for this kind of duties ā€¦ and also for recording nature-sounds or something in my kitchen making noise ā€¦ lets say anything which produces soundwaves should be captured with its imperfection. therefore i donā€™t need a shotgun-microphone or those special capsules provided from Zoom for their H6. i just realized that i can also capture some melodies or rhythms i produced with my voice and then translate it into a synth-patch

i will go for the H4n

@andtrevor
they have the ASP-devices with the iron-channels ā€¦ what i heard from the sound-demos this kind of distortion is what i call ā€˜ruttishā€™ - better than my SPL Charisma

I also bought a Go:Mixer and I agree, itā€™s a very cheap feeling unit especially for the price, and itā€™s really hard to get it to a good input/gain level without clipping (and itā€™s very hard to tell when it is going to clip). Easily the worst Roland product Iā€™ve ever used.

However, there is a specific problem with the output levels on some early units. The first one I had was extremely quiet. I returned it for a replacement which was much better in that regard. So if youā€™re having an issue getting normal levels out of it (dodgy sound quality aside), a faulty unit might be the cause.

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If anyone is just looking to add 2 analog inputs to their sound card via SPDIF, I can recommend the MIDIMAN/M-Audio Flying Cow 24bit.

This thing is 20 years old but it is also a D/A converter. This is important because it allows you to clock the whole thing from the digital input, allowing you to use your main (not 20 year old) audio interfaceā€™s clock, instead of its own. It receives clock via the s/pdif input jack, using a 75 ohm RCA cable.

Iā€™m using it with a MOTU UltraLite MK4 in EXT clock mode and it sounds darn good, considering I got it for $62 shipped on eBay.

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Rme rules!!!

Audient , great sounding converters , i had m - audio focusrite and tascam fw 1884 before. Latency is probably better with RME (i use win7 ThinkPad x220 , so old system), but there is no dropouts or pops and clicks with Audient, but the sound is of the same quality (was mixing in hired studio with RMEs ) nice warm and clear sound .

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Iā€™ve done just that, and confirm that itā€™s a nifty addon to my sound card. Two extra tracks, even at 48k, are more than handy.

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yep, itā€™s the difference between me recording 4 outs vs 2 outs of my OT MKII

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How are you liking your Roland Octacapture so far? Any standout features, capabilities you particularly enjoy? Iā€™m considering getting one

I thought it was great when I had one. I particularly liked how it could be used as a mixer with FX when not hooked up to a computer, and Iā€™m a big fan of Roland converters in general; they always sound punchy. Another thing I liked a lot was that it was made in Japan.

I have a Roland Integra 7 now that can also act as a sound card if I want, but I recently got a Korg MR-2000 I intend to use for capturing my mixed masters.

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Thanks for the info, I think I might take the plunge. Iā€™d been searching the net and came upon it, seems like a great unit with itā€™s high quality converters and on board fx. I was wondering if it could be used stand alone and the fact it does has really sold me on it!

Care to comment on the Auto-Sens feature? And his the quality of the on board reverb. Iā€™m sure itā€™s higher quality than my Quadraverb.

That auto feature is nice to have for sure. The FX are typical Roland, like youā€™d find in their Romplers. Itā€™s nice that theyā€™re there; can be finicky to edit/setup, but not bad. Reverb is different from Quadraverb, I wouldnā€™t say better.

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Sounds like a slam dunk. By the way, is it also easy to route the channels to do overdubs. I sometimes use glitch / buffer style plugins in my daw on a previously recorded drum track and live record a 2nd version of it while glitching it live. I assume itā€™s more than capable to do these types of duties, just wanna make sure. I spotted a few for sale in the $350 range used, might pull the trigger.

I didnā€™t use it that way. I really suggest to check out the manual. Itā€™s a quick/easy read.

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How about a MOTU UltraLite Mk3/Mk4?

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Why not MOTU again? I was looking myself at an Ultra Lite one.

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