Recommend me a reasonable interface

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I've decided to venture into the world of home recording and I'm looking for a relatively cheap and reasonable interface to use in conjunction with garageband.  My budget is around £50-70, I don't want to spend anymore than that right now.  What do you suggest?
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Comments

  • Basically anything Focusrite. Best preamps for the money by far.
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  • IanSavageIanSavage Frets: 1319

    USB or Firewire? If your recording machine is relatively new it won't matter (in fact you'll probably be tied to USB), but if it's a Mac with a Firewire port IME it's better to use that.

     

    Assuming that you won't need to record more than a couple of sources at once?

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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589

    Even if you have Fussywire don't go there. The protocol has all but been abandoned by most AI makers and almost no PCs have FW now not even all macs!

    The 2i2 has come in for some criticism regarding headroom on the high Z input and the Steinberg UR22 has had good reports (not one bad one in fact) . So the mic pres might have a smell less gain than the 2i2's? Unless you want to speak softly at an SM58 at a foot they will be fine.

    Both interfaces are offered at around the £100 mark but I am attracted to the MIDI ports on the UR22 and Cubase rather than Ableton.

    If you DO need more than 2 inputs and 4 will do, no contest, Native Instruments KA6.


    Dave.

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  • I can recommend the Pod Studio UX2, has its own plus sides for obvious reasons and it *does* work very, very well.  Has a good gain control for both mic pres, monitor outs, headphone out, the works.  

    It's main plus point (one I don't need since I've gone solid state rather than valve) was the silent practice.  Pod farm is nifty, and while it's not amazing sounding, it's far from terrible if you spend time on it.  

    It's pretty cheaply constructed though.  I've just plugged in the mic and left it there to hopefully prevent damage to what I suspect are cheap sockets.  


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  • Basically anything Focusrite. Best preamps for the money by far.
    i got the 2i2 and it was dead easy to set up and use which was kinda my only concerns when purchasing as I'm an absolute idiot with computers. it might be slightly out of your budget but if you can afford it or find one second hand its very good. I'm no expert so i probably couldn't tell a good one from a bad one but it does everything i want. 
    How very rock and roll
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  • davewwdaveww Frets: 165
    If it's just to record guitar on garageband go for a second hand apogee jam off ebay.
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  • beed84beed84 Frets: 2403
    Thanks guys.  I've got my eye on a UR22, I'll scrape some extra pennies from somewhere.  As far as recording goes, I'd be mainly recording my guitar ideas; however, I would like to get round to recording vocals, keyboard and potentially my mates practice sessions... and my own when I get a bloody band together.  Will this cover the job, and is garageband a good enough programme to use? I'm using a 2011 macbook pro if that helps.
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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589
    beed84 said:
    Thanks guys.  I've got my eye on a UR22, I'll scrape some extra pennies from somewhere.  As far as recording goes, I'd be mainly recording my guitar ideas; however, I would like to get round to recording vocals, keyboard and potentially my mates practice sessions... and my own when I get a bloody band together.  Will this cover the job, and is garageband a good enough programme to use? I'm using a 2011 macbook pro if that helps.

    Don't know macs but the UR22 should be fine. Garageband gets a good rep but do try the included Cubase software since there are millions of users and you will never lack for help!

    Dave.

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  • HeartfeltdawnHeartfeltdawn Frets: 22096
    beed84 said:
    Thanks guys.  I've got my eye on a UR22, I'll scrape some extra pennies from somewhere.  As far as recording goes, I'd be mainly recording my guitar ideas; however, I would like to get round to recording vocals, keyboard and potentially my mates practice sessions... and my own when I get a bloody band together.  Will this cover the job, and is garageband a good enough programme to use? I'm using a 2011 macbook pro if that helps.

    The drivers on the UR22 are excellent and the preamps are not bad at all. You won't regret spending the extra.



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  • I've got the UR22 and recommend it. It took me a while to get it working, until I realised it doesn't like the usb 3.0 ports on my PC.
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  • DeijavooDeijavoo Frets: 3298
    I have an Apogee Duet and find it very good to be honest.
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  • dano91dano91 Frets: 24
    I bought a Presonus Firewire Studio Project a few years back and kind of regret it. The Presonus itself is great, but I have encountered a few problems with soundcard compatability/connectivity on XP/Windows 7. It just makes the whole process a chore - if I had the choice I would go with USB.
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  • ecc83ecc83 Frets: 1589
    dano91 said:
    I bought a Presonus Firewire Studio Project a few years back and kind of regret it. The Presonus itself is great, but I have encountered a few problems with soundcard compatability/connectivity on XP/Windows 7. It just makes the whole process a chore - if I had the choice I would go with USB.
    Have you got a Texas Instruments chipset FW controller in the PC or as a PCI/PCIe card?

    Dave.
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  • Based on that, the Steinberg UR22 looks like good value, though I don't know my onions.  It comes with half decent software and seems to be a decent unit.
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  • sweepysweepy Frets: 4158
    A big plus 1 on the Toneport UX2, absolutely bulletproof and very well supported. I only got rid of mine to go to the  Digidesign 003r on my Mac
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