Hi all,
I've had a Presonus Firestudio Mobile for years and it has suited me very well. The headphone volume is getting a bit dodgy and I am considering treating myself to an upgrade.
I'm a home noodler and only occasionally record stuff - either to practice or for youtube.
Question 1.
I originally bought the firestudio because I was wary of latency with USB interfaces. The firestudio has never given me a moment of problem with latency when using software amps etc. Given that firewire is generally on the way out, do I need USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt (I'm a mac user)? Thunderbolt interfaces are obviously more expensive, but is there any difference in the real world?
Question 2.
I need 3 stereo inputs permanently plugged in on the back of the device. (Kemper, Beatbuddy, Looper) and this gives me the ability to mix levels easily on screen. And just a pair on the front for occasionally sticking a mic or guitar in. All of the devices I look at either have hardly any 1/4 sockets on the back or a shedload on the front. I don't want front ones as it will just make my desk messy. Any ideas of products with at least 3 stereo inputs on the rear?
Question 3.
Should I just be looking at a really simple 2 socket interface and then a mixer separately (I know even less about mixers)? It all needs to be fairly small and controllable via software.
Overall, I'm looking for the apple solution, not the android one. i.e. it just works without a load of hassle.
Grateful for a steer on all this
PS will probably be moving to an M1 mac soon so needs to work with that.
Comments
I've just seen a similar thread on here. It seems I should probably be going for a small mixer. It also seems like a lot of those have a USB audio interface.
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Im looking at the Thunderbolt options.
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View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
It's the MOTU Ultralight Mk5.
The main benefit is that it has a lot of line inputs that most interfaces don't have.
Unfortunately it doesn't have hardware output mixing, but I didn't have that on my previous interface - got to do everything in software.
The only downside is that it's bloody expensive.
My old interface has been going for about 10 years though so if the next one works for 10 years that's just £60 a year.
Slightly better interfaces just seem to go up in price from there so I think £600 is the limit for me.
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Don't know about that unit but I've been using my old saffire 6 USB for about 20years and it's still going strong!
Can't be bad.
Plus it's been getting thrown in my backpack (unprotected) with mics and stuff regularly over that time.
Arturia Audiofuse studio was also on my list for a while. It's a really really nice device with a lot of nice features. Possibly wrongly I am discounting it due to only 2 stereo line inputs on the rear when I really want 3. Although they do have 4 mono inputs on the front to be fair. Since it's about 200 more than the motu and the only real advantage is the knobs on the top I slightly favour the motu. The motu also has bigger headroom and gain on the inputs.
For all of these devices I wish they had an output mixer with physical controls. I just want all of my gear plugged into one box and to be able to set the output volume balance easily.
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I did at one point have the Studio in the basket and was about to click buy - but it has so many features I can’t see myself using and is still a hefty price.
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Total overkill for my application (and a lot of money), but I went for something that has the possibility of external control plus a lot of love on the internet for the way RME supports their interfaces for years and years.
Plus a bunch of other stuff.
https://www.instagram.com/insta.guitarstuff/
I bought a Babyface Pro FS last year. It's not cheap and it's worth every penny. It sounds superb (big upgrade from the first Babyface) and it's drivers are brilliant. I'm sure you'll find the same with the UCX II.
What I can say is that I've had it on 8 hours a day since August and no crashes or glitches. I'm on a Macbook.
The software works perfectly, but I have occasionally found it a bit complicated. Having said that, I have worked it out using the documentation which is really good.
The reason I bought it was the reputation for rock solid USB drivers and long term support. So far I can only vouch for the former.
It's also class compliant USB so won't be left behind any time soon.
I also considered 2nd hand values and the RME interfaces seem to hold a good deal of value over time.
I didn't research the antelope stuff though.
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