USB Interface Recommendations

Support and feedback for Acoustica's Mixcraft audio mixing software.

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JohnS
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Re: USB Interface Recommendations

Post by JohnS »

FOCUSRITE every time :)
mixyguy2
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Re: USB Interface Recommendations

Post by mixyguy2 »

I may have mentioned earlier but in case not: I've heard too many stories about people having issues with Focusrites to ever be interested in one. They sound great "when they work." It's the last part that bothers me.
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Acoustica Greg
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Re: USB Interface Recommendations

Post by Acoustica Greg »

mixyguy2 wrote:I may have mentioned earlier but in case not: I've heard too many stories about people having issues with Focusrites to ever be interested in one. They sound great "when they work." It's the last part that bothers me.
2nd gen. Focusrites seem to be pretty good - 1st gen. Focusrites not so much.
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freightgod
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Re: USB Interface Recommendations

Post by freightgod »

I had a firewire TC Electronics Desktop Konnekt 6 which I loved for the built in reverb for monitoring while recording. It died. I miss it. Does anyone know of a usb interface which has such a feature?
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Thomas
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Re: USB Interface Recommendations

Post by Thomas »

freightgod wrote:I had a firewire TC Electronics Desktop Konnekt 6 which I loved for the built in reverb for monitoring while recording. It died. I miss it. Does anyone know of a usb interface which has such a feature?
Why not another TC Electronics Desktop Konnekt 6? I don't know where you're located, but I think eBay has them for sale and Reverb has one brand new for $199 US.
-Tom
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freightgod
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Re: USB Interface Recommendations

Post by freightgod »

Thomas wrote:Why not another TC Electronics Desktop Konnekt 6? I don't know where you're located, but I think eBay has them for sale and Reverb has one brand new for $199 US.
It's an awesome little thing and works fine still in the 'live' setup, so unless sellers tests a playback of a recorded track, they wouldn't note the minor distortion the internal audio to digital converters have recently started to produce. I myself recorded a week's worth of sessions with an out of town musician and didn't realize what was happening until I sat down to comp. :shock:

The DK6 suddenly went from operating fine on power over firewire to needing a ac/dc converter. So I suspect some chip died in the power supply, or something, Who only knows. Anyway, these are all about the same age now, so I've put that money into a Presonus Audiobox USB 96 which serves all of my needs adequately as far as recording quality goes, except ALL POTS INDUCE MONITOR BUZZ WHEN AT LESS THAN 95% FULL. Which grrr.

But this was great:

https://youtu.be/PlANsjioiq0?t=28

https://www.tcelectronic.com/Categories ... ans(en|en)

I'm surprised I can't find any interfaces with built in reverb.
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dpaterson
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Re: USB Interface Recommendations

Post by dpaterson »

Hi.

For those of you who (for whatever reason) need to add two additional analog line outs (2 x mono or 1 x stereo) to a Focusrite 18i8 (because the darn thing only HAS TWO analog line outs) (2 x mono or 1 x stereo) (see my "rant and rave" about Focusrite and the 18i8 earlier in this thread):

I just bought this (DAC):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0714 ... i=11042391

with this (SPDIF cable):

https://www.amazon.com/C2G-40008-Veloci ... Z48779D3GQ

Sorry for the ridiculously long links (from Amazon).

Works great (thus far).

Build quality of the DAC itself is fine (although I'd not drop it or manhandle the power supply that's for sure).

There's probably better quality units on Amazon but for some obscure reason none of the "expensive" units can be shipped to South Africa (which also absolutely "burns" me too but what can a man do).

Anyways. Even if the DAC packs up for some or the other reason I'd have to order no less than THIRTY TWO of these units to make up for the price of a Focusrite OctoPre (if the above is the ONLY requirement of course).

Regards,

Dale.
mixyguy2
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Re: USB Interface Recommendations

Post by mixyguy2 »

Acoustica Greg wrote:2nd gen. Focusrites seem to be pretty good - 1st gen. Focusrites not so much.
I've heard it about the 2d gens too, though mostly about the lower-end (e.g. 2i2) ones.
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Re: USB Interface Recommendations

Post by starise »

Thanks Dpatterson for that info. The volume pot in My old Presonus Firetube studio just died and I'm now using my backup interface, the Focusrite 18i8. I will likely want to add another set of monitors to this setup in the near furure.
Like you, I can't understand why they couldn't have added one more set of outs. Lots of home recorders use two sets of monitors. I suppose I could opt for a monitor switcher instead. Haven't looked deeply into those. The solution you found looks to be a good one.
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dpaterson
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Re: USB Interface Recommendations

Post by dpaterson »

Hello.

Yeh. Every time this issue is mentioned I get upset again (with Focusrite) i.e. them having the nerve to advertise the 18i8 as having six analog outs (especially when the 2i4, which is now gathering dust, actually DOES have six analog outs)!!!

But yeh: that works just fine. I don't use it much (bought it as a backup just in case) i.e. thankfully all my stuff goes through a mixer (but if those two analog outs on the 18i8 ever pack up on me I'm going to become apoplectic!!!).

Regards,

Dale.
musicuser99
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Re: USB Interface Recommendations

Post by musicuser99 »

I have a simple Logilink 7.1 channel USB soundbox with digital spdif out. the spdif cable i connect to the spdif input of soubblaster z(in same Computer). the spdif output from soundblaster z i connect to my surround receiver. so all go digital.

The sense of this: I use ikmultimedia arc 2.5 for speaker correction global.so all audio is speaker correct. to route i need another vst mini host that use the soundblaster z asio and is set to 4 ms latency.

with mixcraft 8.1 it work really great. no crackle and latency that is good for realtime play. I have a i5 8600k

In mixcraft preference i choose wave rt and shared. I see no other DAW that offer this option. with other DAW i get with my config ever 1- 3 hours for some sec bad crackle. mixcraft is the best.no crackle. I can in background batch process images with acdseepro and mixraft never crackle.

the logilink USB 7.1 channel soundbox cost around 20$. in wavert i choose digital out USB device. i never buy any professional soundcard or soundbox, because the most have no spdif digital out. and the ones with digital out are so much overpriced. only i not notice how i can with mixcraft use the rear speaker channels and subwoofer of this soundbox. but this is not important for me, i do no surround. i have speaker for surround, but i notice after long test hear, that surround speaker is not need for music for me

I know its possible to use virtual audio cables in windows 10 i use. But this crackle badly often. i get it never working and i test really all virtuel audio cables and i report this to microsoft that it not work for low latencies
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dpaterson
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Re: USB Interface Recommendations

Post by dpaterson »

I thought I'd just update Mr. Behringer's thread with this that just came down the wires:
axeioik.JPG
axeioik.JPG (62.35 KiB) Viewed 5713 times
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/axeio/

Sure does look nice. And knowing IK: should be a darn good interface. A little too short on the number of inputs and outputs for me unfortunately.
starise
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Re: USB Interface Recommendations

Post by starise »

The fact that this includes Amplitube Deluxe is big. IK is on a roll this year. I think this will give them a real marketing edge for electric guitarists and hopefully give a bunch of guitarists a lot more capability.

Not sure if this will include all of the Paks. I once fancied myself a guitarist and picked a bunch of those up, Slash, Jimi Hendirix etc.. Those sims are spot on. Haven't picked up the guitar seriously in awhile. It's a shame really.
Intel 5820K O.C. 4.4ghz,
3 x Samsung SATA III 500gb SSD,Win 10 64bit, Presonus Firetube Studio
Laptop HP Omen i7 16gb 2/sdd with Focusrite interface.
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Drafter
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Re: USB Interface Recommendations

Post by Drafter »

To the OP,

Yes, there are plenty of Behringer haters out there. Not sure why all the hate flying around, because their products put out in recent years are pretty damn good, I think. I run their flagship UMC1820 rack mountable USB interface, which also has ADAT & SPDF connectivity (I only use the USB).

I have to say the thing sounds amazing at 24 Bit / 48000Hz. Now, the lowest stable latecy I found that I could run in MC8 on that unit is 5.3ms at 256 samples. No sound dropouts, no noise, or ASIO buffer loss, etc. Of course different DAW's may be different. I also run Samplitude Pro X3 Suite, and I can get 6ms in that program with the same ASIO buffer settings.

At $250, I'd say that it's a great unit when compared to some of the Focurite's, Presonus, etc. And it works everytime flawlessly. Windows always sees it, never have any driver issues, and it's super-easy to set up and utilize it's inputs and outputs. Plus I really love the independent dual-headphone amps that are built into the unit. They are powerful, and will run high and low impedance cans with no problems.
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Thomas
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Re: USB Interface Recommendations

Post by Thomas »

To the OP,

Yes, there are plenty of Behringer haters out there. Not sure why all the hate flying around, because their products put out in recent years are pretty damn good, I think. I run their flagship UMC1820 rack mountable USB interface, which also has ADAT & SPDF connectivity (I only use the USB).
I agree, and if I ever stop schlepin' around and some day actually find the need for more ins/outs, the 1820 would surely be on my short list. Behringer had a price increase not too long ago, and even with the new prices, they are still very competitive. Maybe they could direct some of the extra revenue towards hiring a proper manual writer. Those quick start guides are kinda sketchy.

PS- Adorama still has the 404 bundle, but it's now up to $150. Which is what most others are asking just for the interface alone.
-Tom
Mixcraft 10 Pro Studio 64-Bit
Windows 10 64-Bit
AMD Athlon II X4 645 3.1 GHz 10GB Ram
2TB SSD
Behringer UMC404HD v5.57.0 interface
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