Originally Posted By: 90 dB
If I were you, I wouldn't buy anything until I had done a lot of reading and had come to a basic understanding of how audio gear works.


http://www.amazon.com/Home-Recording-For-Musicians-Revised/dp/0825615003


Google is your friend.


Regards,

Bob


Yup....

Not every interface is a good buy.

You need to look at several things....

1. Be sure it uses ASIO drivers.... the real ASIO and not some sort of codec or proprietary wrapper. If it can run other drivers, that's cool but it must run ASIO.... if not, don't buy it.

2. Be sure it has pre-amps on the audio inputs. Some do, and some don't. If it does, you don't need the mixer.

3. Be sure it can deliver phantom power for condenser mics.

4. Be sure it has the required number of inputs and outputs you either need or want. If you have an eight input interface, but the software you use and only handle 2 active inputs at a time, you are wasting money on that interface.

I don't use Linux but I'm gonna guess that most interfaces will not run fully supported on that OS when they are developed for Win & Mac.

Quote:

Herb (may I call you Herb?), it's not just a matter of showing off to my friends and marveling at blinking lights. It's that I am trying to solve two problems with one tool - if possible. I have felt the need for a mixing board for a while, then I got involved in this home recording thing, and I have found a mixing board that is an audio interface. I thought that would be a good idea, but you really hate mixing boards, dontcha.


Yes you may.... the comment was intended more as a light hearted joke.... I used to have lots of things with blinking lights and it certainly looked cool and impressive....

And no... I don't hate mixing boards. There's a time and a place for them. However, in the average home studio, where you have one person, working on a song project, and where budgets are tight for buying gear, mixers are no longer needed. Even some of the professional studios are looking at "mixing in the box" and getting rid of the old boards. Yeah, I doubt that all of them will go to strictly "in the box" .... there's always going to be those who love the boards and refuse to change and I'm perfectly fine with that. Some of those boards impart their own color and it's a good thing.

I do, however, have a great disdain for the multi-function gizmo's that combine an interface with anything else. Get a solid interface, (I like M-audio, presonus, focusrite) if you want a mixer, get a good mixer, if you need a guitar processor, get a solid guitar processor and use cables to connect them.

Last edited by Guitarhacker; 03/27/15 01:40 AM.
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