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New USB Audio Interface


Sven

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I'm looking for a new USB audio interface and I'd like one with LED input meters.  My PreSonus AudioBox USB 96 sounds fine but I don't love the feel of it.   It also has an annoying input volume 'feature' which makes the sound go up slowly then  jump dramatically around 3 o'clock.   I was considering getting the PreSonus Sudio 24c but would like to consider others first.    If anyone has a recommendation I'd like to hear it before I purchase.

https://www.presonus.com/products/Studio-24c

The MOTU M4 looks nice.  Anyone tried that?:

https://motu.com/en-us/products/m-series/m4/

Thanks.

 

PS:  Some links with other choices:

https://www.musicradar.com/news/the-best-audio-interfaces

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/best-usb-audio-interfaces/

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1 hour ago, Sven said:

I'm looking for a new USB audio interface and I'd like one with LED input meters.  My PreSonus AudioBox USB 96 sounds fine but I don't love the feel of it.   It also has an annoying input volume 'feature' which makes the sound go up slowly then  jump dramatically around 3 o'clock.   I was considering getting the PreSonus Sudio 24c but would like to consider others first.    If anyone has a recommendation I'd like to hear it before I purchase.

https://www.presonus.com/products/Studio-24c

The MOTU M4 looks nice.  Anyone tried that?:

https://motu.com/en-us/products/m-series/m4/

Thanks.

 

PS:  Some links with other choices:

https://www.musicradar.com/news/the-best-audio-interfaces

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/best-usb-audio-interfaces/

Instead of buying a new interface, why not adding a 16 channel mixer with LEDs to your setup and connect your Presonus to it? Plus, you'll have more ins and outs too. 

How do you like that sauce? 

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Thanks for your reply Will_Kaydo.

Your idea might be a bit overkill for my innocent setup.   I'm always just using one mike or guitar input whilst recording by myself these days.   Maybe one day in the future your solution will make sense.

Thanks.

 

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Lol. No problem.  Then again, there's always the case of you can never have too many ins or outs. They always come in handy every day even in the most innocent setups. 

You might want to look at this one for its LEDs meter.

Maudio.thumb.jpg.970d5c9e82bfabaf01daaa9236f5c481.jpg

Edited by Will_Kaydo
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I have the M4 and I use it daily with only a few issues that I wrote off as being what you can expect from a Mac focused company. 
The driver is not even as stable as my 1st generation Focusrite Scarlett 6i6. 
First the 6i6 runs smoothly at 128 buffer. The M4 needs 256. 
The 6i6 never makes popping noises. TheM4 always pops when I change focus on apps. I run everything at 48 to avoid this but it still happens. 
If I work all day in Sony Vegas and open Cakewalk the audio recording is garbled. Reboot the interface doesn’t help. I have to re boot the computer. 
I had to buy a $40 USB 3 PCI card to resolve other issues with it because it’s bus powered. 
 

I just watched a video and this guy tested 15 cheap interfaces and your interface was his top pick because of build quality and features.  He didn’t mention driver but he was of course using a Mac.  
 

I should have bought the Scarlett 8i6.  But I do like the Motu meters. 
 

 

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3 hours ago, Sven said:

"Are those meters better than the M4?" - This was for Will_Kaydo.

 

Also, thanks David for your reply.   I'm tempted to order the M4.  Looks like what I want.

 

It brings a constant level to all your vocal and guitar recordings that I guarantee you. Vocals and acoustic guitars you can at -6dB every time. 

Honestly: I haven't tried out the M4 yet, but from reading a few reviews and pictures - no one mention it it has a scale. So what the use of having meters, but you're still blind.  A linear scale meter would've been a nice touch. 

 

Edited by Will_Kaydo
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1 hour ago, John Vere said:

Just curious. Do you have any of the symptoms I listed above? I assume it’s the driver as neither my Scarlett or my Tascam cause any of these issues 

I get the occasional pop, but that's because I'm running on windows and it has background processes running. When I record I disable the network adapter and haven't had any problems. I normally have the IF set at 44 and a buffer size of 96. The M4 works fine into a USB 3 port on an ASUS MB. 

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If I were looking for a USB interface in your price range and feature set, I would be looking hard at the brand new Universal Audio Volt 2. It has slightly better metering than the Studio 2|4 Audiobox (two LED's instead of one 😄), and they're doing some fancy stuff with the preamps.

UA have a reputation for quality (including build quality) that they're probably not looking to squander with this new line of budget interfaces.

Incidentally, I just bought a Studio 2|4 (no "c", but Presonus have confirmed that the only difference is the color) for $30 on Craig's List, and its playback blew away my ancient Firepods. Sure, any interface from the past dozen years will sound better than the Firepod due to the adoption of better convertors (with PLL jitter correction).

When I say it blew them away, that's almost literally. The 2|4 sounded SO much better that I knew I had to dump them and went back on Craig's List and snagged a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 (I like Firewire, and I record drums, so having 8 mic pres is essential to my studio). It's well in the era of better jitter correction, so it also sounds fantastic by comparison to the Firepods.

Edited by Starship Krupa
Typed Studio 2|4 when I meant Audiobox
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Yes don't underestimate the value of the add ons.  Focusrite seems to have a good little package that it includes. I scored Addictive Keys for free. The Motu only came with Performer lite which is about as useful to me as ***** on a bull.  

@rsinger  My issues might just be my computer is 12 years old, but I still find it odd that my old interfaces work better on the same machine. But I use the M4 mostly because I rely on the Loopback to be able to record screen captures and stay in ASIO mode with Cakewalk. My set up is very basic these days but making videos has got me now 100% on 48hz. I convert all my old projects to 48 right away before I continue working. The M4 seems happier these days since the last driver update. But that distorted audio is an unsolved mystery. And I put my computer in Airplane mode unless I need the internet. It's an odd feature that my other computers don't have. 

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3 hours ago, John Vere said:

And I put my computer in Airplane mode unless I need the internet. It's an odd feature that my other computers don't have. 

My DAW is hardwired to the LAN so Airplane mode isn't available. I use wifi on my laptop, but don't record on it. I practice on it and play around but have a quad capture on it. 

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3 hours ago, rsinger said:

My DAW is hardwired to the LAN so Airplane mode isn't available. I use wifi on my laptop, but don't record on it. I practice on it and play around but have a quad capture on it. 

I think you just pointed something out that I was too stupid to realize but now I do. When I saw that Airplane mode down in the network icon in the bottom taskbar I thought, Oh, this is quicker than opening network settings and disabling my LAN and the Wireless. I now realize it probably only disables the wireless network and not the LAN, will check this out tomorrow, I already shut down for the day. My other computers don't have wireless, only LAN. That would explain the lack of the Airplane mode. Duh! 

Edited by John Vere
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Thanks sjoens for that suggestion.  Because the prices are so reasonable these days I think I'm going to go with the M4 knowing I can always switch to something else later.  When I see the pictures of their monitoring meters they look like what I want to view when recording.   The PreSonus AudioBox USB 96 has been a drag for a couple of years

https://motu.com/en-us/products/m-series/m4/

Thanks for everyone's thoughts.  I'm sure in a few months there will be new fun toys to consider.

 

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