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Do you have more than one interface?


Gswitz

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I've collected a fair few over the years, but at the moment I've got three that I use - all 1st Gen Focusrite Scarletts: an 18i20 in the studio, a 6i6 in the house, and a 2i2 for my laptop for portability.

The 18i20 is racked along with a bunch on mic pre's, and various equipment patched into it, so I wanted something smaller I could use in the house - hence the 6i6.

I actually wasn't going to go with the 2i2, but they were selling the studio bundle for a steal when the 2nd gens were released. 

I also have Yamaha 01x with 2 x i88x interfaces. These run on an mLAN network connected to a laptop, but the wordclock is slaved to the 18i20, and one ADAT output goes to the 18i20. This allows me to use Yamaha's mLAN software on the laptop as a patchbay to route external preamps & direct outs from my analog console to the 18i20 via the i88x's. 

The mLAN equipment has only just been given a second lease of life though, having had them out of use for a number of years (until recently Windows Vista 32 bit was the latest OS they'd run on). I've not recorded any new stuff with them yet.

On another old laptop I use a Behringer UCA222 for sampling. It can take up to a whole weekend to sample a bank of patches from a hardware synth, so having my old laptop slaving away means my other machines aren't tied up.

 

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Yup - I actually have 3.  I have a simple one, (Yamaha/Steinberg UR22),  that is generally the one I use for my main recording rig, as I am mostly dealing with only me, and I am a keyboard player who , for keyboards, uses exclusively soft-synth computer-based sounds - triggered by a single midi controller, and I will use one of two XLR combo inputs for either a guitar or a mic.

For my live performance rig, I have a laptop with all the soft synth sounds loaded, and a VST Host to manage sounds/presets for live performance, and that laptop has a Thunderbolt 3 port, so I bought a UAD Apollo Arrow Thunderbolt 3 audio interface, which also only has two XLR combo inputs, but I only use the Thunderbolt 3 connection to the laptop - to route the synth sound output to my mixer, etc.  There are times when I will go over to do a remote recording session, like the bass player's place, or whatever, and I bring the laptop and that Arrow interface, and it works great for that, in addition to its main use for live performance.

The 3rd audio interface I have is a Presonus Audiobox 1818VSL, which has 8 XLR combo inputs, and I use this if I am recording live drums, generally - I have an expansion unit for this interface, which connects to it via an optical cable (ADAT), to give an additional 8 XLR combo inputs.  This way, I have all kinds of ability to mic a drum kit using up to 16 mics (never needed that many).

The Arrow, and the little Yamaha/Steinberg UR22, are both super portable, as long as a lot of inputs aren't needed.

The Arrow fits in the backpack the laptop goes into, so everything I need for either live performance or simple remote recording, is in a single easy to carry backpack.

There are lots of choices - depending on your feature needs, and budget.  :)

Bob Bone

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I only have one, which is the ur44. I have a bunch of others which are going on Gumtree. For field recording I have the Tascam DR60d and the 40d audio recorders. That is for nature sounds, documentary work and run and gun. I thought about using the laptop for some of these with an interface but the audio recorders are simpler. I did video a local guy busking and for that I just had the 40d on top of the DSLR and used it's dual mics, sounded fine. For festivals I use the dr60d sat underneath the DSLR and 2 rode NT5's on a bracket I made up, all handheld but sounds great.

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I have 4 total. 2 of those are Studio-Captures synched together so I have 32 channels in and 20 outs running in ASIO. I have a MOTU 24io that is not working now mainly because it has the PCI card instead of the PCIe and worked fine in XP. I have attempted to bring it out of retirement but have had no luck with it in Windows 10. I guess I will consider getting a PCIe card and try that. Lastly, I have an old Focusrite Saffire 6 for a more portable quick and dirty rig.

I use the Studio-Captures on a daily basis and they have been steady as a rock.

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2 hours ago, CJ Jacobson said:

Yes, I have 2 as of now. Why? Because your audio interface, just like everything else, can go at anytime and if you are in the middle of a session, you need to have a back-up ready to go. 

This is especially true with updates to the OS. There may be nothing wrong with the actual interface, but changes to the OS make existing interfaces unusable.  Had that occur recently with a Win 10 update, and there have been a number of articles recently concerning a Mac update that breaks lots of stuff.

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One FW M-Audio without pre-amps but with encoders, as standard audio interface for computer. Another M-Audio with 2 pre-amps which can be chained with the first one, it was placed more close to gear. Phonic Firefly, which play the role of rack mixer with a possibility to work as an interface. VS-20, too unstable under Windows, has high latency, but works under Linux (unlike all mentioned before). Babyface Pro as portable and the only quality product I have.... Not to count interfaces in e-drum, vocal processor and small analog mixer.

Why? I had no one wise in the near to plan my home gear 😀

  • Haha 1
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My need is driven by laziness. I don't get paid so if i mess up a recording, oh well.

I loved having my ucx loose so i could take it out to a party.

Now it is racked with cables in every port. Unhooking it from the rack is a major chore.

The rack is heavy and kept upstairs.

I'm getting fatter and skipping recordings that will not come to me.

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