Audio interface for Pc

Hi folks , I’m thinking of getting a audio interface for my pc laptop . Any good recommendations? I heard that RMe babyface pro is good but it’s beyond my budget . My budget is Us$350 . Thanks !

Hi Jolaw,
welcome to our great forums!
I moved your posting over to the “Hardware” subforum, where it belongs. :wink:
Maybe you will find an answer in this thread, where your question has been asked before from other people…

If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask!
The people here are friendly and always willing to help.
Cheers!
Erik (Mod)

If you want/need MIDI In and Out ports on your audio interface, I recommend the Steinberg UR22C. It also supports the faster USB 3.0 standard and bundles free versions of Cubase Ai, Cubasis LE, and dspMixFx. You can get it now for $170 on Perfect Circuit using their Spring Sale discount code.

Have you checked eBay or Reverb? Wouldn’t surprise me if these were available 2nd hand but in pristine condition.

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Just checked Reverb and eBay. Used RME Babyface Pro’s start at $570.

I bought a MOTU M4 recently that I’m pleased with. Very solid build, good drivers, bus powered, USB C.

I had a Presonus Studio series before that. Also good drivers. Build quality was a bit cheaper, and I ended up returning it to get the MOTU M4 largely for aesthetic reasons. No complains about the Presonus performance.

I have a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, which is above your price range, but there are several of the smaller (fewer ins/outs) Scarletts in your price range. I like the build quality and aesthetics of the Focusrites better than the Presonus, but the single most irritating thing about the Focusrites is that their ASIO drivers do not support multi-client. 99.9% of the time that doesn’t matter, but on the rare occasion that you want to run Gig Performer and a DAW or some other audio app at the same time, it won’t work.

I also have an RME BabyFace Pro and a UFX II. Love them both, but way higher prices.

My suggestion is to decide what features you really want (how many mic or instrument inputs and outputs, MIDI jacks, headphone jacks) and look for what’s on sale among the name brands and looks good to you.

Hi there. Does anyone know of a usb audio interfave/mixer that allows separate xyernal hardware mixing of vst instrument output (rather than within gigperformer). I also require same device to accept inputs from physical instruments. This would be for live use where I am using a mix of soft and hard synths. Cheers

Hi Vindes,

how is the Focusrite compared to the M4. Due to reviews the M4 has special / better drivers and therefore better latency. Therefore I plan to go with the M4. Also the M4 does not need any Mix-SW when used. But the Focusrite has more in / out and 2 headphones exits.

Any major differences in sound quality?

Charly

You can do this using any RME audio interface and control the mix using the so called TotalMix Fx mixer. The « hardware » mixer can be controller from GP using MIDI or OSC. The model of audio interface you need depends from the amount of inputs/outputs you need.

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Thanks very much. I will look into the product.

I’ve never felt M4 or the Focusrite 18i20 sounded better or worse than each other. I’m certain that if I were listening to a CD through one vs. the other using the same pair of headphones, I wouldn’t know which was which.

I like them both, especially now that Focusrite has finally added multiclient ASIO to the windows driver.

You can do this with the Focusrite, MOTU, and Presonus interfaces that include ADAT outs, in addition to the RME interfaces. I think it’s pretty standard when you get into interfaces with a lot of IO. RME tends to give you more routing flexibility than the others I’ve mentioned, but for the most part the more expensive the unit the more control you have. (e.g., with the RME’s you can create a different mix with hardware routing for every individual output. On my Focusrite, in contrast, you’re limited to 4 different mixes in the hardware. The other outputs have to be mapped to a single input or output mix from GP.)

Hi thanks. I have decided to do via gp and use controls on my hard synth to control the mix. I have ordered a M4. Reviews look pretty good.

I think this was a good choice. I have the small M2 and i am quite happy with it.

Yes hopefully! I went for the m4 as it gives me extra inputs for the option to route my external gear either direct or via the pc.

But i hope you are aware of the fact that there are no knobs for gain adjusting of the inputs 3&4?

Hi there, yes i am thanks. 2 inputs are fine, nice to have an extra reserve though!

Got the m4. Am very pleased with it. Am routing my external sounds back through the lap top so I can use gigperformer to set up mixer mapped to my main keyboard. All works very well.

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