4 ms·

any recommendations for a budget - midrange XLR interface?

deeblering4 5y ago
I'd recommend checking out the SSL2, Universal Audio Volt and Focusrite Scarlett. IMO always worth shopping used too. I'd avoid the super cheap Behringers, M-Audios, and the like. These will typically be noisy and have essentially no resale value in the future, while quality brands hold most of their value and can be re-sold later if/when upgrading.
- meremortals 5y ago
  Thanks!
  - Acen 5y ago
    As a cheaper alternative, Presonus have some solid interfaces.
    - popinman322 5y ago
      Can confirm, my Presonus Audiobox works well enough and passes through just fine to the windows VM I use for AV stuff. Still needed another amp though.
  - mlac 5y ago
    I bought a behringer UMC-22 this week for ~$60. I went down a huge rabbit hole, and it seems like at about $120 you run into the focusrite Scarlett (solo, I needed two channels so $169), and for an upgrade of $20, you can get the new Universal Audio Volt II (again, I needed two channels, the solo channel is cheaper). My use case is remote guitar lessons. I need an instrument in and a microphone in. My Microphone is the Audio Technica ATR2100 I bought a few years back. After doing a lot of research, I bought the behringer with the agreement that if I use it enough and it’s a limiting factor on what I’m doing, I will upgrade to the UA Volt II when it actually is on sale and not just pre-order. But the limiting factor in my signal chain is the compression on Skype… so I just went with a cheapie interface it gets the job done. There is some noise I pick up when monitoring with Sony MDR-V6’s and I need the volume up pretty high to get good direct monitoring levels, but overall testing has gone well. Again, if I had a more important use case or I was recording, I’d spend for the focusrite or just wait for the UA Volt II. But this is “Streets Ahead” of just using a laptop mic with my electric guitar unplugged (or to my headphones) because my kid is sleeping. The other option I had was just to swap between microphone and guitar, but that made lessons awkward.
    - deeblering4 5y ago
      https://vdo.ninja https://vdo.ninja may provide better quality in terms of audio/video and lower latency than Skype. It's a different approach, and has more buttons/knobs, but provides a high quality and free solution supporting rooms and multiple participants. Can be incorporated into OBS as well for recording, streaming etc. I've found it to be a useful tool for connecting with musicians remotely.

I'd recommend checking out the SSL2, Universal Audio Volt and Focusrite Scarlett. IMO always worth shopping used too. I'd avoid the super cheap Behringers, M-Audios, and the like. These will typically be noisy and have essentially no resale value in the future, while quality brands hold most of their value and can be re-sold later if/when upgrading.

meremortals 5y ago
Thanks!
- Acen 5y ago
  As a cheaper alternative, Presonus have some solid interfaces.
  - popinman322 5y ago
    Can confirm, my Presonus Audiobox works well enough and passes through just fine to the windows VM I use for AV stuff. Still needed another amp though.
- mlac 5y ago
  I bought a behringer UMC-22 this week for ~$60. I went down a huge rabbit hole, and it seems like at about $120 you run into the focusrite Scarlett (solo, I needed two channels so $169), and for an upgrade of $20, you can get the new Universal Audio Volt II (again, I needed two channels, the solo channel is cheaper). My use case is remote guitar lessons. I need an instrument in and a microphone in. My Microphone is the Audio Technica ATR2100 I bought a few years back. After doing a lot of research, I bought the behringer with the agreement that if I use it enough and it’s a limiting factor on what I’m doing, I will upgrade to the UA Volt II when it actually is on sale and not just pre-order. But the limiting factor in my signal chain is the compression on Skype… so I just went with a cheapie interface it gets the job done. There is some noise I pick up when monitoring with Sony MDR-V6’s and I need the volume up pretty high to get good direct monitoring levels, but overall testing has gone well. Again, if I had a more important use case or I was recording, I’d spend for the focusrite or just wait for the UA Volt II. But this is “Streets Ahead” of just using a laptop mic with my electric guitar unplugged (or to my headphones) because my kid is sleeping. The other option I had was just to swap between microphone and guitar, but that made lessons awkward.
  - deeblering4 5y ago
    https://vdo.ninja https://vdo.ninja may provide better quality in terms of audio/video and lower latency than Skype. It's a different approach, and has more buttons/knobs, but provides a high quality and free solution supporting rooms and multiple participants. Can be incorporated into OBS as well for recording, streaming etc. I've found it to be a useful tool for connecting with musicians remotely.