Decent Interface for PC?

[GavinKMusic]

Hi Guys,

I'm just using a Zoom R8 as an interface right now and it kinda does the job but not in WASAP shared mode. I'm using NI Kontakt and Guitar Rig in real time recording and would be nice to record direct to my DAW. right now I have to go out of headphones out to the Zoom to record Midi.

Any recommendations for decent pc interface would be much appreciated. Many thanks!

[Jennerstein]

What's your budget? How many ins and outs do you need? USB or Firewire?

I'm a PC person myself, using Studio One. Last year, I bought an RME Babyface to replace my Digi 002. It connects using USB 2.0

If you're staying PC, strongly consider RME stuff mostly because their drivers are well written. I had issues with my Digi 002 and Pro Tools because of flaky Avid drivers. After my research, I decided to go with RME because I didn't want to have to deal with latency and pop/click issues.

That being said, even after I bought the Babyface, I had to tweak my system until I eliminated any DPC latency issues. That's just the nature of Windows 7.

Babyface is about $749 list, but I found it on Craigslist for ~$525. There are 2 ports on the side of the Babyface. One is a Line In (Hi-Z compatible), and the other is a headphone jack. It also comes with a breakout cable that allows you to have 2Ins (XLR), 2Outs (XLR), another Headphone out, and Midi In/Midi Out. The Babyface supports an optical I/O connection to increase the I/O.

[GavinKMusic]

Thanks for the reply and recommendation Jared. I need USB. Just need 1 input for guitar but may need stereo inputs if WASAP shared mode doesn't work with my system. I would like to record straight from my midi software. I'm just using Audacity to record.

Wasn't looking to spend more than $300. Thanks!

[GavinKMusic]

I'm looking at getting this: KOMPLETE AUDIO 6

I love the NI stuff. High quality, decent software so might get their interface.

[Russell Landwehr]

I've always used MOTU for for my audio interface. Their USB stuff works very well even real-time. (i use to use a computer and MOTU USB interface for 28x8 live mixing with bands) this looks like it is near your pricerange: http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOTU-Audio-Expr ... 461a47fa17

Russell

[JamesCarvalho]

the presonus brand interface
makes alot of great stuff preamps not bad. and its affordable

[Len911]

Thanks for the reply and recommendation Jared. I need USB. Just need 1 input for guitar but may need stereo inputs if WASAP shared mode doesn't work with my system. I would like to record straight from my midi software. I'm just using Audacity to record.

Wasn't looking to spend more than $300. Thanks!

what is WASAP and why do you need it? Windows Audio Second Audio Program?? Just a guess,lol!

"I'm just using a Zoom R8 as an interface right now and it kinda does the job but not in WASAP shared mode. I'm using NI Kontakt and Guitar Rig in real time recording and would be nice to record direct to my DAW. right now I have to go out of headphones out to the Zoom to record Midi."

I'm not familiar with audacity. I think maybe your problem is in your routing? Let me guess your scenario, you want to play your guitar through NI's Guitar rig and record. Insert guitar rig on the stereo out buss inside your daw. Plug your headphones into the headphone out jack on your computer. Plug your guitar in the r8 interface and send output usb to audio input track on audacity and record the track. When you are done recording, go back into audacity and with the guitar rig with the same settings render your audio file with the guitar track enabled. You may have to change some settings if latency is too great.

If guitar rig can operate in stand-alone mode, you can route the guitar usb signal to the input of the guitar rig and the output of guitar rig to an audio input track of your daw and record, or if guitar rig allows you to render an audio file like wav or mp3 you can import that audio file into your daw. I'm not familiar with guitar rig either I'm afraid, so I'm not sure of your options. Others may have a better take and more familiarity and offer better assistance.

At any rate I think you might want to explore the potential of the R8 before spending money on the same sort of product. If I'm not mistaken the R8 also can be used as a daw controller??

[Jennerstein]

Len911 has a good point, you should be able to use the Zoom as an audio interface and a controller for your DAW. Probably don't need to purchase another audio interface unless the drivers are giving you major issues.

I'm also not sure why you're trying to use WASAPI drivers. I did some research on Zoom's website, and it seems like their drivers for USB are ASIO. You'll want/need to use ASIO drivers or else you'll get some latency issues.

I don't use Audacity either, but my understanding is you should be able to create a track within Audacity which functions as your input for your guitar. Then you can assign Guitar Rig as a VST plugin insert within Audacity. My guess is that your Zoom's latency will be good enough where you'll feel like you're playing in real time.

At some point, you might want to consider purchasing DAW software. It looks like the Zoom uses the Mackie Control Surface protocol, so most DAWS would hopefully support it. If you're looking at purchasing a DAW on a budget, checkout Reaper. It's like $69 and its fully featured. You can download a trial and run it for 30 days and see if it works with your Zoom (Google shows it should). Other PC DAWs like Cubase LE, Studio One, Ableton Live, SONAR should also work.

[Jennerstein]

Also, I would recommend against the Komplete Audio 6 for now. I considered it also, since people were saying the hardware was comparable to the RME Babyface. However there were enough threads of people having pops/clicks in Windows 7 64 bit that I decided against it. I learned that Native Instruments' expertise in Virtual Instruments didn't necessarily translate to their drivers.

For Windows audio interfaces, my first rule of thumb now when investigating audio interfaces is the company's track record for stability of their Windows drivers (32/64 bit).

[GavinKMusic]

Thanks for the great replies. much appreciated.

I still want to upgrade from the zoom. I believe it is limiting. However I'm using a ASUS Sonicmaster notebook (ultrabook?) so may need to purchase a new computer as well. I've been using windows 8 on the ASUS and no pops or problems. But then been using mostly audacity. However have tried a lot of other DAWs but still come back to Audacity as its easy and fast. Quality is good also.

I think I will take the plunge and try the NI interface. Might need to upgrade my computer but will work with NI on that if needed. Also could always get a Mac as I hear there is a lot less issues on their OS. The NI interface comes with software and Cubase LE. however I already have Cubase LE as it came with my Graphite 25 midi keyboard. Its not a bad DAW. not too complicated.

Thanks again!