First post - need an interface of some kind

[thisundyingfire]

Hi all,

Been a lurker for quite some time, but now have my own question that searching hasn’t answered for me yet.

I need an interface. Onboard preamps would be great, but something serving more as an AD/DA convertor/interface would be fine too, I have access to some decent outboard preamps.

Budget depends on the features, but I’d be topping out at $600 (w/ something that would hopefully have more than a couple built-in preamps). Sound quality trumps features/inputs for my uses. I’m not going to be recording live bands or drums (though the latter would be a great option; I just don’t see it happening). Primarily just going to be recording guitars/drums/vocals, and keys every once in a while.

Thanks for reading and hoping to see some good recommendations.

Also, I’m on a PC; otherwise I’d just buy an Apogee unit and be done with it.

 

[MatrixClaw]

Your best options for recording drums would be:

Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 (firewire)
Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 (usb)
Steinberg MR816 (firewire)
Steinburg UR824 (usb)
Roland Octa-Capture (usb)

If you're going used, you could add:

MOTU 828mk3 (usb/firewire)
MOTU 896mk3 (usb/firewire)

If quality is of highest concern and you're not apposed to skimping on inputs the Focusrite Forte and RME Babyface are top choices.