Getting an audiointerface FAQ

[DanLights]

I know Jason (guitarguru77) uses his saffire pro 40 to reamp with no reamp box, he's done reamps for me and they've turned out great, no issues at all. I have one too and no reamp box, but haven't really reamped anything cause I got no good amps to reamp yet

 

[GuitarHack]

Thanks for your reply again Dan. I emailed focusrite support and they said it should be fine to use a Balanced Line Output of the Pro 24 into the JCR Reamp box.

 

[Hitchhiker Speed Bump]

Hello,
I've been lurking on this thread the last two days and this is my two cents. Even if a product is rated for you OS it still might not work correctly! When I upgraded my c.p.u. it came with windows 7. This did not play nice with my presonus it got to the point that I was turing off every driver one at a time to see where pops were coming from. (If your connected to the internet wireless drivers are a good start.) Long story short took my presonus back and got a focusrite and its been amazing!

 

[Fagulhakc]

Hi, I'm gonna post here to avoid creating another thread for the same subject...

I'm new in recording and mixing stuff. I have a crappy behringer interface that served well for me to play around with amplitube, but now I'm interested in recording and mixing some songs. I am gonna record vocal, bass and guitar. I know that a good interface with a fine preamp built-on it will serve well for vocals and I think the "innstrument" input will serve nice for the bass too.

So here is my concern: my guitar has EMG's active pickups. I am afraid to purchase an interface and it wont be compatible with the active pickups. I notice some "distortion" on the signal when using the Behringer interface that I own. It's very "unmusical" and really ruins my tone, but I blame the low quality of the interface for that.

I am looking for something by M-audio (M-track) or focusrite (Scarlett 2i2 or Scarlett solo).

The thing is I read a review in amazon about the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 where the rewier got this message from the focusrite support about recording guitars with that interface:

"David@focusrite actually saying that "you should not use this setup to record electric guitar..", and that if you need to record electric guitar you should "get something with more headroom like the 2i4."

Well, I was looking for the sample/bit-rate and stuff like that when checking for the specs of the interfaces. What is that "headroom" stuff? Should I concern about it? I don't even know how it's measured.

I would be thankful if someone can help me. I live in Brazil so it's really limited to buy gear here. I don't have many options and many information at all.

 

[ArsMemoria]

"In digital and analog audio, headroom refers to the amount by which the signal-handling capabilities of an audio system exceed a designated level known as Permitted Maximum Level (PML). Headroom can be thought of as a safety zone allowing transient audio peaks to exceed the PML without damaging the system or the audio signal, e.g., via clipping. Standards bodies differ in their recommendations for PML."

From here.

Definitely go for the 2i4 for the headroom and the fact that each channel has a pad in case you need it. I have the 2i2 and it clips whenever I use the inst input for direct recording guitar.

 

[bryan_kilco]

Headroom is the amount of usable "room" left before your mix is clipping at 0db. Some interfaces don't play well with active pickups.

That said, I've owned an M-Audio Profire 2626 for years and it works great with my EMG81 equipped guitar. I'd easily recommend this interface, though I'm fairly certain they are discontinued now. Paid like $500 for mine used about 5 years ago and now I see them on eBay for like $200-$300 sometimes.

 

[Fagulhakc]

Hi guys, thanks for your answers. I finally understand the headroom thing, but it's still hard to check out if an interface would fit or not for me. I will consider the focusrite scarlett 2i4, but I have to admit that is tough to pay extra money just to get those PAD atenuations. I am checking other interfaces like M-Audio M-track, Presonus Audiobox itwo, Steinberg ci1 and I can't tell just by reading the specs if the Hi-Z stuff is good enough or there's gonna be clipping when I plug my axe in

 

[Fagulhakc]

well, the Focusrite website doesnt have the information of the input impedance of the Scarlett 2i4 model. Isnt it strange? Is it an important information? 1 mohm is the best for instrument, right?

 

[LeSedna]

The profire is an awesome bang for buck if you divide its price by the number of inputs. I'd just recommend to check the compatibility before, but other than that, recommended !

 

[LeSedna]

well, the Focusrite website doesnt have the information of the input impedance of the Scarlett 2i4 model. Isnt it strange? Is it an important information? 1 mohm is the best for instrument, right?

yes and no. Mathematically speaking, the higher the better because the closer to infinite it is. The instrument input is nothing else than a voltmeter in fact.

In real life though, the quality of the component and circuitry will add, or not, subtleties which will make the input sounding good, or not. That's why DI sound better, and different, although on paper they could have the same specs. Also, 10 Mohm is not necessarily better than 1Mohm, the ratio is already so high, only a tiny M of input is sucked. The circuitry and quality is more important than the numbers. All instruments inputs are designed as instrument input, the ears and reviews are the only judges of the quality of the result.

 

[Fagulhakc]

yes and no. Mathematically speaking, the higher the better because the closer to infinite it is. The instrument input is nothing else than a voltmeter in fact.

In real life though, the quality of the component and circuitry will add, or not, subtleties which will make the input sounding good, or not. That's why DI sound better, and different, although on paper they could have the same specs. Also, 10 Mohm is not necessarily better than 1Mohm, the ratio is already so high, only a tiny M of input is sucked. The circuitry and quality is more important than the numbers. All instruments inputs are designed as instrument input, the ears and reviews are the only judges of the quality of the result.

Thanks for your explanation. Very elucidative.

I'm trying to decide between Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 and Presonus Audiobox 22vsl. I like the Presonus Audiobox itwo either, but the website doesnt have the info about it's headroom and when brands hide infos it's usually a bad sign.

The infos I've got from Focusrite Scarlett 2i4:

Gain Range +10dB to +55dB (0dB to +45dB when pad is engaged)
Max Input Level +3dBu (+13dBu pad in)

and now from Presonus 22vsl:

Gain Control Range -30 dB to +50 dB
Input Max Headroom +15 dBu, < 0.5% THD

So it seems that the Presonus 22vsl brings more headroom and less chance of get clipping with EMG pickups, right?


Sorry to bother you guys with these questions. I used the "search" and it was helpful, but still can't decide hehe

 

[DanLights]

Hi guys, thanks for your answers. I finally understand the headroom thing, but it's still hard to check out if an interface would fit or not for me. I will consider the focusrite scarlett 2i4, but I have to admit that is tough to pay extra money just to get those PAD atenuations. I am checking other interfaces like M-Audio M-track, Presonus Audiobox itwo, Steinberg ci1 and I can't tell just by reading the specs if the Hi-Z stuff is good enough or there's gonna be clipping when I plug my axe in

Do not get the 2i2, it has that issue, you'd have to get a DI box to be able to record guitar straight into it. I used a Presonus Audiobox and it's terrible for mic'd sources, if you put a mic to a guitar amp it will distort beyond usability, but I've used it with guitar and bass connected directly and didn't have a problem. I strongly reccomend the 2i4, great quality preamps and DI input for the price, and you shouldn't have any headroom problems.

 

[MoTang]

I'm looking for a usb interface that has 2-4 preamps (for portability), spdif, and line ins. A good headphone output would be great as well. Anyone got any suggestions? The budget is around $500, but I'd prefer to keep it lower than that if I can because this will be for portable use only.

 

[rapucore]

https://www.thomann.de/fi/behringer_fca1616.htm

Has all you're looking for quite cheap. I own one and couldn't be happier (previous user of Tascam and Focusrite). There's a smaller version with less ins and outs for roughly 4/5 the price, but I'd recommend to get the bigger one which isn't that large anyways.

 

[MoTang]

Thanks for the recommendation. Think I'm gonna go with it then, because it definitely saves a lot of money.

Hopefully it's good enough to drive my AKG K702's...it's annoying having to use a different headphone amp with the headphones so if I could use an interface for them instead of the headphone amp that would be amazing.

 

[Random3]

Hi guys, I am looking at buying a Focusrite Saffire Pro 26 as an upgrade to my Presonus Audiobox 2x2. What I am wondering is am I going to need a DI box to lower the signal when I record through DI? Currently the signal is far too hot when using my Presonus for DI.