Ableton Forum

Hey guys,

So I'm curious if you have any suggestions for a tiny interface to use with Live. It only needs two stereo inputs and a headphone output. Anything beyond that is just gravy. A mic input would be nice, but it's not strictly necessary. Bus powered is a MUST.

I want a small interface to do beat creation on the go, mostly through my headphones. My Lenovo's onboard sound is laggy as crap and I'd like to have something I can carry around easily.

I was considering the Focusrite VRM Box for mobile beat production, but it lacks the stereo inputs I would like.

Thoughts?

Apogee One?

Behringer UCA202/UCA222 is pretty decent considering the price. On the DAC side, at least.
But it may not work well with low impedance headphones.
VERY extensive(only DAC, sadly) review here: http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/beh ... eview.html

How about this one? http://www.esi-audio.com/products/ugm96/

If all you worry about is your sound lagging I would try ASIO4ALL, which is a ASIO driver for onboard PC sound cards (www.asio4all.com). If you want a nice audio interface because you need to record audio, I would go with the RME Babyface (I own and love this one!!) or the Apogee One or Duet.

Ken

ken porter wrote:...If you want a nice audio interface because you need to record audio, I would go with the RME Babyface (I own and love this one!!) or the Apogee One or Duet.

Apogee won't do you much good without a mac...

M-Audio transit

rme babyface

Rampus wrote:

ken porter wrote:...If you want a nice audio interface because you need to record audio, I would go with the RME Babyface (I own and love this one!!) or the Apogee One or Duet.

Apogee won't do you much good without a mac...

Doh, of course you're right. I am a Mac user and even though I remembered ASIO4ALL forgot about Apogee being for Mac only. The RME Babyface will definitely work though.

By far, the best small good sounding interface under $100 is the Native Instruments Audio 2 DJ aka Traktor Audio 2. It has 2 stereo 1/4" outputs and really sounds fantastic. I have RME FF 800 and Lynx Aurora 8 in my studio, so I know what I'm talking about : )


<edit> Doh! misread your needs. If you need inputs too I would also look at NI Komplete Audio 6, it is only $229. RME Babyface is great but costs a lot more, $749. If you can afford it go with the RME <edit>

oslonovski wrote:Behringer UCA202/UCA222 is pretty decent considering the price. On the DAC side, at least.
But it may not work well with low impedance headphones.
VERY extensive(only DAC, sadly) review here: http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/beh ... eview.html

^^ UCA222 only $40, and works just fine

I'm sure the Babyface will give you better quality results ( for $750, so it bloody should )...depends what you want to spend.

What about the MOTU MicroBook/ii?

http://www.motu.com/products/motuaudio/microbook/

4 inputs, 1 stereo. Looks nice for a small interface.

FP

Rampus wrote:

ken porter wrote:...If you want a nice audio interface because you need to record audio, I would go with the RME Babyface (I own and love this one!!) or the Apogee One or Duet.

Apogee won't do you much good without a mac...

I wonder how much potential revenue could be gained by going cross platform.

Apparently not much, Apogee used to support both platforms and then stopped a couple years back.

Focusrite 2i2. $150. awesome.