ADC/interface thread

Discussion in 'Musicians and Instruments' started by Garns, Jan 20, 2022.

  1. Garns

    Garns Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,483
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Sydney, AUS
    We don't really have a dedicated thread for this. There's a bunch of information about this scattered around the place, but often the focus is on the DAC/headphone component.

    I have a question to kick things off. In terms of converter quality for the buck, is there anything between MOTU M4/Ultralite, and Lynx Hilo or Apogee Symphony Desktop?

    My use cases are pretty limited: I want to track synths, don't currently have any outboard gear I want to send things through, and if I did I'd get a mixer... so don't really care about the DAC, just the ADC. Honestly I dunno how much difference ADC quality is going to make in my case and I feel like the Lynx/Apogee might be overkill. I also have a Lavry AD-10 and a mic pre in a cupboard which may or may not be working, so as another option I could get that all hooked up if I buy something with an optical or AES input.

    Any ideas gladly received!
     
  2. jowls

    jowls Never shitposts (please) - Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2015
    Likes Received:
    4,495
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    42°S
    RME Babyface Pro FS has been serving me well. It's rock solid for a bus powered device with modest but adaptable I/O. I don't have a massive amount of experience with ADC but it seems pretty clean to me.
     
  3. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    7,467
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Winnipeg
  4. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    7,467
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Winnipeg
    I actually like the Babyface Pro FS more than the ADI-2 Pro that I used to have (granted it was the original, the ADI-2 Pro has had numerous revisions since then).

    The Babyface has great preamps for a bus-powered device (great gain though a bit bland which is not necessarily a bad thing), but in my experience my desktop units sounded better.
     
  5. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    8,200
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Northwest France
  6. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    14,134
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    India
    It's only an ADC.
     
  7. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

    Pyrate Slaytanic Cliff Clavin
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    5,345
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Lynx, RME, and UAD are top tier driver wise. Nobody else even bothers most of the time to write their own drivers. RME sound wise usually has bad treble. UAD is not good soundwise either. These are the most reliable options that you see everywhere where reliability matters because they work.

    Below them you have Metric Halo (great sound and fully upgradable but usb drivers are not fast), Apogee (great sound. Weird products verging on prosumer. Drivers are decent but not fast), MOTU (good sound now and bang for buck but weird as hell drivers and iffy support), Prism (great sound, bleh usb drivers), Steinberg (very reliable drivers but bleh sound, bad treble, and they don’t update the drivers enough) and the Dante interfaces which all require an Audinate pci-e card for reliable low latency operation (Prism, Burl, Focusrite Rednet).

    The cheap stuff like Focusrite Scarlett, the Audiofuse, current Tascam, Presonus (cancer), and Behringer. Is trashy. Scarlett is the most ubiquitous of course because it’s cheaper than Steinberg but much less reliable.

    Some of these only work or only work reliably/fast on Macs :p
     
  8. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    8,200
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Northwest France
    Yes it is. Which some people with their own external mic preamps might want to use.
     
  9. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

    Pyrate Slaytanic Cliff Clavin
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    5,345
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Apogee Duet 3, RME Babyface Pro FS, UAD Apollo Twin X are all way better than a Scarlett without being tops in price and sound.
     
  10. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Nov 9, 2015
    Likes Received:
    6,838
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    Home Page:
    The problem with most of these interfaces is that the use USB or Firewire and then only support the hardware for a certain number of years. You can get Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP right now on Reverb for super duper cheap, and by the looks of it, seems okay....decent mic pres, Firewire, SPDIF In/Out, direct montoring, and a fairly small box. However, it won't work past Windows 10 20H2. We are already on Windows 10 21H1 on my personal PC and my organizations PC is on 20H2. They are no longer supporting the drivers past Windows 10 1809 and macOS Catalina. So basically if it works, fine, if not, you are on your own.

    With all the updates to Windows, macOS, and even now the push to move to Windows 11, it is a constant race to keep up with compatibility. This is why the real pro guys use stuff like the Apogee Sympony stuff or the Digi stuff with the dedicated cards. Those PCI, PCI-e, PCI-x or whatever are never going to change. Then build your interface with a card to talk to that to the computer, have some instructions for the OS, done.

    That being said, I still see people using PCI audio cards, like the RME HDSP 9632. So @Psalmanazar is right when he says that RME, Lynx, and UAD drivers are king. They are the only ones with real developers on staff that keep up with this stuff. RME has been doing it for years and now they never skipped a beat with Yamaha. USB is like chasing the dragon and crapshoot if it is going to work with the latest update. All of it makes me want to go to Linux based kernel OS and Reaper. I bet I can get my old Digidesign Audiomedia III card to work in Linux even.
     
  11. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    14,134
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    India
    With Linux, you're always on your own. We know that and don't cry. And my Echo Audiofire must be over a decade old, long since not made and... still works.

    With USB, part of the story is USB Audio compliance. So no drivers needed. No drivers needed, but we fall on our faces when we want to control some aspect of the hardware, and the facilities are there in the provided software for Windows and Mac.

    Here's something that caught my eye some years back, and it (or current model) is still available. Full featured, but all features controllable via its own switches: No software needed. Win! Ermmm... except for the price, which is well beyond my budget...

    Sound Devices USBPre2 Interface

    The company seems to make only pro-audio gear, which might be a good sign.
     
  12. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Nov 9, 2015
    Likes Received:
    6,838
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    Home Page:
    You are correct. No guarantees on Linux based either, you are correct.

    Sound Devices have always made great stuff for location recording, mostly for video, but also for radio and television as well. Super well built and portable. Kind of poor mans Nagra stuff.
     
  13. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    14,134
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    India
    I could live with that :). But around $1,000 is too rich for me these days. Of course, it isn't for many here. Offhand, I think it's cheaper than the Lynx or RME boxes, right?

    It's also massive overkill. I don't record any longer, so interest in ADC is academic and nostalgic. Even the Motu M4 is ott in functionality for me.

    When DACs first started becoming popular, I despised them. Half the functionality of a sound card or interface at the same price or more! I despised them also because the more popular they became, the more difficult it was to find higher-quality simple 2-in/2-out interfaces: one had to pay for all kinds of connections that would remain unwanted and unused.
     
  14. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    7,467
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Winnipeg
    That thing is ancient now. If I were going this route, I'd likely consider something from Centrance who has a bunch of newer products with similar features and cheaper as well.
     
  15. jowls

    jowls Never shitposts (please) - Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2015
    Likes Received:
    4,495
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    42°S
    I have just discovered that RME Babyface can provide phantom power to my DI and monitoring through my headphones while being powered itself via USB-C from an iPad. What a time to be alive.
     
  16. hooligan

    hooligan New

    Joined:
    Feb 17, 2021
    Likes Received:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Location:
    CT
  17. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    8,200
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Northwest France
    Looking for a budget interface and I’m leaning towards the Universal Audio Volt. I like that it uses external power.

    anyone have experience with it?
     

Share This Page