Audio Interface for Guitar sims?

[Wizeled]

Hey there guys, I'm mostly a bedroom guitarist now and am looking to upgrade my UR22 mk2. I sold my AX8 and bought one of those cool new Neural DSP plugins (Abasi one) and I feel that for what I enjoy playing (metal/lead stuff) those are more than enough at around 1/10 of the price. Therefore I wanted to upgrade my Audio interface, I narrowed it down to a few:

- UAD Arrow;
- MOTU M4;
- SSL2+;
- AXE I\/O

Just looking for something so I can practice guitar and record some stuff on Cubase; I got a I5-8400 , 16 gb Ram on Windows 10 x64.

 

[Corporial Bodies]

Motu m4 for the win, very low latency, solid build, and the meters on the front are a good addition.

 

[Wizeled]

Motu m4 for the win, very low latency, solid build, and the meters on the front are a good addition.

And it's cheeeeeeeeeeeeeap too

 

[Flappydoodle]

I gotta say UAD. They just have such a good reputation.

But the MOTU looks good too in terms of specs for the money.

 

[Wizeled]

I gotta say UAD. They just have such a good reputation.

But the MOTU looks good too in terms of specs for the money.

You reckon the UAD is worth an extra 200£ just for a bedroom guitarist? I only really care about latency

 

[Flappydoodle]

You reckon the UAD is worth an extra 200£ just for a bedroom guitarist? I only really care about latency

On Windows, to my knowledge, latency is more related to driver quality than anything else.

I'm a Mac user, so can't really advise, sorry.

 

[Xifter]

Wait... Mac’s don’t use drivers???

I’m in same boat as the OP. Want to get back into guitar and recording but prob going to invest in plugins and a AI... I have a PC.

Thoughts?

 

[Winspear]

Worth forking out for UAD or Audient imo. They seem to be leading prosumer at the moment and great drivers are good for future proofing

 

[Aewrik]

If you want lower latency than your current USB audio interface can provide, you should go PCI-Express. Either an add-in card like the RME Hammerfall (if it's still around... I'm sure RME is at least), or an external Thunderbolt interface, like the Presonus Quantum.

Most USB audio interfaces are still sitting on USB 2.0, and even if there are USB 3.x interfaces available, they're still bottlenecked by the usb hub/bus, which depending on your motherboard is handling also your mouse, keyboard, wi-fi, USB MIDI controllers, etc.

So... go PCIe or Thunderbolt! ASUS has a Thunderbolt add-in card if you don't have a TB port on your motherboard. Just make sure it's the same generation as the one on the audio interface.

 

[Winspear]

Yeah PCI is real nice. I have RME Pcie myself but it could be considered a bit overkill. Lovely to see numbers like 2ms latency, but an amp in the same average size room can be up to 10ms away afterall. OP has a nice powerful CPU that should be able to run Neural in the ~5ms range on a USB interface I'd imagine

 

[Wizeled]

If you want lower latency than your current USB audio interface can provide, you should go PCI-Express. Either an add-in card like the RME Hammerfall (if it's still around... I'm sure RME is at least), or an external Thunderbolt interface, like the Presonus Quantum.

Most USB audio interfaces are still sitting on USB 2.0, and even if there are USB 3.x interfaces available, they're still bottlenecked by the usb hub/bus, which depending on your motherboard is handling also your mouse, keyboard, wi-fi, USB MIDI controllers, etc.

So... go PCIe or Thunderbolt! ASUS has a Thunderbolt add-in card if you don't have a TB port on your motherboard. Just make sure it's the same generation as the one on the audio interface.

Unfortunately my PC doesn't support Thunderbolt

 

[Wizeled]

Worth forking out for UAD or Audient imo. They seem to be leading prosumer at the moment and great drivers are good for future proofing

I was looking at the Motu M2 or M4 but they seem out of stock everywhere so It's no longer an option sadly, might have to go up in price.

 

[Flappydoodle]

Wait... Mac’s don’t use drivers???

I’m in same boat as the OP. Want to get back into guitar and recording but prob going to invest in plugins and a AI... I have a PC.

Thoughts?

https://developer.apple.com/library...Overview/WhatisCoreAudio/WhatisCoreAudio.html

Basically, on Mac the protocols are built into the OS and you are less reliant on the drivers made by the manufacturer. That said, I haven't used Windows in depth since 7, and I have to things are better now than they used to be. I remember having to fiddle around with ASIO4ALL and other workarounds.

 

[Najka]

+1 for MOTU M4. I've used MOTU interfaces in the past, good bang for the buck.

I'd only go for the UAD if their plugins are important to you. If not, the MOTU gives you great value, plus it gives you midi I/O for a controller. MOTU leaves more room for expansion.

A/D conversion is so good in 2020, UAD did use good converters historically but the technology is so readily available in low cost components now. It's like touch screen technology is even on budget laptops now. The MOTU can go up to 192kHz resolution.

Plus you're only recording a guitar. You get super clean Pre amp with the MOTU. You can get different Mic pres simulated with the arrow. Different story if you want to do vocals or mic up instruments.


Justification for the UAD I can see if you want their plugins.

Edit - See that you cant find it right now. bummer!
Honestly if all you are doing is recording guitar direct into a simulator on the PC, I don't think there is much value added in upgrading. The UR22 has a great DAC and clean mic pre. Money may be spent better elsewhere - Maybe your monitor situation if it's low tier.

 

[Wizeled]

+1 for MOTU M4. I've used MOTU interfaces in the past, good bang for the buck.

I'd only go for the UAD if their plugins are important to you. If not, the MOTU gives you great value, plus it gives you midi I/O for a controller. MOTU leaves more room for expansion.

A/D conversion is so good in 2020, UAD did use good converters historically but the technology is so readily available in low cost components now. It's like touch screen technology is even on budget laptops now. The MOTU can go up to 192kHz resolution.

Plus you're only recording a guitar. You get super clean Pre amp with the MOTU. You can get different Mic pres simulated with the arrow. Different story if you want to do vocals or mic up instruments.


Justification for the UAD I can see if you want their plugins.

Edit - See that you cant find it right now. bummer!

Hey man, thank you for the reply! I did manage to order an M2 from Germany, the last one in the store. I take it between the m2 and m4 the only difference is the number of inputs right? Also would I need a DI box at all?

 

[Najka]

Hey man, thank you for the reply! I did manage to order an M2 from Germany, the last one in the store. I take it between the m2 and m4 the only difference is the number of inputs right? Also would I need a DI box at all?

I think there is a lot of confusion about DI boxes, it's not a yes or no type of question.


The idea behind a DI box is
1. Connector matching = Use as an adapter between different connectors.
2. Impedance matching = Gives you a high impedance output, Guitar is a high impedance (Hi-Z) signal, and the MOTU has Hi-z inputs so you're good there.
3. Signal Balancing = Take an unbalanced input and output a balanced signal. General rule of thumb if you need to run an instrument cable more than 15ft, you will pick up unwanted noise. Use this to convert your signal to a balanced signal so you can run long cables. Is also good if you have a lot of wires in your home studio. This will get rid of electromagnetic interference from power cables, RF, lights

So, based off those rules of thumb you decide if it's required for your situation, it doesn't sound like you would need one from the information you've given.


FYI
unbalanced signal = like your instrument (Truest signal from your instrument) Has 2 signals inside the cable, the + and - signal. The - (ground) can act like an antenna and can pick up RF interference. These cables are also referred to as TS cables (Tip Sleeve) Tip = + signal Sleeve = - Signal. (RCA cables are also a form of unbalanced) Usually a Hi-z signal, if your mic pre isn't Hi-z, you will experience high frequency loss possibly degraded sound. This type of signal is not good for cable lengths longer than 15ft.

balanced signal = 3 signals, (two + signals & one - signal), one + signal has it's polity reversed, witch means its 180 degrees out of phase = 2 opposite waves cancel each other out until it reaches your input (interface) then the second + signal flips. (This is done with a differential op amp, we can go down a big rabbit hole here) A differential op amp only amplifies the difference between two signals, so the noise will be canceled. Noise is induced to the signal by electromagnetic interference which can be from power sources, outlets with bad grounds, power chords, lights, you name it. This is good if you need to run long cable length (+15ft) Balanced cables commonly used are TRS (Tip +, Ring, + >180 sleeve -) or XLR (External Line Return) cables.

 

[Descent]

I liked the AXE for the software that comes with it as well. Good front end options. Latency is decent.

 

[fps]

Worth forking out for UAD or Audient imo. They seem to be leading prosumer at the moment and great drivers are good for future proofing

I have an Audient ID44, and I think it is really excellent. Clean sound, 4 channels, I don't notice any latency issues, very happy.
Edit: I see you went for an M2, I'm sure that will be great as well!

 

[Elric]

Got an Axe I/O from IK for my laptop around Christmas. Extremely nice interface for guitar. Well thought out, sanely priced. Highly Recommended.