ankur1211
Disciple
Audiophiles Assemble - There goes Legendary SSL2+ burning a hole in my pocket
- Thread starter ankur1211
- Start date
![IMG_20200910_155024[1].jpg](/data/attachments/88/88147-300ef579195687354e9f80f4202c8d26.jpg)
Have been looking for an audio interface for some time now.
While this is in a league way above what I'm looking for, can't help feel curious. Please do let us know once you post a video. If acquired online, could you also tell where you bought this and how much you paid for it?
While this is in a league way above what I'm looking for, can't help feel curious. Please do let us know once you post a video. If acquired online, could you also tell where you bought this and how much you paid for it?
ankur1211
Disciple
Hey, I will post the video sometime soon, just caught up with other stuff.
I can suggest you the best bang for your buck depending on your needs.
This one I got from Soundglitz - bangalore based music store. I paid around 29k along with shipping for this one. Got delivered in 2 days. I could have gone for pretty decent options at half of it's price, but I had to get something I don't need to change for atleast next 5 years.
You can get it's cheaper version at 22k - which is exactly same as this one except three features : 1. only 1 headphone out instead of two on this plus version. 2. No Midi input. 3. No RCA output for DJing purpose. I really needed 2 headphones out. Apart from these 3, everything is exactly same.
If your budget lies close to 15k, I would suggest you to get Audient EVO if you are a singer songwriter, however I can answer more precisely if I know your intended usage.
Beautiful!! Now please give your SoundCloud link..@codelad you can look into Focusrite interfaces, using one for last 10 years.
@ankur1211 Thank you! Appreciate the details. As for me, I've only been practising the guitar for an year or so and looking at something for casual/practice recording, as a small step up. May also use it to record and save from old cassette tapes.
Looking for something with basic I/O - an input to plug my guitar, another perhaps for a mic, and a single output - something in the 10~15k range. Would be happier with a device with more features/functions, since I believe it'll expose me to more stuff that could learn about (even if it's not good at everything, and even if I will only use a few of them).
@red dragon The Focusrite 2i2 is indeed on my short list, along with the Audent iD4 and EVO. More recently have also been looking at the Motu M2 (a bit more expensive than the rest, but is very highly rated). Also need to consider Linux support - I believe all of these are class-compliant and are fairly functional.
@ankur1211 Have actually been in contact with Soundglitz about the Motu M2. And they have been quite responsive. Will wait to see if there's an impressive deal at the supposedly grand sale at Amazon/Flipkart, else buy from them.
Looking for something with basic I/O - an input to plug my guitar, another perhaps for a mic, and a single output - something in the 10~15k range. Would be happier with a device with more features/functions, since I believe it'll expose me to more stuff that could learn about (even if it's not good at everything, and even if I will only use a few of them).
@red dragon The Focusrite 2i2 is indeed on my short list, along with the Audent iD4 and EVO. More recently have also been looking at the Motu M2 (a bit more expensive than the rest, but is very highly rated). Also need to consider Linux support - I believe all of these are class-compliant and are fairly functional.
@ankur1211 Have actually been in contact with Soundglitz about the Motu M2. And they have been quite responsive. Will wait to see if there's an impressive deal at the supposedly grand sale at Amazon/Flipkart, else buy from them.
ankur1211
Disciple
Motu M2 is without a doubt better than the other ones in that list but at a higher price tag and you know that.
Moreover, for the kind of usage you have mentioned, biggest difference between these interfaces is of Preamps used, DAC used and Noise floor, as I assume you would be recording in a very normal untreated environment. Scarlett is good option, but once you upgrade from scarlett, you realize the difference you have been missing on to !
Instagram : dec0it
Yes, MOTU interfaces are great!!
@ankur1211 @red dragon - Ended up buying the Motu M2. Had to go beyond my budget some (cost around 16.5K ) , but went for it for a couple of reasons:
1. Has fairly well documented Linux support and a recent history of development/bug fixes.
2. It's much-touted headphone output. I figured I may not have to buy a separate headphone amp in the future, since next on my list would be a pair of decent headphones.
Haven't had much time to play with it yet, but already love the fact that I'm finally able to plug in my guitar. Have been practising my electric guitar without an amp all this while and the interface already makes a world of difference.
@ankur1211 BTW, I bought mine from SoundGlitz as well. Their pricing was well below Amazon's and they were quite quick to respond.
1. Has fairly well documented Linux support and a recent history of development/bug fixes.
2. It's much-touted headphone output. I figured I may not have to buy a separate headphone amp in the future, since next on my list would be a pair of decent headphones.
Haven't had much time to play with it yet, but already love the fact that I'm finally able to plug in my guitar. Have been practising my electric guitar without an amp all this while and the interface already makes a world of difference.
@ankur1211 BTW, I bought mine from SoundGlitz as well. Their pricing was well below Amazon's and they were quite quick to respond.
Since you're using an amp now, how are you doing with palm-muting?
I could afford a practice amp almost after 3 years of being in a band ( in mid 90s) I practically stopped playing open strings (4 string bass) during the first 3 years during various college fests.
I could afford a practice amp almost after 3 years of being in a band ( in mid 90s) I practically stopped playing open strings (4 string bass) during the first 3 years during various college fests.
Afraid I haven't really spent a lot of time with the interface yet - still trying to get it to play well with JACK + Guitarix.
Palm-muting... well, have only been practising for an year - so, not quite there yet. There's one song I've tried it with, Eagle Eye Cherry's Save Tonight - again, not quite there yet. :-(
You will..you will.. don't give up..
ankur1211
Disciple
So, the thing is, whenever we are using an electric guitar with audio interface units, we should have high impedance for the guitar input, even though almost all the manufacturers market their hi impedance or Hi-Z inputs for electric guitar to get that crisp punch, the reason most of the professional studios still route the guitar through an Amplifier is that these Hi-Z inputs are still not that good alone. So, as Red Dragon also commented about AMP, it will just ease your practice sessions up as well as making your electric guitar recordings a bit better. However, if you are always routing your guitar into your DAW via Interface, some Guitar DI Boxes are also available as one by MOTU itself, choice is yours.
This is proof that you live and learn. This thread showed me once again how little I know. I could read everything, but damn, I don't know sh*t.
Thanks for all the info and the required dose of humility!
All you gents, deserve at least a like each!
Thanks for all the info and the required dose of humility!
All you gents, deserve at least a like each!
Recording guitar at home is not easy buddy. We all learn through trial and error.
Since you've bought the interface already, try placing a signal trimmer first in your guitar track audio chain ( most amp sims come with a free trimmer, but if not, there must be some free trimmer vst available) if you are using any amp sim just bypass the inbuilt amp section and use your own amp and feed the cab in with your amp out. The cab out goes to your guitar BUS before going to master BUS or master out.
It sounds complicated, but with modern DAWs routing signals is getting easier.
With the trimmer engaged, you can nail down the desired tone with various stomps and effects without clipping.
Since you've bought the interface already, try placing a signal trimmer first in your guitar track audio chain ( most amp sims come with a free trimmer, but if not, there must be some free trimmer vst available) if you are using any amp sim just bypass the inbuilt amp section and use your own amp and feed the cab in with your amp out. The cab out goes to your guitar BUS before going to master BUS or master out.
It sounds complicated, but with modern DAWs routing signals is getting easier.
With the trimmer engaged, you can nail down the desired tone with various stomps and effects without clipping.
@ankur1211 @red dragon : Thank you for the recommendations. Just realised that by mentioning the guitar amp (the cheap super-finicky amp that came with the guitar and which I don't use) I may have misled you into thinking that I connect to the interface via an amp. I plug in the guitar directly to the interface, and am able to capture/record and also monitor directly.
Still, would like to route it through a software amp (JACK+Guitarix) to make it interesting, but have been busy with work in the past week and haven't been able to set it all up. Would also like to play around more with the DAW program (Ardour) once I'm able to. At the moment, it's all very new and I don't know what I'm doing most of the time. So intend to try to keep things simple and fun, to begin with.
Still, would like to route it through a software amp (JACK+Guitarix) to make it interesting, but have been busy with work in the past week and haven't been able to set it all up. Would also like to play around more with the DAW program (Ardour) once I'm able to. At the moment, it's all very new and I don't know what I'm doing most of the time. So intend to try to keep things simple and fun, to begin with.
Since you can wrap your head around JACK, routing audio will be a cakewalk for you.
After leaving Mac, I tried Linux a bit before falling back on Windows after a decade.
I kind of vaguely understand how powerful and flexible Linux tools are, but could never make the JACK thing work properly.
Ardour is an extremely powerful DAW, but it always goes above my head.
Did you try Reaper or Bitwig on Linux?
Warren Huart ( a producer/ audio engineer) once told me Linux is possibly better than Windows for audio production with real instruments ( not VSTi) and he showed me how to record multichannel drums in Ardour ( he made it look so easy!!) but I forgot everything.
Next time I meet Warren, I'm going to record the process.
When you start understanding, Linux is indeed beautiful and powerful. But it's difficult to start for a noob like me ( totally spoiled by readymade Mac and Windows software. I bought the full version of Amplitube, and it's so easy to use out of the box, you tend to forget certain basics)
After leaving Mac, I tried Linux a bit before falling back on Windows after a decade.
I kind of vaguely understand how powerful and flexible Linux tools are, but could never make the JACK thing work properly.
Ardour is an extremely powerful DAW, but it always goes above my head.
Did you try Reaper or Bitwig on Linux?
Warren Huart ( a producer/ audio engineer) once told me Linux is possibly better than Windows for audio production with real instruments ( not VSTi) and he showed me how to record multichannel drums in Ardour ( he made it look so easy!!) but I forgot everything.
Next time I meet Warren, I'm going to record the process.
When you start understanding, Linux is indeed beautiful and powerful. But it's difficult to start for a noob like me ( totally spoiled by readymade Mac and Windows software. I bought the full version of Amplitube, and it's so easy to use out of the box, you tend to forget certain basics)
More than JACK, it is the underlying ALSA layer that I find tricky to deal with. As a longtime Linux user, I've never found ALSA easy to work with, especially with me being an audio novice. And once PulseAudio was mature enough for regular use (sometime around 2010), I never really had to go back and fiddle around with the ALSA configuration much, since everything just worked. And when things just work, you don't quite have the motivation to tweak any further.
The first thing I did before setting up JACK was to get rid of PulseAudio (to avoid conflicts and convoluted workarounds to get them to play well together). And find myself dealing with the ALSA layer once again, after a long while. I've already got it kind of working, but to be able to get it working as I want it will probably take a bit of time and patience. For instance, I don't have my USB device plugged in always, so will need to come up with some udev rules (and possibly a script) to make things flexible - switch the defaults to the USB device when plugged in, else to the built-in audio device.
Don't know much about other OSes, but Linux is indeed powerful and flexible - just takes time and patience to learn and tinker around. If you haven't tried JACK recently, you really should. Back when I first heard of JACK, you almost always needed to compile your own realtime kernel (or get a pre-compiled one). While it's not rocket science (around that time, I still compiled my kernels with my own custom config), it was still a pain and I never really got around to it. With faster hardware, I don't think realtime kernels are a requirement now. And as far as I have seen now, routing audio is as easy as dragging paths (with the qjackctl GUI tool).
Haven't tried Reaper or Bitwig (or much of Ardour, for that matter) yet. Wanted to get going with a simple setup before I experiment. And all these components are fairly well documented - ALSA, JACK, Ardour. Just need to get around to it and spend some time.
The first thing I did before setting up JACK was to get rid of PulseAudio (to avoid conflicts and convoluted workarounds to get them to play well together). And find myself dealing with the ALSA layer once again, after a long while. I've already got it kind of working, but to be able to get it working as I want it will probably take a bit of time and patience. For instance, I don't have my USB device plugged in always, so will need to come up with some udev rules (and possibly a script) to make things flexible - switch the defaults to the USB device when plugged in, else to the built-in audio device.
Don't know much about other OSes, but Linux is indeed powerful and flexible - just takes time and patience to learn and tinker around. If you haven't tried JACK recently, you really should. Back when I first heard of JACK, you almost always needed to compile your own realtime kernel (or get a pre-compiled one). While it's not rocket science (around that time, I still compiled my kernels with my own custom config), it was still a pain and I never really got around to it. With faster hardware, I don't think realtime kernels are a requirement now. And as far as I have seen now, routing audio is as easy as dragging paths (with the qjackctl GUI tool).
Haven't tried Reaper or Bitwig (or much of Ardour, for that matter) yet. Wanted to get going with a simple setup before I experiment. And all these components are fairly well documented - ALSA, JACK, Ardour. Just need to get around to it and spend some time.
ankur1211
Disciple
I don't know how I miss this reply. Warren Huart? Produce Like a Pro? That guy is such a "Marvelous" legend! I mean, I have seen his videos to learn a lot of specifics. He is just extremely talented and well versed with the knowledge of all things recording and production!
Fanboy moment after getting to know that you 'met' him
