audio interface usb

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Bragitta
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audio interface usb

Post by Bragitta »

I am looking to invest in an audio interface usb what is your recomendation
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Re: audio interface usb

Post by raboof »

Bragitta wrote:I am looking to invest in an audio interface usb what is your recomendation
Perhaps check out http://wiki.linuxaudio.org/wiki/hardwar ... mendations
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Re: audio interface usb

Post by eikakot »

I would recommend NI Komplete Audio 6 which is UAC2 compliant and have 4 analog I/O and S/PDIF. Works out of the box for me
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AlexTheBassist
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Re: audio interface usb

Post by AlexTheBassist »

I'd recommend you Focusrite Scarlett (but beware, it has some issues working both with some WiFi cards on some systems, still can't get the reason), almost any USB-driven M-Audio and Creative. If you need lots of channels, pay some attention to RME Hammerfall. Behringer's interfaces would work well too, but they don't sound really good. Never tried other vendors, so can't suggest anything else. At this moment my primary device is Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, and I'm pretty happy with it.
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Re: audio interface usb

Post by Broomy »

I'm using a PreSonus 1818 and it works very well.
I have to say that I've connected it to a usb 2.0 hub, when I connect it to a usb 3.0 hub I'm getting a lot of xruns.
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Re: audio interface usb

Post by AlexTheBassist »

Broomy wrote:when I connect it to a usb 3.0 hub I'm getting a lot of xruns.
This happens because USB3 is quite different to USB2. It even uses other controlling protocol and needs to emulate older USB controllers interfaces, thus giving such loss in performance. Also, USB 2.0's 480 mbps of raw speed is enough for transferring lots of 24/44.1 track simultaneously, so you only need USB3 if you use, say, 300 audio channels at once. Don't worry: your USB 3.0 gives no benefits when used with soundcard. You'd better keep it free for external hard drive or anything else which requires such a big broadband.
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dednikko
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Re: audio interface usb

Post by dednikko »

eikakot wrote:I would recommend NI Komplete Audio 6 which is UAC2 compliant and have 4 analog I/O and S/PDIF. Works out of the box for me
I just looked that up. It looks pretty great for the price. How would you rate its performance on Linux? I am wanting to get as low latency as possible. My Scarlett 2i4 has been doing great as far as sound quality and reliability, but their performance isn't so hot without using their custom driver under windows or osx
Might any of you be able to help recommend the "lowest latency" usb interface for Linux audio?
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AlexTheBassist
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Re: audio interface usb

Post by AlexTheBassist »

dednikko wrote:My Scarlett 2i4 has been doing great as far as sound quality and reliability, but their performance isn't so hot without using their custom driver under windows or osx
For me, it's good enough. I can record with 128 samples buffer size and get no xruns with my Scarlett 2i2.
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Re: audio interface usb

Post by dednikko »

AlexTheBassist wrote: For me, it's good enough. I can record with 128 samples buffer size and get no xruns with my Scarlett 2i2.
I wonder how much that has to do with you using Arch as a base. I'm using standard KXStudio 12.04.

I'll see if i can get a good setup on one of my backup drives....
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Re: audio interface usb

Post by AlexTheBassist »

dednikko wrote:I wonder how much that has to do with you using Arch as a base. I'm using standard KXStudio 12.04.
For now, I'm using KSXtudio 14.04. I have Arch on other (desktop) machine, which is equipped with M-Audio Fast Track Mk II interface. I plan to install Archlinux on my laptop too, but currently I have no time for this. Also, Arch doesn't require much of extra configuration. All you need is to install lowlatency kernel (realtime doesn't perform really well with audio, but still way better than generic kernel), add your user to audio group, install yaourt and then install all the stuff you need. Almost all KXStudio programs are in AUR, but fresh Ardour and Guitarix (and some other good audio stuff) can be found in "community" and "extra" repos.
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Re: audio interface usb

Post by lazyklimm »

I plan to install Archlinux on my laptop too, but currently I have no time for this.
Also, Arch doesn't require much of extra configuration.
So does it or does not? :)
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Re: audio interface usb

Post by AlexTheBassist »

lazyklimm wrote:
I plan to install Archlinux on my laptop too, but currently I have no time for this.
Also, Arch doesn't require much of extra configuration.
So does it or does not? :)
I meant that already installed Archlinux doesn't require much of tweaking. The word "extra" in my msg points at this. Installing Arch takes some time, especially on low bandwidth, which is the only thing I have now.This isn't gonna be fast in my case. Also, compilation of stuff like Ardour and Carla is a time eater too.
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Re: audio interface usb

Post by DepreTux »

If all you cant get ahold is a M-Audio Fast Track Pro, go ahead. 2 ins 2 outs, USB1.1, decent quality preamps (to my ears at least), and if you use an RT kernel, and assign maximum priority to the interface (the rtirq script) you can achieve 2.7 ms of latency at 48kHz, 24bit (I played live with those settings this past weekend). I like to overdrive the preamps with my chinese stratocaster, it's got a sweet distortion.

Good luck!
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