Best Audio Interface For around the $1000 level - with SPDIF???

  • Ordered one (Motu Ultralite Mk V) in September, supposed to come in next week. Hopefully worth the wait!

    Keep your eyes out, maybe they'll be available everywhere then....

    Since the Mk5 wasn't available I started looking at this unit below. I decided I wanted one with a DSP on board to be able to have some effects while tracking without stressing the system.


    https://www.sweetwater.com/sto…t-usb-2.0-audio-interface


    I ended up going with this unit. It looked to be a clear, very powerful winner when comparing the capabilities and software that comes with it.


    https://www.sweetwater.com/sto…-40-channel-usb-interface


    It also came with this unit to work with it for the same price.


    https://www.sweetwater.com/sto…b-advanced-remote-control

  • Wow, that's awesome!


  • My new interface is scheduled to be here tomorrow. I ended up ordering the rack mount kit for it and that will be here Friday. Unfortunately I ordered the wrong cables for it and realized that yesterday. I then ordered the ones I need for my monitors. Those won't be here until Monday. However, I think I have two other ways to connect it so I can play with it over the weekend and will then put the proper cables on it Monday when they get here.


    The more I read about this RME interface, the more I am convinced I made the right decision. Thank you lightbox for the recommendation. This thing is going to be a beast to be reckoned with. I love the fact that it can be used as a stand alone unit and record directly to a USB drive or an external hard drive by USB connection. I didn't see that capability on any of the other devices I was looking at.

  • The more I read about this RME interface, the more I am convinced I made the right decision. Thank you lightbox for the recommendation.

    You're most welcome :)

    I love the fact that it can be used as a stand alone unit and record directly to a USB drive or an external hard drive by USB connection. I didn't see that capability on any of the other devices I was looking at.

    Yeah, it's a pretty cool feature. One little downside of the way it had to be implemented is the fact that there's only one USB-port for both, ARC USB and DURec. And if you mount it in a rack, it's certainly a bit impractical to access the USB drive. With my UFX+ or with the UFX II you get 2 ports ... ARC USB in the back and DURec on the front panel.

    But I'm sure you'll manage this little issue ... maybe with a USB extension cable so you don't have to go behind your rack to switch between USB drive and ARC USB. :)

  • You're most welcome :)

    Yeah, it's a pretty cool feature. One little downside of the way it had to be implemented is the fact that there's only one USB-port for both, ARC USB and DURec. And if you mount it in a rack, it's certainly a bit impractical to access the USB drive. With my UFX+ or with the UFX II you get 2 ports ... ARC USB in the back and DURec on the front panel.

    But I'm sure you'll manage this little issue ... maybe with a USB extension cable so you don't have to go behind your rack to switch between USB drive and ARC USB. :)

    Sweetwater should pay you commission on these since it looks like you sold two of them for them in the past week. :)


    From my understanding, you can plug the ARC into another USB port and it will find the interface. I have a large Mac display that has a USB hub built into it. My hope is that I can plug them both into it and have it all work. I will know once the ARC is back in stock and shipping out.

  • You're most welcome :)

    Yeah, it's a pretty cool feature. One little downside of the way it had to be implemented is the fact that there's only one USB-port for both, ARC USB and DURec. And if you mount it in a rack, it's certainly a bit impractical to access the USB drive. With my UFX+ or with the UFX II you get 2 ports ... ARC USB in the back and DURec on the front panel.

    But I'm sure you'll manage this little issue ... maybe with a USB extension cable so you don't have to go behind your rack to switch between USB drive and ARC USB. :)

    Yes indeed, after returning the purchase of sound device interface I placed my order for RME today, a $500 upgrade that I am very happy about. Can't wait, it'll be about a week before it gets here. I'm starting up a ZOOM online guitar lesson experience for beginning players and really interested to see how RME mixer software can help me route the audio from the PC through the zoom session.

  • Sweetwater should pay you commission on these since it looks like you sold two of them for them in the past week. :)


    From my understanding, you can plug the ARC into another USB port and it will find the interface. I have a large Mac display that has a USB hub built into it. My hope is that I can plug them both into it and have it all work. I will know once the ARC is back in stock and shipping out.

    Hahaha, nice idea @ commission but I would reject it anyway. I hate to recommend stuff with personal benefit in mind. :)


    Yes, you're correct, you can connect the ARC USB to your computer as well and control the UCX II and TotalMix FX. Forgot about that since I have it connected directly.

  • I'm starting up a ZOOM online guitar lesson experience for beginning players and really interested to see how RME mixer software can help me route the audio from the PC through the zoom session.

    You'll love the loopback functionality, I do this almost every day. With a Mac it's a little trickier due to some limitations of MacOS, as far as I know. But on Windows it might be the first time that you get an advantage over the mighty Mac. :)

  • I hooked my new RME interface up and played with it a lot over the weekend. I am very happy with how this thing works. I installed the drivers and applications for it before I connected it. As soon as I connected it and turned it on, the software automatically found it and started up.


    I played around with the internal effects and routing in it. This was definitely the right choice. I connected my Kemper with the SPDIF connection and it worked flawlessly and sounded exactly the same as it does when I push it through the PA cabinet here in my room. This is going to work nicely.

    This interface was a good bit more expensive than what I had intended on buying but I have no regrets at this point. I can see me getting a pretty good number of years of use out of this unit. I will be able to move this over to Windows at any time if I decide to do that as well, which may be a real possibility if my Mac ever starts to become outdated enough to now work well for this purpose. I just bought a new Windows machine that is very well quipped so it could be the next recording rig if needed.

  • I hooked my new RME interface up and played with it a lot over the weekend. I am very happy with how this thing works. I installed the drivers and applications for it before I connected it. As soon as I connected it and turned it on, the software automatically found it and started up.


    I played around with the internal effects and routing in it. This was definitely the right choice. I connected my Kemper with the SPDIF connection and it worked flawlessly and sounded exactly the same as it does when I push it through the PA cabinet here in my room. This is going to work nicely.

    This interface was a good bit more expensive than what I had intended on buying but I have no regrets at this point. I can see me getting a pretty good number of years of use out of this unit. I will be able to move this over to Windows at any time if I decide to do that as well, which may be a real possibility if my Mac ever starts to become outdated enough to now work well for this purpose. I just bought a new Windows machine that is very well quipped so it could be the next recording rig if needed.

    AWESOME!!! My RME will be here in a week hopefully. Wasted time buying the Sound Device unit so lost precious time as it goes back to whence it came.

  • AWESOME!!! My RME will be here in a week hopefully. Wasted time buying the Sound Device unit so lost precious time as it goes back to whence it came.


    Hopefully your experience will be as positive as mine has been. It took a little trial and error to figure out the routing and effects in the mixer app for it. Once I got a handle on that I could see the real power in this unit. Since I am using the SPDIF connection from the back of the interface, I still have the 4 inputs on the front of it that I can plug into. That is nice because I can run a dry signal into one of the font inputs and have that as a track for reamping if I want it. I have a cable for the SPDIF coming out from the back so I can just plug it in and never have to get to the back of the unit.


    I spent the extra money and ordered the rack mount kit for it. My desk has two racks built into it. The kit is way over priced but it does work well and allowed me to mount it in the desk.


    I am now going to have an Avid Eleven Rack and an Axe-FX Ultra for sale... :)

  • Hi guys, quick follow-up. Got my RME last week and it's pretty amazing, the total mix software is a bit tricky but this is a vast improvement. ??


    It took me a minute to figure that software out but after a little playing around with it I figured it out. Once you get it, you will love what it does.


    Did you get the free ARC USB with yours? I hooked mine up but haven't had a chance to play with it yet. I will definitely be getting some time on it soon. I am going through this DAW replacement stuff. I am almost there. I have some programs to mess with so I know I will be playing with it to figure out which DAW I am going to use as my main one.

  • It took me a minute to figure that software out but after a little playing around with it I figured it out. Once you get it, you will love what it does.


    Did you get the free ARC USB with yours? I hooked mine up but haven't had a chance to play with it yet. I will definitely be getting some time on it soon. I am going through this DAW replacement stuff. I am almost there. I have some programs to mess with so I know I will be playing with it to figure out which DAW I am going to use as my main one.

    Yeah, I'm in the same boat. Haven't had time to hook up the ARC. Still trying to get newest pro tools to work with win 11...


    I'm ahead of the curve with a new win 11 pc and waiting and praying the software vendors catch up to new OS... It never ends lol

  • Yeah, I'm in the same boat. Haven't had time to hook up the ARC. Still trying to get newest pro tools to work with win 11...


    I'm ahead of the curve with a new win 11 pc and waiting and praying the software vendors catch up to new OS... It never ends lol

    I am doing everything I can right now to future proof my recording rig. I am dumping Pro Tools. I am tired of the annual subscription price. I have pulled down a few DAW applications on both my Mac and Windows machines. I just bought a new Windows 11 machine on black Friday last year. I think my Macbook Pro has reached the end of the new operating systems being able to be applied to it. I am on Big Sur and it isn't giving me the option to install Monteray so I think it is done. I probably won't be willing to spend the money for a new Mac, especially since I just bought the new Windows machine. I will just need to purchase a good size monitor for it so I have a big screen to work on. That is the only piece that I don't have that I can't switch over to right now for hardware.

  • I am doing everything I can right now to future proof my recording rig. I am dumping Pro Tools. I am tired of the annual subscription price. I have pulled down a few DAW applications on both my Mac and Windows machines. I just bought a new Windows 11 machine on black Friday last year. I think my Macbook Pro has reached the end of the new operating systems being able to be applied to it. I am on Big Sur and it isn't giving me the option to install Monteray so I think it is done. I probably won't be willing to spend the money for a new Mac, especially since I just bought the new Windows machine. I will just need to purchase a good size monitor for it so I have a big screen to work on. That is the only piece that I don't have that I can't switch over to right now for hardware.

    What DAWs are you looking at? I'm a glutton for punishment so I stay with pro tools. Ha I went for the perpetual licences and just hope in the years time they get solid for win 11... I can stay in place for years if it's a working system.

  • What DAWs are you looking at? I'm a glutton for punishment so I stay with pro tools. Ha I went for the perpetual licences and just hope in the years time they get solid for win 11... I can stay in place for years if it's a working system.

    I am actually moving away from Pro Tools because they doubled the price of the perpetual license. I was okay with the $99 per year. I am not with $199 per year.


    I have been looking at these.

    Logic X - Mac only

    Reaper

    Ableton Live

    Cubase Pro

    Cakewalk - Windows only

    Studio 1


    I am currently running on a Macbook Pro. I may want to move to my Windows machine when my Macbook no longer works for my needs. I don't want to spend the money to replace it when I can buy a Windows machine for half of the price, which I recently did.


    I installed Reaper on both platforms. I registered it because it is only $60 and it is worth that for me to have it as a backup or just for some quick things if that is the purpose I choose to use it for.


    Ableton is more for creating with loops so I passed on that one.


    Cakewalk is only for Windows. It is free so I installed that on my Windows machine and like the look of it but haven't spent much time with it yet.


    I didn't really dig too deep into Studio 1. I had a version of it that came with a Presonus mixer I bought years ago. I know they have improved it since then but I wanted to stick with something that has a bigger userbase so I passed on this one as well. I also found out they have a perpetual license but it isn't much less than the Pro Tools license and I am not a fan of that type of license so that was a factor as well.


    I recently started getting to the point where I could see I was probably going to end up using more than one of these and would probably settle into one as my main DAW. That led me to purchase Logix X and Cubase Pro. I am still waiting on the license dongle for Cubase but have installed Logic and started digging into it. So far I haven't gone beyond what I can do in Garage Band with it. I am hoping to get some time on it this weekend. I am watching videos on it to get familiar with the workflow. I will do the same with Cubase when I get the license dongle for it. My plan is to learn to work with Cubase Pro since I can use that on either platform. I was able to get a crossgrade price on it so I was able to buy both applications for around the cost of buying Cubase without the discount. My search is over and my learning is starting. The little bit that I have played with Logic has been fun.

  • Yeah bro lots of choices. Reaper is pretty stinking good and getting better. I stick with pro tools because the majority of industry revolves around it... If you can't beat em, join em I guess....???

  • Yeah bro lots of choices. Reaper is pretty stinking good and getting better. I stick with pro tools because the majority of industry revolves around it... If you can't beat em, join em I guess....???

    That was the reason I went with them in the first place. I am changing my mind on that now. You can always export stems in WAV format to pass them to someone with a different DAW. I am doing this all in my home for my own enjoyment at this point. If I were making money with this and doing work for others, I would probably own and keep a decehandfulull of these programs installed and working. From what I am seeing Cubase is also very widely used in big studios. That was another reason for selecting that DAW.