High quality small, portable interface

[Aled Hughes]

Hello all,

I'm looking for a small, portable high quality interface.

I'm pretty well covered with other options, as well as small and cheap - the studio has a 56 channel Amek desk into 48 channels of RME conversion and a MADIface on its way. I have a Soundcraft UI24R for live and larger location stuff. At home I've been using a Focusrite 18i20 which has beenn great, but I think that will be tied to a live rig I'm trying to sort out.

All of which means that my little 2 I/O Avid Fast Track Duo is seeing a lot of use, especially for mixing/editing outside the studio, and when the Focusrite is tied up to a lot of other gear. Useful though it is, the Avid is not mutting the custard in all situations - its a bit noisy, and the headphone amp is rather poor.

So, I want something small, portable and high-quality. Bus-powered is not that important as I'll keep hold of the Avid for its convenience.

A good quality headphone amp is paramount, as I do a fair amount of mixing on headphones (AKG K712)

Top of my list at the moment is the UA Apollo Twin USB. I already have a Softube Console 1, and the integration with that is appealing. I'm also intrigued by the Unison stuff, and quite like the ideal of commiting to a sound on the way in these days to get these things done quickly (looks like I'm involved in 12 albums this year before June, among other stuff!). I'm aware the Apollo USB is now a 5 year old interface, but still current so will likely be supported for a while. This is a fairly big investment for me (alongside a new Surface Pro 6), so it will need to be fairly future proof!

A close second at the moment is the RME Babyface Pro. It just looks great. As I said, a MADIFace Pro is on the way to the studio, so this'll give me some consistency. But it isn't as exciting somehow as the Apollo (and the Apollo offers something a bit different too, what with the UAD plugins and Unison)

Other, cheaper, impressive looking options are the smaller Focusrite Clarett USB and the Audient ID22.

However, yesterday, the Sound Devices MixPre 3 shouted my name. The only obvious drawback compared to the more usual suspects is that the main outputs are on an unbalanced minijack. How well suited would it really be as a main high-quality interface for overdubbing and headphone mixing? Low latency performance/driver stability?

It would usefully kill two birds as a portable location recorder is also on my 'want' list. Could it really be an alternative to an Apollo Twin / Babyface Pro?

Aled

[CS70]

I would absolutely recommend a second-hand Focusrite Forte but not sure how long the drivers will keep on working fine with WIndows. Otherwise a Babyface?

[Folderol]

Still doing well with a Komplete Audio KA6
I don't think they are still in production, but they should be on the S/H market - built like tanks.

P.S
Audio class compliant so should work on anything.

[Humble Bee]

I run a UAD Apollo twin mk2 quad which set me back a fair amount of cash and while it is a great interface indeed i would not go for that today.

A RME babyface pro and a UAD Satellite gives you a lot more for your money. The unison tech is nice but not pertinent and I find myself not using it much at all. The Marshalls from Softube are terribly good and so are the ampegs and preamps but again i don't use them in unison so a USB satellite would have done it. The rest of the UAD plugs are world class for sure but for mixing a satellite will do just nicely.
And RME Totalmix totally rules! The UAD console is good for tracking UAD stuff (other than that its a PITA) but Totalmix does it all and with very low latency.
The Babyface Pro has 4 analog inputs plus midi and ADAT in and out (apollo painfully missing the adat out and only has 2 ins and no midi) And you can run the RME off the USB bus power if you don't need phantom power (say for mixing only).

There are many interfaces out there but if I had to choose between an Apollo and a Babyface today it would be the RME. Plus a UAD satellite for sure...

Just my 2cts...

[ConcertinaChap]

Top of my list at the moment is the UA Apollo Twin USB. I already have a Softube Console 1, and the integration with that is appealing.

I can say that the integration between my Apollo kit and the Console 1 is pretty good and quite satisfying. I'm not familiar with the other kit you mention and speaking personally I don't use the unison stuff because I love putting decisions off until mixdown but Apollo kit is good and well supported and has that Console 1 integration. In case of catastrophe I'd buy Apollo kit again.

CC

[Bob Bickerton]

I'm a happy Apollo user here (larger model), I like console and wouldn't live without the UAD plug-ins I use pretty much as standard. Having said that you can always cover off on this with a satellite. Like Chris I don't write plug-ins as I track.

I haven't a couple of MixPres and they are excellent as portable recorders, but haven't tried them as an interface. Looks like you'd need to go to the MixPre10 to have balanced line outs.

Bob

[Aled Hughes]

Thank you kind people,

Humble Bee, I think you're right in that I may well not find the Unison all that useful in the end - it's just quite appealing at the moment as it's something different! The Apollo is slowly losing ground in this race I think. Even the UAD plugs don't hold that much appeal to me, simply because I'm happy with what I have (Softube Console 1, and some Soundtoys and IK T-Racks for extras). and the studio has some nice outboard (LA3As, 1176s, Avalon 2044 etc.)

Also, as I'm moving projects quite a bit from the studio back home to other locations, I'd have to have the Apollo with me at all times to use the UAD plugins even if I was working on the studio's RME, for example. Not a major problem by any means, but it means I'd need to have it on me at all times, and if I'm not desparate for the UAD plugins, is it real worth it?

The RME Babyface Pro is a overkill really, as I won't need all the extra connectivity (i have all that on the Scarlett and RME).

The MixPre 3, however, seems to offer everything I need (with the slight inconvenience of needing to carry DI boxes - no biggie as I always have Orchid Micros in my bag, and a headphone amp if working with someone else). The unbalanced outs is the only real bugbear providing the drivers are stable - but is this worth worrying about with a short unbalanced run to a monitor controller?

Clarett USB is still quite appealing!

[ef37a]

Beat me to the Mix Pre 3 Ramirez. I was going to endorse Will's suggestion of the KA6 except that you wanted a high powered headphone out put and the K is not that strong.

Rugged and compact though the NI unit is, it does not have full phantom power current delivery. I have never found that a problem but some may.

Dave.

[Humble Bee]

Well if it’s only for mixing on headphones a good DAC like the Fostex HP-A4 or something similar would do it. Good conversion with a good headphoneamp... The RME DAC offerings look awesome as well but more expensive...

[Bob Bickerton]

Unbalanced line output on the MixPre is unlikely to be an issue for short runs and the headphone preamp is very good.

Bob

[ef37a]

Ramirez, if the unbalanced outputs niggle you could easily make up a set of impedance balanced cables?

I would bet the output impedance of the Mix Pre 3 is both very low and well defined (and I would bet you they would tell you exactly what is is) so the "ring" resistor can be accurately chosen.

Dave.

[Aled Hughes]

Yes, I doubt the unbalanced outs on the MixPre would pose much of a problem in practise.

The Apollo has fallen out of favour completely - I would rather keep all my plugins native as I'm switching between different interfaces quite a lot, and it would be something extra to remember everywhere.

As of this morning, however, the RME Babyface Pro is winning the race. You all have a week at most to convince me otherwise !

The Babyface should be reliable, great sounding and as future-proof as is possible with these kind of things. It would also give me consistency with the MADIFace Pro in the studio, hopefully meaning less messing around with settings between sessions. Having both ADAT in and out means the Scarlett 18i20 would be a great expander for it on occasion as well.

[Dan LB]

As of this morning, however, the RME Babyface Pro is winning the race. You all have a week at most to convince me otherwise !

I doubt that’ll happen! Sounds like a good plan to me

[Humble Bee]

[Aled Hughes]

I doubt that’ll happen! Sounds like a good plan to me

It's not looking likely!

I don't think I'll last a week... although the MixPre is still winking at me.

[Bob Bickerton]

I guess the question to ask id would you ever want a stand-alone (no computer) recording device?

Bob

[ConcertinaChap]

As of this morning, however, the RME Babyface Pro is winning the race. You all have a week at most to convince me otherwise !

Not going to try. If we all had identical requirements we'd all make the same choice. Have fun with your acquisition whichever you go for.

CC

[Zukan]

Audient ID dude here and happy with it.

I'd go RME all day long but don't discount the ID.

[Aled Hughes]

Audient ID dude here and happy with it.

I'd go RME all day long but don't discount the ID.

Which one have you got, the ID22?

It does look very good, I must admit, and half the price of the RME.

I think I'll mull over this another day two, then most probably order the RME! (It's already in my Scan basket... been sitting there a couple of days.)

[Aled Hughes]

Decision made. RME Babyface Pro it is.

I think I'm unlikely to regret buying an RME. It niggles me very very slightly that it's a 4 year old design... but I'd never buy anything thinking like that!

[Humble Bee]

Dont worry. So is my Apollo...

[Humble Bee]

And I just bought a 2nd hand tubescreamer...

[Drew Stephenson]

I wouldn't worry about that, one of the real strengths of RME is the longevity of their product support. I'm sure you'll get along with it just fine.

[Aled Hughes]

I wouldn't worry about that, one of the real strengths of RME is the longevity of their product support. I'm sure you'll get along with it just fine.

Yes, and that's a big part of the reason I'm going for this.

It's not the lack of support that worries me - rather the fear of a shiny new replacement Super Babyface Pro Turbo appearing soon at a similar price! But as I said, no point thinking like that...!

[James Perrett]

I wouldn't worry about that, one of the real strengths of RME is the longevity of their product support. I'm sure you'll get along with it just fine.

They replaced the RME PCI card that I bought with the newer DSP version not long after I bought it in the early 2000's. However, that replacement is still in production over 15 years later. I was looking to see if I could buy a used one to increase the channel count of the studio computer but even used ones are still expensive.