Which Interface for Home Use?

Square

Square

El Conquistador
I’m considering a redo of my home recording set up. I’m about a month out from buying, so knee deep in the research phase.

I currently have a Focusrite 18i20 first gen that I’ve had for many years. Works fine, no issues, but as I prepare for retirement and hopefully more time to record I’m looking for an upgrade that will last for a good while.

I will continue to use the 18i20 for its pre amps (ADAT).

I’m looking at the 4th gen 18i20 and the Audient Evo 16.

Does anyone have experience or thoughts on either? I could move up to the Audient ID48 or the SSL 18, but I’m not seeing a really compelling reason for that.

Use case is strictly home recording of drums, guitar, keys, and bass. Maybe vocals.

Thnx.
 
Computer compatible with the later software Sir?
 
green glass drum said:
Computer compatible with the later software Sir?
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The comp is a MacBook Air running iOS 15 something.

My old one was Big Sur 11.something. That one was end of life. My wife had a newer one hanging around not being used. So that’s the one I’m using. Like I said iOS 15 something. Sequoia I think
 
For the price & feature set, the EVO 16 looks great. The iD48 would be useful if you recorded a live band.

If you're still researching, check out the reviews on Gearspace.
 
Really hard to go wrong with any interface these days. Sonically not too much difference really and the days of driver instability are pretty much over. Although SSL has been making mixing desks since the mid 70s, they're relatively new to the audio interface/home studio market in comparison to Focusrite so maybe consider that along with whatever feature set you require.
Currently, I have an Apollo 8xp, a Focusrite Clarett+ 8pre and an SSL Big Six. The UA Apollo system sits in a rack and is really never used, I much prefer the Focusrite rig only because the Focusrite Control software is pretty intuitive to me. The SSL Big Six I just use as a straight up mixer but my initial experiments with it as an audio interface were pretty positive.
So...my vote is for the Focusrite stuff. In fact the 4th gen Scarletts makes me wonder if the Clarett+ line is due for an upgrade but at this point in the audio interface world, any upgrade is going to be so minor as to make one consider if its worth it.
 
cbphoto said:
For the price & feature set, the EVO 16 looks great. The iD48 would be useful if you recorded a live band.

If you're still researching, check out the reviews on Gearspace.
Click to expand...

I did go through the reviews you linked to. Thanx for that. Hadn’t looked there before.
 
John B said:
Really hard to go wrong with any interface these days. Sonically not too much difference really and the days of driver instability are pretty much over. Although SSL has been making mixing desks since the mid 70s, they're relatively new to the audio interface/home studio market in comparison to Focusrite so maybe consider that along with whatever feature set you require.
Currently, I have an Apollo 8xp, a Focusrite Clarett+ 8pre and an SSL Big Six. The UA Apollo system sits in a rack and is really never used, I much prefer the Focusrite rig only because the Focusrite Control software is pretty intuitive to me. The SSL Big Six I just use as a straight up mixer but my initial experiments with it as an audio interface were pretty positive.
So...my vote is for the Focusrite stuff. In fact the 4th gen Scarletts makes me wonder if the Clarett+ line is due for an upgrade but at this point in the audio interface world, any upgrade is going to be so minor as to make one consider if its worth it.
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Yeah first year bugs… that has me leaning toward no on the SSL. I do like everything else about it though.

So you say driver issues are past tense now. Good to know. I did see a lot of these reports on 18i20s up to 3rd gen. Only a few reports on 4th gen.

I agree the Clarett line looks ready for a face lift.
 
Square said:
I’m considering a redo of my home recording set up. I’m about a month out from buying, so knee deep in the research phase.

I currently have a Focusrite 18i20 first gen that I’ve had for many years. Works fine, no issues, but as I prepare for retirement and hopefully more time to record I’m looking for an upgrade that will last for a good while.

I will continue to use the 18i20 for its pre amps (ADAT).

I’m looking at the 4th gen 18i20 and the Audient Evo 16.

Does anyone have experience or thoughts on either? I could move up to the Audient ID48 or the SSL 18, but I’m not seeing a really compelling reason for that.

Use case is strictly home recording of drums, guitar, keys, and bass. Maybe vocals.

Thnx.
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First, what is your budget?
you can try the Behringer x32 rack or the Wing rack both excellent units but expensive, but, you get a lot for that money.



If you need to spend less than that, then the Behringer X air 18 which will still give you all the inputs and outputs you probably need, and all 3 are easily expandable.


OR,

If you must have an actual mixer, consider the Mackie Onyx 16

Which will give you an actual mixer (with all the usual controls) but allows you to record multitrack (just like all the Behringer mixers) * Digital mixers that is.

IMO the sweet spot is the X32 rack but general opinion states that the Wing rack sounds better... Yes it is quite a bit of $$$ but spend once and avoid having to buy multiple units that will end up collecting dust in your studio.
 
doggyd69b said:
First, what is your budget?
you can try the Behringer x32 rack or the Wing rack both excellent units but expensive, but, you get a lot for that money.



If you need to spend less than that, then the Behringer X air 18 which will still give you all the inputs and outputs you probably need, and all 3 are easily expandable.


OR,

If you must have an actual mixer, consider the Mackie Onyx 16

Which will give you an actual mixer (with all the usual controls) but allows you to record multitrack (just like all the Behringer mixers) * Digital mixers that is.

IMO the sweet spot is the X32 rack but general opinion states that the Wing rack sounds better... Yes it is quite a bit of $$$ but spend once and avoid having to buy multiple units that will end up collecting dust in your studio.
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Something to consider if I decide to go in a completely different direction.
 
Square said:
Something to consider if I decide to go in a completely different direction.
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Not so different, you will have all the inputs (and outputs) needed, you can record multitrack, add effects and so on, you can even use that to just spice your drums when you are not recording. I don't see how doing this would be going in a different direction, just more possibilities than a regular interface.
 
Square said:
I did go through the reviews you linked to. Thanx for that. Hadn’t looked there before.
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Which DAW are you using?

On a MacBook, I use Presonus Studio One recording from an old Presonus Studio 192 with an Audient ASP880 tethered to it via lightpipe/optical. I prefer the Audient preamps for my drums and the DAW software works seamlessly with the hardware.
 
Though I have yet to track drums through mine (just starting my drum journey) I have however tracked plenty of bass, keys & guitars with it, and I couldn't recommend the EVO16 more.

It's a great piece of gear, the "auto gain" is a little gimmicky, but it really does work, and the EVO mixer makes routing a breeze, and setting up different headphone mixes super easy too. I plan on adding the SP8 at some point later this year as I'm going to be adding some outboard gear to my home studio (currently mixing & tracking everything "in the box")

I'm running it into a Mac mini M2 running Logic Pro 11 & Studio One 7, the EVO16 works great in either DAW and functions flawlessly with the Mac.
 
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In the line of doggyd69b's recommendations: for my home studio, a while ago I replaced an older M-Audio 8-channel interface (used for mic'ing up my kit) with a Behringer X32 Compact. It was one of the best buys I ever made!

www.thomann.nl

📢 Behringer X32 Compact

Digitaal mengpaneel 16 XLR Mic/Line inputs, 8 Stereo FX returns, 16 Mixbussen, 6 Matrixbussen met insert, 6 Mute-groepen, 8 DCA-groepen, 8 XLR-uitgangen, 6 Aux In via 6,3 mm Jack (optioneel 2 via cinch), 6 Aux Out via 6,3 mm Jack (optioneel 2 via...
www.thomann.nl www.thomann.nl

Besides the M-Audio interface, I could get rid of an analog mixer, 2 additional audio interfaces, a headphone amp, switch boxes, etc.
The sound quality improved considerably, the motorized faders and scribble strips are awesome, it is expandable, flexible, you can store scenes and all kind of settings, it works great as a (32-channel) audio interface, it offers phantom power, compression, EQ, FX, etc on each input channel, besides the physical controls you can control it with a PC or app, etc.
A downside is it isn't exactly small.

Highly recommended!
 
cbphoto said:
Which DAW are you using?

On a MacBook, I use Presonus Studio One recording from an old Presonus Studio 192 with an Audient ASP880 tethered to it via lightpipe/optical. I prefer the Audient preamps for my drums and the DAW software works seamlessly with the hardware.
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I currently have Studio One 5. I’m toying with the idea of moving up to SO 7 or buying Apple Logic.
 
Square said:
I currently have Studio One 5. I’m toying with the idea of moving up to SO 7 or buying Apple Logic.
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Work flow is arguably better in Studio One, Stem separation is IMO better in Logic Pro (if you need stem separation).

Both DAW's have great plugins, IMO Logic's are a bit better, whereas Studio One I think has better instruments.

The loops built right into Logic are pretty great, but the new Studio One integration with Splice is supposed to be pretty kick ass (if you're into the sampling side of things), I don't sample, so I haven't messed with any of that.

Logic's AI musicians are pretty cool to mess around with, but I doubt I'd ever use them for song creation.

Lately I've found myself tracking in Studio One, then dropping the WAVS into Logic for mixing etc...

Honestly, I like both a lot, and will continue to use them both, the nice thing about S1 is I can use it on my Windows laptop AND my Mac....Logic, sadly Mac only.
 
IDunnoWhy said:
Work flow is arguably better in Studio One, Stem separation is IMO better in Logic Pro (if you need stem separation).

Both DAW's have great plugins, IMO Logic's are a bit better, whereas Studio One I think has better instruments.

The loops built right into Logic are pretty great, but the new Studio One integration with Splice is supposed to be pretty kick ass (if you're into the sampling side of things), I don't sample, so I haven't messed with any of that.

Logic's AI musicians are pretty cool to mess around with, but I doubt I'd ever use them for song creation.

Lately I've found myself tracking in Studio One, then dropping the WAVS into Logic for mixing etc...

Honestly, I like both a lot, and will continue to use them both, the nice thing about S1 is I can use it on my Windows laptop AND my Mac....Logic, sadly Mac only.
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Thnx for the details. It is very much appreciated.
 
IMO, if your computer and your interface is still working really well, I'd research the heck out of outboard preamps. I know a lot can be done within a program, but I swear there's something about nice outboard pre's that make a really nice difference in recording. I don't know a lot about them, so I can't really recommend anything specific though.
 
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