# Audio Interface Recommendation Needed



## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

If I'm putting my 12 year old PC out to pasture might as well do the same with my M-Audio Fast Track Pro as I don't think it works with Windows 10. What should I get? I was set on the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 as everyone raves about it but apparently it doesn't have MIDI. I use my Roland TD-3 drums to trigger EZ Drummer. Spend another $100 and get the Scarlett 4i4?


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

2i4.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Budda said:


> 2i4.


Discontinued.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Guncho said:


> Discontinued.


Buy used?


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Budda said:


> Buy used?


Yeah I'll keep an eye out for sure.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Guncho said:


> Yeah I'll keep an eye out for sure.


I'll see if anyone in my area is selling something decent as well.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Budda said:


> I'll see if anyone in my area is selling something decent as well.


Appreciate it!


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## troyhead (May 23, 2014)

If you can afford a few extra bucks, make sure your computer supports Thunderbolt and get a Universal Audio Arrow (or for more money, an Apollo). The unison preamps that are included sound amazing to me (and there are more, if you want to pay more). The console app is really nice to have to save your input settings so you don't have to reconfigure your settings every time you decide to record something different.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

That is definitely out of my league. $350 Max.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Guncho said:


> That is definitely out of my league. $350 Max.


Look for audient too i believe is the brand. They come up a lot on other forums.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

I have no complaints about my 2i2. I would be confident with any of their products.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

At the Brampton L&M:






Gear Hunter


Long & McQuade is Canada`s biggest music store offering a huge selection of musical instruments and music lessons across Canada. Guitars & Drums!




www.long-mcquade.com





Has a good rep.


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## John Reilly (Apr 7, 2018)

I`m using my M-AUDIO Fast Track with windows 10, carried forward from my last PC


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

John Reilly said:


> I`m using my M-AUDIO Fast Track with windows 10, carried forward from my last PC


I think it's time for an upgrade regardless.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

At $350 that may be used apogee duet money.


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## Eric Reesor (Jan 26, 2020)

Caution below is a bit of an opinion post so it is quite detailed as to reasons and requires readers time and consideration to be understood! Especially if you are a Windows software junkie.

Don't give up on the fast track pro it is a stellar little well designed and constructed device that if well taken care of will last for many more years. And M-audio software drivers are usually very good. At least in the past.

Windows 10, though a PITA does now have support for the standard usb audio 2 protocol, or your device should at least still work in Win7 legacy emulation modes.

The idea is that in future usb audio devices will be right in the list of devices and the settings should work with os standard windows audio protocols at decent low latency high priorty...EVENTUALLY.

In future Windows DAW users may not necessarily need software that only uses the asio standards to achieve the low latency necessary for today's digital music production and performance. The fly in the ointment is that the people at Steinberg are having kittens with the new Windows audio protocols because Microsoft is without a doubt out to eat their lunch. This has been going on for years. Nothing gnu about the "embrace, extend and extinguise" stratagem used at Microsoft to obsolete the competition and eat their piece of the software and services pie.

The problem with Windows 10 lies in the fact that you will be only able to use your old software DAW that you most likely have never had any experience configuring and setting up in Windows Ten, unless you purchase a new version of your DAW that is know to be compatible with Windows Ten. If your old software install keys for your old DAW do not take in Windows Ten set to 7 or if you have lost them then the re-install of the DAW software will fail. Then you will have to purchase a new copy of your DAW software somehow to get the device up and working the way it did in 7.

There are decent free help forums to do this if you sign up with Windows 10 though and they are not the type of forums where snipping and being a jerk are allowed. I will give Microsoft the edge on that aspect of their support forums. I do not know if the coders at the core of Windows have caved in and allowed Steinberg asio audio yet without the need to do it in Windows 7 emulation.

The reasons for this are that Microsoft does not want the responsibility of assuring compatibility with music devices and software. They leave it up to Steinberg and other companies like M-Audio but do have good support and ways of reporting interface glitches and incompatibilities. Microsoft Community The developer previews go even further but then you have to essentially install a test copy of Windows 10 and sign up as a tester or developer and regularly allow Windows to install experimental test drivers.

You will have to re-install the DAW software you had in use in Windows 7 compatibility mode. Windows Ten is not an upgrade unless you leave Windows 7 in place as a dual boot and do it by installing a second drive or partitioning the old one if possible. Not at all difficult if you know the ropes.

Using windows based software as usual is a software rental proposition unless you get into rolling your own computer setups and don't update and keep them off the net. Essentially use the computer only as a music production device not a communication platform. I have been putting up with Windows "upgrades" for DAW software since 1996 and Windows 95 and NT 4. The carnage of used out dated machines and old software that is not usable has without a doubt taken close to 15,000 bucks including quite a few expensive audio interfaces and devices to say the least.

THAT is why I learned how to set up and record all my audio on Linux starting in about the year 2000! But I still have to keep Windows active for other people that find learning anything other than Windoze software too difficult only because they do not really try.

If you try the device with Ubuntu Studio it should work with low latency in the alsa list of usb devices, there might even be a mixer that will work separate from the DAW by running the command alsamixer in a terminal. It is a steep learning curve setting up low latency devices but it can work. And there is very decent low latency DAW software built right into the Ubuntu Studio OS. I cannot say that I have tried that particular device in Linux, but the good old long in the tooth M-audio delta pci cards work extremely well indeed at full 24/96 low latency with 10 midi channels and up to 4 audio channels if you gang up two of them. That is my old setup that I still have as a backup for recording if my Zoom H5 usb audio equipment checks out and self immolates or something like that. Next year I hope to get a good used H6. All these device work perfectly at low latency in Linux and can work with Windows Ten if you know the ropes.

Yes I am a bit of a gear junkie but getting my wallet hosed by Windows is not in the cards for me again! Touch wood.

Just my two cents on audio devices and windows. Back to recording for my brothers website. This covid crap has one bonus, my activities don't look as weird to the neighbours as they did before everyone started get it that some people need to be alone to accomplish their work!

DON'T give up on really good older gear it seems that it starting to be appreciated by those who are getting really pissed with the trash and burn economy of the digital age! Thus the switch to Linux.

If you have read what I have written then thank you if not well... SORRY but the topic of getting Microshaft Windoze to play fair with audio devices that require an OS and low latency to do work in general is a very long, tedious and multi faceted study in digital dysfunction and planned obsolescence. Apple is only slightly better, considering that all the really great fire-wire devices are now being burned by the Apple centrist recording engineers. Good luck if you have one of those and don't have an old Mac tower or Windows Vista or 7 with a firewire chip in the computer or laptop to run it!


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

I'm not a computer expert. I just want to get a new computer, hook my audio interface up to it and for it to just work. I don't want to have to "get it to work". I paid $80 used for my M-Audio Fast Track Pro and I got like a decade out of it. I think I got my monies worth and can justify getting a brand new modern interface designed to work with the latest version of windows.

As for a DAW, I use Reaper and if my license doesn't transfer over, I'm fine with paying another $60.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

I always recommend RME. The drivers are rock solid and there is ZERO latency. So when you record and monitor there is no delay.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

I don't know if anyone has an opinion on such matters but does it matter which generation Scarlett interface?

Is one significantly better than the others?


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

I bought a used Gen 1 interface (Scarlett) and I couldn't get the right software from the official FR site. I hate dealing with tech so old that you have to support it yourself, so I just bit the bullet and bought a new Gen 3 Scarlett 8i6 (I need S/PDIF for the KPA). The company claims 'better mic pre' and they have a few new features like Air and different colors for the indicator rings. I just like the support of new gear that should last as long as I need it - in the long run, that was worth the extra $100.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Guncho said:


> I don't know if anyone has an opinion on such matters but does it matter which generation Scarlett interface?
> 
> Is one significantly better than the others?


No reason not to go latest gen imo. I dont know what gen mine is but its been trouble free.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Budda said:


> No reason not to go latest gen imo. I dont know what gen mine is but its been trouble free.


Just thinking used. Should I avoid 1st gen, etc.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Guncho said:


> Just thinking used. Should I avoid 1st gen, etc.


Early 2i2s had clipping issues, but you're looking at the more advanced units.


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## djmarcelca (Aug 2, 2012)

Nice comparison of most inexpensive interfaces.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

I'm just curious, why not just get the Scarlett 4i4 which has the Midi. It fits your 
$350 budget, well probably a few dollars more.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Chito said:


> I'm just curious, why not just get the Scarlett 4i4 which has the Midi. It fits your
> $350 budget, well probably a few dollars more.


I ended up getting the 4i4 and set up was a little tricky. It didn't like one of my usb ports but I switched to another and it was fine. Not sure what the issue is as the 4i4 doesn't require USB 3.0. The other issue was that a lot of the features of the interface are controlled by the software that comes with it vs knobs and dials on the interface itself. In Reaper I was hearing double my voice through a mic. I was hearing the audio from the DAW and the direct monitoring at the same time. My old Daw had a mix knob, one way you would hear the sound post DAW, the other pre DAW. It wasn't very clear in the Control software how to change this but once I imported my Reaper settings it seemed to resolve itself.


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