Recommendations for audio interface?

[White Fire Sky]

I wonder if anyone can recommend an affordable audio interface? We have seen the ones approved by avid but they seem expensive and we wondered if there was another one?

We have an imac 3.4ghz quad core, 1tb hard drive running El Capital. We have upgraded to Pro Tools 12 latest version.

Any rough guidance would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

[VRW]

Originally Posted by White Fire Sky

I wonder if anyone can recommend an affordable audio interface? We have seen the ones approved by avid but they seem expensive and we wondered if there was another one?

We have an imac 3.4ghz quad core, 1tb hard drive running El Capital. We have upgraded to Pro Tools 12 latest version.

Any rough guidance would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

Please, tell us the price limit for the interface and the exact year/model of your iMac, or even better, just give us info about all available ports on your iMac.
Further you may tell us your specific needs as for the number of mic pres, I/Os etc. and what you intend to record with the dedicated interface in the future?

Finally there comes a question from my side. Is your 1TB hard drive a single and simple HDD or is it working together with a small Flash/SSD as a Fusion drive?
If it is one single HDD, is it a 5400rpm HDD, 7200rpm HDD or the 1TB Apple Flash drive/SSD? If it is NOT the 1TB Apple Flash drive, do you use 2nd, separate
(external) drive for your Pro Tools sessions+audio files or do you record to the OS drive only?

In general, if you will not need more than 2 micpres/Inputs and 2 Outputs, the most affordable yet really decent quality interface on the market will be this one.
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/comput...ding-interface
https://uk.focusrite.com/usb-audio-i...s/scarlett-2i2

This little box is amazing for the price (sounds better than much more expensive ones), has got true direct monitoring (zero latency monitoring) and does work
with all the latest versions of OSX El Capitan and Pro Tools 12. It further does not need any software or drivers, it´s class compliant which just means, plug and play.

If however you will need more micpres, I/Os etc. you definitely have to be careful which one to choose finally. Just leave us the required information so that we may
suggest you a few.

Cheers, VRW

[White Fire Sky]

Thank you. That is really helpful. We don't need multiple inputs as we tend to record one at a time with an emphasis on guitars, vocals and keyboard layers.

In addition to the 1Tb hard drive, we have an external hard drive that we work from.

I'm sure that doesn't change anything about the focusrite. I had seen it but was fearful it wouldn't be good or compatible so your assurance is really helpful. Thanks.

[VRW]

Sorry, but I definitely would NOT recommend to buy any Avid series 3 interface if you intend to use OSX El Capitan and even future versions of OSX.
This is definitely NO good idea. Check out the particular threads here in the DUC and out there in the web (particularly the ones about the Mbox 3 Pro).

The Scarlett is really affordable (no waste of money) yet good quality and DOES work flawlessly with OSX El Capitan for sure.
If you want even higher quality just look for the Focusrite Clarett 2pre for example but you better leave that old Avid interfaces alone. Won´t make you
happy with OSX El Capitan+ at the end of the day ...