Recommend an audio interface

Go with a used h6. You get multiple microphones for nearly the same price. And a better unit.

The H6 does look potentially cool for mobile stuff. Thinking about it. I nearly pulled the trigger on an Antelope Audio Zen Tour. Seriously cool looking interface, but expensive and I heard too negative stuff about customer service. For less dough, the Focusrite Clarett 4pre looks like a decent choice

i have a BLA modded Motu. and got an Audient ID14 a few years back.
the Audient blows away the Motu. it’s an impressive sounding IO. if you need more routing they have bigger units. but the ID14 sounds great to me.

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I’m now considering selling my h6 to get a zoom f1. Way smaller, and I don’t use the h6’s combo inputs that often.

I use an RME Fireface for recording mainly. I also have a Focusrite Saffire for streaming, an X32 for my big venue stuff but I just picked up a Behringer 404HD ($99) for my Elektron Case so I can use it as a Mixer/IOS recording interface for small shows and quick recording capture and honestly it’s pretty damn good especially for the price. It’s a tad bit harsh in the high end compared to my other gear but for live use it’s absolutely fine and like you mentioned in you OG post, the sounds are getting so mangled that I doubt anybody would even notice…I barely do.

On a side note, I bought the Roland Go Mixer originally and it was a total POS. Weak sound, constantly clipping and horrible hum noise whenever connected to an IOS device (which is it’s main purpose). It was a fragile piece of plastic too and the Behringer 404HD is solid metal with MIDAS pres and surprisingly quality knobs and buttons. I’m honestly amazed for the $99 it cost.

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thank you all for plenty ideas regarding my situation. nice to see that I’m not alone with this questions

mobility and specially spontaneity became an important issue for me since I’m very often on the move or have a feeling for just using a synth for pleasure (the Blofeld) … so i just plugin the cables to the recorder and press record without using a PC - the H4n Pro will become handy for this kind of duties … and also for recording nature-sounds or something in my kitchen making noise … lets say anything which produces soundwaves should be captured with its imperfection. therefore i don’t need a shotgun-microphone or those special capsules provided from Zoom for their H6. i just realized that i can also capture some melodies or rhythms i produced with my voice and then translate it into a synth-patch

i will go for the H4n

@andtrevor
they have the ASP-devices with the iron-channels … what i heard from the sound-demos this kind of distortion is what i call ā€˜ruttish’ - better than my SPL Charisma

I also bought a Go:Mixer and I agree, it’s a very cheap feeling unit especially for the price, and it’s really hard to get it to a good input/gain level without clipping (and it’s very hard to tell when it is going to clip). Easily the worst Roland product I’ve ever used.

However, there is a specific problem with the output levels on some early units. The first one I had was extremely quiet. I returned it for a replacement which was much better in that regard. So if you’re having an issue getting normal levels out of it (dodgy sound quality aside), a faulty unit might be the cause.

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If anyone is just looking to add 2 analog inputs to their sound card via SPDIF, I can recommend the MIDIMAN/M-Audio Flying Cow 24bit.

This thing is 20 years old but it is also a D/A converter. This is important because it allows you to clock the whole thing from the digital input, allowing you to use your main (not 20 year old) audio interface’s clock, instead of its own. It receives clock via the s/pdif input jack, using a 75 ohm RCA cable.

I’m using it with a MOTU UltraLite MK4 in EXT clock mode and it sounds darn good, considering I got it for $62 shipped on eBay.

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Rme rules!!!

Audient , great sounding converters , i had m - audio focusrite and tascam fw 1884 before. Latency is probably better with RME (i use win7 ThinkPad x220 , so old system), but there is no dropouts or pops and clicks with Audient, but the sound is of the same quality (was mixing in hired studio with RMEs ) nice warm and clear sound .

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I’ve done just that, and confirm that it’s a nifty addon to my sound card. Two extra tracks, even at 48k, are more than handy.

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yep, it’s the difference between me recording 4 outs vs 2 outs of my OT MKII

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How are you liking your Roland Octacapture so far? Any standout features, capabilities you particularly enjoy? I’m considering getting one

I thought it was great when I had one. I particularly liked how it could be used as a mixer with FX when not hooked up to a computer, and I’m a big fan of Roland converters in general; they always sound punchy. Another thing I liked a lot was that it was made in Japan.

I have a Roland Integra 7 now that can also act as a sound card if I want, but I recently got a Korg MR-2000 I intend to use for capturing my mixed masters.

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Thanks for the info, I think I might take the plunge. I’d been searching the net and came upon it, seems like a great unit with it’s high quality converters and on board fx. I was wondering if it could be used stand alone and the fact it does has really sold me on it!

Care to comment on the Auto-Sens feature? And his the quality of the on board reverb. I’m sure it’s higher quality than my Quadraverb.

That auto feature is nice to have for sure. The FX are typical Roland, like you’d find in their Romplers. It’s nice that they’re there; can be finicky to edit/setup, but not bad. Reverb is different from Quadraverb, I wouldn’t say better.

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Sounds like a slam dunk. By the way, is it also easy to route the channels to do overdubs. I sometimes use glitch / buffer style plugins in my daw on a previously recorded drum track and live record a 2nd version of it while glitching it live. I assume it’s more than capable to do these types of duties, just wanna make sure. I spotted a few for sale in the $350 range used, might pull the trigger.

I didn’t use it that way. I really suggest to check out the manual. It’s a quick/easy read.

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How about a MOTU UltraLite Mk3/Mk4?

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Why not MOTU again? I was looking myself at an Ultra Lite one.

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