36 Audio Interfaces Under $1000

on Aug 6th 2009 with 26 comments
This entry is part 11 of 24 in the Creative Session: Buyers Guides Session
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Most home studios today are centered around a personal computer. (And yes – despite what the ad says, a Mac is a personal computer too.) An audio interface is the audio gateway from the outside world into your computer.

Most computers come with a sound card with line and mic inputs, and many people use these when starting out with audio recording. But if you are serious about the quality of your work, you should avoid them. They have inferior audio to digital converters, and often produce a good deal of noise. You need to choose a professional audio interface that allows you to plug in your mics and instruments, and connects to your computer through a USB, Firewire, PCI or PCMCIA interface.

Most of the links in this article are to Amazon’s online store, which gives you access to pricing, features and specifications, and user reviews for most products. You can support Audiotuts by making a purchase using one of these links. Here are the links to the manufacturer’s audio interface page for the major brands:

When choosing your audio interface, there are several things you need to keep in mind:

How Much Can You Spend?

The first question that normally comes up when buying something new is how much you are willing or able to spend. With audio equipment, the upper limit is always higher than you can afford. In this article we’ll try to keep the price below USD$1000, and cover the more expensive options in a future article. Setting the bottom limit can be tricky – there is always cheap gear out there that isn’t worth buying.

I’m in the market for an inexpensive audio interface at the moment. The advice I’ve received from everyone I’ve spoken to is to avoid the bottom range of interfaces entirely – they sacrifice quality to save you money. However, if you are after something supremely portable, or you have severely limited cash, you might want to consider them. The cheap units tend to be very small and portable, and they are certainly much better than your computer’s built-in sound card.

If you’ve decided to ignore conventional wisdom and get one of these units, Behringer, M-Audio and Edirol have small and cheap audio interfaces:


Edirol UA-1EX USB Audio Interface

Are You Sacrificing Sound Quality?

If you do buy a cheaper audio interface, you are likely to be sacrificing sound quality. It is worth finding out exactly what you are compromising on before you make your final decision.

  • Bit depth affects the dynamic range you are able to record. Be aware that some of the cheaper audio interfaces only operate at 16-bit resolution, while most professionals see 24-bit resolution as a must. If you care about quality, don’t compromise here.
  • Sample rate determines the accuracy of the audio. At 96 kHz, the device is measuring the audio 96000 times a second. 96 kHz is often recommended as a minimum, and many audio interfaces go much higher. Some cheaper interfaces are only 44.1 kHz.
  • Good preamps cost money, and are often sacrificed in the budget interfaces. If you are recording from a good mic and hoping for crystal clear results, you may want to buy a more expensive interface with a good brand name.

Sweetwater sums it up for you:

“If your only expectation is to produce demo-quality CDs to hand out to friends and family, or maybe sell at a local show, 16-bit/44.1 kHz (commonly known as “CD quality”) will be fine. Conversely, if your objective is to record string quartets, an audio interface that is capable of doing 24-bit/96kHz or even 192kHz is desirable. With DVD video and audio capable of utilizing 24-bit/96kHz audio, today’s market is full of devices capable of reproducing high-resolution audio.”

So do some homework, and find out the specs of the unit before you pay for it. For example, the Behringer interface mentioned above samples at only 48 kHz.

Which Operating System Do You Use?

Most audio interfaces are compatible with both Windows and Mac, but you should double check before you part with your cash. It should be written clearly on the box.

Many audio interfaces come with software – for example a digital audio workstation – and this may not be compatible with all operating systems. If you are hoping to save money on software by getting it with your audio interface, make sure you check the system requirements.

If you are a Linux user, you probably already know to make sure the interface is compatible. You won’t find out much from the manufacturer, but you may find Linuxaudio and Linuxhardware helpful. Many audio interfaces work fine, and are recognized automatically.

How Will You Connect It to Your Computer?

There are least four different ways that audio interfaces can connect to your computer:

  • USB is probably the most common. They are convenient because USB ports are so common, and all you need to do to install the device is plug in a USB lead. But USB is a shared bus, so every USB device you plug in is taking resources away from your audio interface.
  • Firewire has the advantage over USB of being faster and asynchronous. Because Firewire is not a shared bus, and in any case is used by less devices, many people find it a more reliable option.
  • Some interfaces are on dedicated PCI cards which slot into the inside of your PC. Some of these have an external device to plug your leads into, while others make the back of your PC look like an octopus. The PCI interface gives the best performance, but is the least convenient.
  • PCMCIA card interfaces are also available if you have a Windows laptop. These are around the same speed as PCI cards on desktop computers, but seem to be becoming less common now.

The interface I am looking for needs to be portable, and work on a variety of computers, including a laptop. A USB interface would be most suitable.

Here are some examples of each type:

USB:

Firewire:

PCI:

PCMCIA:

What Number of Inputs and Outputs Do You Need?

If you record one part at a time on your own in your studio, then you probably only need a couple of inputs – perhaps for mic and guitar. But if you want to record a band or mic up a drum kit and record each part in separate tracks, then you’ll need a lot more.

Extra outputs can be used for submixes, including foldback and headphone mixes. Some models don’t let you independently submix to all outputs, so check before buying.

The number of inputs and outputs is a significant factor in increasing the cost of an audio interface. It’s also a decision that is essential to get right, and will heavily influence your buying decision. And make sure you think of your needs in the future – you don’t want to invest in a device that limits you.

If you are looking for a device with lots of inputs, here are some audio interfaces to consider:

6-8 inputs:

10-12 inputs:

16-20 inputs:

24-26 inputs:


M-Audio ProFire 2626 High-Definition 26-in/26-out FireWire Audio Interface with Octane Preamp Technology

Do You Want Extra Knobs and Features?

The design of most audio interfaces is very minimalistic. They tend to have a knob or two, and a series of phono and XLR jacks. They are designed this way with the expectation that most people will do their tweaking and editing using computer software and/or MIDI control surface interfaces.

But you might not be like most people. There are a number of audio interfaces that include mixers and other features. Here is a sample:

Yamaha also have a range of audio interfaces with built-in mixers, including the MW USB Mixing Studio Series.


Alesis MultiMix 16USB 2.0

Do You Intend to Use Pro Tools?

Pro Tools is different to the other software DAWs in that it only works with hardware designed for it. That comes down to Digidesign and M-Audio interfaces. M-Audio now belongs to Digidesign, and is the much cheaper model, but doesn’t include the Pro Tools M-Powered software in the price – so when comparing prices, add around $300 to the M-Audio products if you want to allow for the software. Here are some examples:

Digidesign:

M-Audio:

There are many audio interfaces out there, and this article doesn’t cover them all. Which interface did you choose and why? Let us know in the comments.

 
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Adrian is writer and editor for Audiotuts+ and Envato Notes. He has been playing keys and acoustic guitar for three decades, and has six kids. Follow him on Twitter at @envatoaudio.  

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  • eshun

    Hi , thank you for the helpful info!
    im currently looking into audio interfaces as im quite new to makeing music on computers, do u still advise me to buy one even though i dont plan on recording any external instruments. . well not yet anyway.. so im thinking of just buying one just to up my sound quality, or are they used for more things also? thx

  • Dante

    You fail to mention the Apogee duet. Which is probably the highest quality audio interface for under $1000 Dollars.

    • LB

      Yes I have one and I love It. 96khz – 24 bit and de legendary converters from apogee, know I Want te esamble (-2000 $)or the other pro that works with pro tools Hd(+2000$).

  • http://hailmothra.com Donald Bellenger

    I’m surprised there’s no mention of MOTU interfaces. I was an M-Audio user for many years before I eventually got sick of their casual support for OS X. Switching to MOTU wound up being very good for me. I have both the 8Pre( $500 ) and the 896mk3($1000), neither of which made this list. Motu products operate under both windows and OS X, and while they come with AudioDesk( dumbed down Digital Performer ), they aren’t limited to any DAW.

    As an M-Audio customer, I was appalled at how long it took them to update their drivers to support the latest operating system releases( sometimes taking 6-12 months per release ), when they should have had development builds of the OS many months prior. MOTU products just always work, and they even offer some DSP power, which is really great to see in firewire interfaces. Oh, and I don’t work for them or have any affiliation with their company, I’ve just been a happy customer for 3 years.

    http://www.motu.com/

  • http://soundcloud.com/plurgid plurgid

    There is an important difference between USB and Firewire, that becomes more important as you use interfaces with more simultaneous inputs and outputs. As it was explained to me, it has to do with the protocol used by USB.

    USB cannot simultaneously transmit and receive data, while Firewire can do so asynchronously. USB overcomes this limitation by use of multiplexing … that’s how someone explained it to me, and a cursory wikipedia search seems to confirm that difference.

    Of course, on your computer just about everything is multiplexed. Two things never truly happen at the same instant, unless you’re using a computer with multiple processors (or multiple cores). So … if this is a true source of problems or not, I don’t know.

    I will say this. I’ve had *so many* bad experiences with dropouts, glitches and whitenoise on USB interfaces that I’ve sworn them off for good. I’ve never once had a firewire audio interface that was anything less than rock solid. Also they’re typically more expensive than USB interfaces … methinks this is the reason.

    I own the Alesis Multimix Firewire version, and I will say that’s the most handy piece of gear I have. But not for the “tweakage” factor, but because I can run my whole band through it and run our PA for live performances, and still hook up my laptop and get a multitrack recording.

  • Dhruv Govil

    Two things I think you should add:
    1)You should go over the advantage of Firewire more over USB. It’s not a shared bus like USB and usually has fewer devices on it, therefore it isn’t as crowded and you’ll have less headaches overall.

    2)You should mention the Alesis io26. 24bit/192khz and can be had for around $300

  • Sebastian

    I got the Edirol FA-101 off ebay for a relatively inexpensive price. It was used as a show model at some music store and then had to be sold at the end of the fiscal year, so I got a pretty good deal on a brand-new product! I highly recommend going onto ebay and looking for deals like that.

    I mainly use it to record 1 track at a time, but I’ve done up to 6 at a time and it works without a hiccup, just make sure you have a decent computer!

    This is a great article, and I wish I would’ve had it available to me when I was out searching for the best device. Good job!

  • http://www.paperplanepilot.com/ Dustin

    “Sample rate determines the accuracy of the audio. At 96 kHz, the device is measuring the audio 96000 times a second. 96 kHz is often recommended as a minimum, and many audio interfaces go much higher. Some cheaper interfaces are only 44.1 kHz.”

    this represents a fundamental misunderstanding of sampling rates.

    according to nyquist, recording at twice the desired fidelity is enough to capture 100% of the recorded signal (think of higher pitches with their shorter wavelengths as the toughest to capture). that means that 48khz is enough to capture 24khz audio at 100%, which is well beyond the hearing capacity of most humans at 16khz-20khz. add in the fact that your mics, speakers and other equipment probably doesn’t go higher than 22, which 44.1 would support with 100% fidelity.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist–Shannon_sampling_theorem

    the reason for fidelity issues in cheap interfaces is probably due more to other reasons (clock timing, cheap components, etc) than the sampling rate itself.

    here’s some additional reading if you’re interested in the debate:

    http://www.gearslutz.com/board/high-end/330564-who-feels-44-equal-better-than-192-a.html
    http://www.gearslutz.com/board/high-end/34973-recording-192k.html

  • Erin

    I was slightly let down by this article, but perhaps I expected too much out of it. The author is still in the market for a cheap interface? Do you have any experience with any of these units? I think its slightly misleading (or, misinformative?) to just blindly list interfaces like the M-Audio Profire as 26 inputs, since you will need to buy 2 additional outboard digital converters to ever get that many. I understand the manufacturer’s need to do this, but I would hope for better in an article that is presumably helping people pick an interface. An Amazon associate link is fine with me in most fluff articles like this (gotta make money somehow), but a link to the manufacturer or a site dealing primarily with music gear would have been leagues and bounds more informative for each of the interfaces. Many of the Amazon links have no information, no reviews, and no link to the manufacturer. Oh well.

  • http://noisejunkies.net Rafael Guerra

    Awesome…I will have to read this several times though, lol.
    I have a Kurzweil PC3x and an Imac…i´ve spent a lot in them, everything I need is something to connect them and I will do the work on my iMac…I don´t know if I need Pro Tools though, the big question for me is: Will Audacity, Garage Band and Sounbooth help the editing and mixing? WOW, just so many questions..this article is going to help a lot. Thanks.

  • http://www.BadForYou.net Patrick Perdue

    I went with the Phonic Helix 24 fw MKII, since I wanted a bunch of streamable inputs, but don’t do everything strictly in the digital domain. My biggest gripe about this interface is that it only has one stereo return from firewire, which is only routable to main, control room or one of the aux sends. If there’s only going to be one return, I’d like it to be routable like any other channel on the board, and the routing flexibility is pretty good for an analog console. Also, the main inserts are not honored by the firewire’s main mix input. I do some net radio broadcasting using an exciter/compressor on the master insert, and have to use another interface to make that work (in this case, an old M-Audio Audiophile 24/96, good stable card, but not as clean as the Phonic, and obviously more limited in I/O). It’s handy to have no processing on this part of the interface sometimes, but again, an option would be nice. If you *really* want to make this happen, you can patch the bus into an unused set of channels and stream from that rather than main mix, but why do that when you don’t have to?

    It works great for tracking my drum kit using 7 microphones as discrete tracks with very low latency under Sonar, recording at 44,100hz, 24-bit (for me, bit depth makes more difference than sampling rate), especially with lots of processing.

  • Nixon

    I have the alesis multimix 8 firewire.
    It acts as a mixer and audio interface as well as having the phantom power 65V to power the xlr mics. Also has a number of bulit in fx

    definitely the best value I did a lot of research on this.

    Got it at bh photo .com for less than $300 completely satisfied!!

  • http://www.stevechatterton.com Steve Chatterton

    Strange that there’s not a single mention of Tascam. I find the US-144 a very reliable tool in my studio and the price was dirt cheap.

  • http://www.audio-production-tips.com Björgvin

    Good article.
    I’m looking for a new interface right now, feel like I delegated my research a little suggesting this.
    I definitely need a little upgrade and am thinking of the M-audio stuff, especially that controller. That looks really good and would work with Pro-Tools M-powered and Logic.

    Thanks Adrian.

  • Marcelo

    Good article, too bad it doesn’t apply to people in Brazil for example. Here the most dumb interface is already over 1K. To actually build a set up, takes lots of time. So, use the opportunity you guys have to build a nice and cheap set up.

  • Jay Dee

    absolutely loving my MOTU ultralite, also very surprised there was no mention of any motu interfaces in this list..

  • Ave

    Had anybody tried the Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56?
    Looks like a real beast, and for a good price too! (1000$)

  • miniMAL

    I got at home crapy phonic firefly 302
    In the studio fireface 800 both i just use one out no ins i dont record anything.. : |

  • http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/spiktakula1 Spiktakula

    what about the echo laylas, they have always been solid and are compatible with almost everything, of course exept pro tools , but dont buy into the hype protools is the same thing as all software if youre not using it to its full HD capabilities and the control 24 etc. are just large mice to mix on. I also have an aardvark q10 and its solid also with nuendo, and all my software and plug ins. Im very interested in the m audio project mix, because I believe its compatible with both nuendo and protools, I have lost a few clients to pro tools, even though they have come back after realizing they were paying more money in the studio for the same quality. I have recorded many albums in my home studio for a fraction of what they would cost at a larger studio, and all my clients leave happy and with some money still in their pockets. I think thats the win win with a good home studio.

  • Sean

    Will the Alesis models work with Logic 8?

  • http://adriantry.com Adrian Try
    Author

    Thanks for your many comments. As a result I’ve made a few changes to the article:

    1. Direct links to the relevant pages on manufacturer’s websites have been added. MOTU and Tascam have now been added.

    2. Details have been added to highlight the advantages of Firewire over USB.

  • Jon Smith

    A great article. I recently purchased the Presonus Firestudio Mobile and Rode NT1-A microphone bundle. After a few days testing, I’ve found the Firestudio Mobile to be a really great little device, with really super quality and features, for a relatively small price. Would absolutely recommend for anyone looking for a mobile device on a budget, without sacrificing audio quality.

  • http://2fatdads.com Johnny Canuck

    We have a podcast with some live studio peeps and some Skype calls, we’ve been looking for a decent interface that would be suitable for both setups. So far it’s still a toss up between the Saffire Pro24 and the Edirol FA101. One thing for sure is that after using the the USB interface on our Bheringer desk for a year, I’m not willing to put up with that much post production to compensate for a bad interface.’

    Thanks for the great article.

  • Kabir Basil

    Well I’m joining this quite late. Nice roundup. I’m missing Mackie Onyx 1220i here. Was it around at the time of writing this article? Barring midi support, which I don’t think makes much of a difference because there are tons of cheap midi interfaces available, it doubles up as a firewire interface and a mixer for live performances. What’s your take?

  • Giovanni Agosta

    do not buy m-audio, they are unreliable and i have personally seen one of them crash on stage therefore
    the performer was left embarressed and had no other option but to stop.. Also many do not run on windows 7 if that is what you are running.. I reccomend the RME babyface which is about $800.. i do not agree with the list but it is useful to get different oppinions

  • Steve Barrett

    I chose the the Forsite Scarlette 2i2 because of the high quality mic preamps, phantom power, and for the sound quality this unit provides with 24-bit resolution at sample rates of up to 96 KHz. Its just me using a condensor mic and my Martin D-35 plugged into the audio interface so its all I need. Sound quality was what I am after.