After dealing with years of prosumerish solutions, I decided to ante-up to Focusrite, renowned for their preamps, skipping budget players like Presonus and M-Audio.įair warning, this as much an overview of digital audio as a review. In the case of my AudioKontrol, the drivers were mostly negative causing glitchy behavior, and same went for my week with the M-Audio Fast Track. However, if the interfaces have custom buttons / internal routing or other features, then drivers are required. Most USB devices if they're ASIO/CoreAudio compliant, drivers are barely needed for basic I/O. As an OS X (excuse me, macOS) user, CoreAudio has been mostly positive. The weak point of every USB capture device in my experience has and probably always will be, drivers (and USB itself). Even more impressive for $240, the 18i8 offers a whopping 18 potential inputs and 8 output buses. Unsurprisingly, audio interfaces offer far more bang for the buck than did even five years ago, at $180 I was able to score the Focusrite Scarlett 6i6, offering more high-quality inputs and outputs than any of my previous devices at a lower price point.

Mystified, I decided it was time to retire the AudioKontrol and check out the offerings in 2016. Recently I hit a breaking point NI Audio Kontrol was not able to accept 1/4 inch unbalanced cables. I consider myself a bit of an audio geek, but without the audiophile trappings. I've owned a few external boxes over the course of a decade, briefly, M-Audio's precursor unit that mimics today's Fast Track (Which I returned), Yamaha GO46 FireWire, and Native Instruments Audio Kontrol, and recorded two albums using the later two. Over time, the audio interface has moved away from PCIe to USB, which it now rests at as the defacto state for nearly 15 years after USB 2.0 became widespread. I have a bit of a history reviewing audio hardware, specifically audio I/O. Pictured: Scarlett features a stylish brushed red aluminum finish.

Panel de control scarlett 18i8 para mac