Hey Everybody,
I read a lot of posts on this thread and feel the need to add a post in hopes for some feedback according to my specific desires in a mobile interface and instead of creating another thread, this thread seems to fit pretty well.
I have a great studio setup at my location but I am vigorously researching for a mobile solution.
My Roland Quad capture failed and when I sent it in, they said it is not worth fixing for the cost and offered a new one for $163. I am looking elsewhere at this point since that is the case before I go buying a new quadcapture with that discounted price because there is a lot of new stuff and even some really good older stuff out.
I am going to get a really good laptop setup but for now I have a get by i5 laptop, not too fast but with an SSD drive, USB 3.0 available for an interface or second drive if needed and 8 gigs of ram.
Please keep in mind that:
1. Black Friday weekend/Cyber Monday weekend after Thanksgiving and I want to be able to pick it up at the store, not wait for shipping, in order to take advantage of this down time and rock out! lol
2. I need USB 2.0 (or 3.) connection without the need for external power (truly mobile, at any location setup)
3. I would really like to have dsp effects so I can add compression the recorded signal. I know a lot of people say to record without any effects so it is non-destructive in the box but I have to give it up to the old school because using some compression on the way in it seems like I get a signal that comes out better overall int he mix than a clean signal that I try to compress and control more aggressively as needed int he mix. I think it has to do with some magic that happens with the way the compression works at the time of the performance and how it effects the way they perform. Not sure but anyway, I could sacrafice this if needed but it would sure be nice to have. MOTU and RME definitely offer this. It looks like the Presonus VSL series might offer ti but hard to tell if it is only post or can be recorded in.
4. I am willing to pay a good chunk of money but would love to save it for other things if there is a lower cost option that will do the job with very decent quality so I know I can ( I am very good inside the box) get the sound to a place in which it is truly ready to compete professionally and be released. This is mainly the preamps. They have to be good. Transparent is fine, actually my preference since I can do a lot to the sound in the box. I don't want fake color, low quality converters and preamps that introduce sub quality noise or sound. Tube saturation or coloring? No thank you. The plugins we have today can really do so much today in combination or otherwise that I would rather not color or saturate, distort etc. on the way in. Compression? That I would like to have the ability to record, pretty much solely.
5. I HAVE TO HAVE a good low round trip latency capable unit that should be able to go down to 32ms buffers or at least a really low number at 64ms (as long as the computer can hang of course)
So... @Mesh
I have been trying to find a round trip latency report on the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 which I imagine uses the same driver coding as the Scarlett 2i4 and Focusrite Scarlett Solo. (just assuming but that is not necessarily so - i.e. I heard that at least a while ago, the Roland Duo-Capture did not have the low latency performance that the Octa-Capture and the rest of the higher priced Roland Capture series had and also heard the preamp may not be as good, maybe just rumors... not sure)
I just found out the Presonus VSL software support for the Prersonus 22VSL and 44VSL is being discontinued. I do have a link to back up where I read this (Sweetwater)
This was very disappointing because I read about how the Presonus VSL series driver was written to be able to bypass the buffer limit that USB 2.0 ports automatically have, thus being able to get as low latency as your computer can handle without the USB port or the interface being hardly a bottleneck at all. - Then I read the VSL software discontinuation - does not sound like a good investment for the future now.
So - with this collection of information and based on the unit being used with a very powerful new generation (Skylake) laptop, SSD drives (multiple for OS/Programs, Samples/Loops and another for Project files/recording onto), what is a good mid range or surprisingly reasonable price interface that has good RTL (low latency for playing softsynths), good pres, plugs in via SUB or USB 3.0 at least without outside power and hopefully able to record compression when recording into the unit via the preamps?
Sorry if the long post. I just wanted to really express my situation and what I am looking for after researching all night and half the day today, reading and Googling like crazy already.
I almost grabbed a MOTU unit as multiple units by them do everything I want except... the units I liked seem to need external power when using USB.
P.S. - I love and have been very successful with the Presnous preamp and compressor sound of the Presonus Eureka, thus my interest int he Presonus units or something that provides that clean, round, warm, pleasant but transparent sound, not colored, thin or cheap or saturated.
Thank You!
Lance