Portable USB interface (SOLVED)

I have a Focusrite Scarlett (2nd gen) and I'm happy with it. I've also heard good things about the Tascam US-2x2.
 
Here' a list that might help you narrow down the choices:
http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/the-best-budget-usb-audio-interfaces-in-the-world-today-570850

I have the Solo, but I have heard the 2i2 is better. This is second-hand information, but might be worth looking in to.

edit 
Was recommended by about 4 people on one of the Facebook forums when I was looking for a portable.
 

The Solo would be your best bet, My son in Law just bought one and it's perfect for one person and laptop use for playback. Just don't plan on using a fancy Condensor mike as there's not enough Phantom power for some mikes,,
 
 
 
That is the down side of Buss power only. It's nice when they give you both options like the Tascam 2x2. 
The Tascams are bigger than the Scarletts. I like my 6i6 for travel it pretty small and covers a lot of ground as far as features. The 2i2 and 2i4 are the same box.  
 
But be warned, you are not going to get true low latency performance from any interface under $500. You'll be in the "hidden buffer" zone with those. Best is going to be around 5-8ms RTL. Which might be fine for you. Below those RTL specs your looking at Motu, RME etc. 

The steinberg UR 22 is a good choice.
The in - out  latency is lower as of the focusrite scarlett series -
but  the preamp of the scarletts is imo minimal better and the headphone-amp 
a little louder .
I made some (mobile)voc recordings with the UR22 thought as a demo last week.
To my surprise the tracks sound good , so that I don´t have to record that again.

Cactus Music
But be warned, you are not going to get true low latency performance from any interface under $500. You'll be in the "hidden buffer" zone with those. Best is going to be around 5-8ms RTL. Which might be fine for you. Below those RTL specs your looking at Motu, RME etc. 

Ya..I'm expecting that...I have a Babyface Pro, but there is no way it's getting out of my home studio...
But I was kind of hoping there was a (cheap) hidden gem out there that could bring me latency around 4-5ms as I'm not going to use tons on plugins/tracks....

For the same purpose you have described I have bought Ubisoft Rocksmith cable (c. $40). If you are not familiar with it is a simple USB cable on one side and guitar plug on the other, so it is a guitar directly into laptop. Sonar tracks see Rocksmith as a possible input. Turn your Sonar into Wasapi exclusive mode, monitor your project with your laptop speakers or headphones. Works well with TH3, you can set Wasapi to pretty low latency. If the project is modest you should be fine. My laptop is three years old (and specs were pretty average)  -   it handles well a project with drum synth, couple TH3 instances, reverb and few other plugins. Price and convenience - incredible.

Cactus Music
At $!50 there really isn't a lot of god choices. 
The Scarletts, Tascam 2x2, Stienberg 22 and PreSonus? 
Not sure about this Zoom one but --https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/U24  
All will be in the same ballpark for RTL around 7ms, all will have same sound quality (objective) but then you do need to look at features because this is where they are different. In the price point the Tascam 2x2 has the best features in/out wse as well as both buss and wall wart power. 
 
Another option for you might be what I use which is a Tascam handy recorder. You can use it to record you guitar and vocals and dump it into Sonar. That's how a lot of my songs start. 
 Zoom makes porta studios that have drums and whatnot built in. Talk about portable.    https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/R8zoom  

Thanks for all you suggestions, Johnny.
Basically, I really like TH3 and messing around with different amp tones really inspires my songwriting. That's the only purpose of buying a new interface for my laptop. Just need something small and stable enough to plug and play.
Guess I got spoiled with RME's latency, so maybe I'm putting my hopes a little to high..... 

Afrodrum

slyman

... Guess I got spoiled with RME's latency, so maybe I'm putting my hopes a little to high..... 

I have seen people on this forum saying that they managed to get latency in Wasapi exclusive mode under 9ms (!).  I am quite happy with 12-14 ms and it is achievable with my old laptop and Rocksmith.

Thanks.
I'll see if any music stores around here have this in stock. 12-14 ms seems acceptable, but I would have to give it a try first.
 
 

Cactus Music
12 ms would not work for me with guitar sims. We each have our tolerance for RTL latency and mine needs to be around 6 before I stop noticing it. 
You didn't mention wanting to work with amp sims as that really changes everything. I'm afraid that makes it tricky as you will need real good drivers and a CPU that can handle low buffer settings. 

I did mention TH3 in my initial post. 
But I agree with you that at around 6-7 ms it starts to be distracting, to say the least......

I use a combination of amp sims and mic'd amp in my studio, depending on the tone I'm after.
I get around 3-4ms RTL with my Babyface, so it's a dream to use with amp sims.
 
Problem with audio interfaces is that you can't really try them out with your setup before buying....you have to do some homework and get some user feedback...like I'm doing here, basically...
 
 
 

slyman

Pragi
The steinberg UR 22 is a good choice.
The in - out  latency is lower as of the focusrite scarlett series -

Thanks everyone!
 
Peter, I did check out the Steinberg's. They are certainly budget friendly but from what I read, there are no true Windows drivers available for their low end models anymore and even their website suggest using ASIO4All drivers. Is that what you are using?

 That's news to me.  I was just there. No mention of this information. Drivers are updated to 1.99 and firmware released last.  Never had issues with this unit.  The newer units are UR22mkII.

Ya..I'm expecting that...I have a Babyface Pro, but there is no way it's getting out of my home studio...
But I was kind of hoping there was a (cheap) hidden gem out there that could bring me latency around 4-5ms as I'm not going to use tons on plugins/tracks....

Slyman,
Not to hijack the thread completely, but are you satisfied with the Babyface Pro and how it works with SPLAT?   Sounds like your latency is great, and the drivers stable when compared to my Focusrite 2i4--- just not sure if its worth double or  the price...
Salud!

noynekker
Yes, I have the Steinberg UR22mkII working on my laptop for mobile recording very efficiently.
I like that it's USB bus powered, no power cord needed.
At 64 samples buffer size, I can get 9.6 msec round trip latency.
The driver install worked perfectly, and I can easily switch to Sonar's new feature using the Windows WASAPI drivers to be even more portable, without any extraneous wiring, just the laptop, and a set of headphones plugged in directly . . . doesn't get any more portable than that ?

@ Sly
Yes, I also have the UR 22 mk 2 .
9 ms rtl at 128 samples.(HP Probook 6450 b, Core I5, 2,6 ghz,  Win 10 -64)
It´s bus - powered, has balanced ins and outs .
propper asio  drivers , not asio for all!,are available :
https://www.steinberg.net/de/support/downloads_hardware/downloads_ur22mk2.html
 
regards

bokchoyboy
Slyman,
Not to hijack the thread completely, but are you satisfied with the Babyface Pro and how it works with SPLAT?   Sounds like your latency is great, and the drivers stable when compared to my Focusrite 2i4--- just not sure if its worth double or  the price...
Salud!

Been using the Babyface since early December and I must say it's a great unit. The sound quality is amazing and drivers are rock solid. Actually, I upgraded from a 2i4 first generation which was kind of dropping on me at times.
Not one issue with the RME.
 
Thanks everyone for their feedback.
I finally got a Scarlett Solo to use with my laptop and it's exactly what I needed. It's very compact, and I must admit they did a very good job with the new 2nd gen drivers. I'm getting 7.6 RTL at 44100 - 64 samples.
Thanks again, guys.
 
FYI, as a bonus, Focusrite is offering a free XLN Audio Addictive Keys instrument licence in February.