There are lots to choose from, which interface do you use? Check out more of our recording gear overviews and lessons by hitting the like and subscribe buttons!

This guy is really good at his job. GIVE HIM A RAISE!!

gotta admire a salesman that tells you to think about what you need before upselling you anything.

Young Santa is a glorious teacher.

This gentleman looks like the CEO.

yes! best salesman on sweetwater, give this man a raise!

This is the best video about audio interface that I've seen in a while. Congratulations.

I have a MOTU 896HD that's still going strong! MOTU released drivers for macOS 10.15! They rock! Great info as always, Mitch.

I was previously using an Alesis iO|2 and it was abysmal. It hissed and my recordings sounded very Lo-Fi. I upgraded to a Audient iD14 and it's absolutely phenomenal for the price. It's crystal clear and there is no noise. The recordings sound just like what I hear through my monitors.

Great job Mitch. This was a collegiant level class of excellence. You are understandable, sequential in your line of reasoning, informative raising my awareness of studio audio education to the next level.

He seems like a good dude. He's not just a salesman. He's also a musician (engineer/producer?) and he's done some great interviews with artists. Does that benefit his corporation? Of course. But good people help themselves by honestly providing value to their customers. And I'm here because I've watched scores of videos on interfaces and this one is the most logical breakdown I've seen.

As the owner of duet, it is already a very old interface with nothing changed so much. I was surprised audient is not here though.

I'm using Native Instruments Komplete Audio 1 audio interface with Samson MediaOne M50 monitor speakers and for budget recording this is an excellent combo and I highly recommend it.

Still rocking my AudioBox iTwo bought from sweetwater, i love this thing, works great.

It can`t get more professional than this! Great work, that`s how you should inform people!

What if my budget has a budget

The way you break down the subject matter shows your expertise!!!!🙏🙏🙏

This dude should be on every music store in America

that beat @ 3:29 is straight fire

I wish this video was out 2 years ago when I got started. Great stuff! Thanks!

So last night I was perusing the audio interfaces, as I need one for upcoming projects. Today you drop this video. Kinda eerie. You're not kidding about using "cookies," lol.

Possibly the greatest presentation in human history.

Another great episode from my favorite musical products and musician Mitch Gallagher. Thank You Mitch for keeping the Flame 🔥 Alive and keeping us in touch with our Passion and Interests as we stay Home. Thank You and Be Safe.

hey mitch, i bought the m-audio mtrack 2x2M from you guys online a while back because i couldn't find it available anywhere online other than your store.I live in Australia and Im so glad you guys have international shipping, and will always come to you guys for the best gear its suited so well in my setup. The monitor volume knob is nice and big and feels professional. You guys are so reliable and im so glad your here, i even got a sick complimentary book catalogue with all the neat gear you stock with the delivery! Thanks.

Just bought the Motu M2 at Sweetwater. Looking anxiously to receiving it.

I really enjoy this man's videos

Linux should also be mentioned as a platform. It can help running old interfaces with new computers when the manufacturer doesn't update drivers. For that reason, it's safer to chose an AI with buttons instead of software settings. Would be nice from manufacturers to create Linux drivers.

I bought a scarlet 2i2 3rd gen a while back and I will soon be replacing it. It has decent pre amps but it clips all my active guitars even using a DI box. For basic users or people doing softer stuff it should work fine, but for people doing metal i would stay clear and get something better. Im currently eyeing the Apogee Duet

Thank you sweetwater for your amazing customer service! Mark & Zach are great staffs of yours! You guys rock ❤️👍

The SSL has my attention , not just for its reputation but the mix pre-amp supposedly has 60dB of gain on tap. More than any other for home use and then there is the allure of the '4K' circuit which supposedly is the circuit that made the SSL sound famous. Only thing I'm not too keen on, is the big klunky footprint since I have limited desktop space.

Wow this man has to be the best well versed in audio interfaces hands down

MOTU M4, nothing of 'only for my plugins' dsp, money invested in converters and low latency capabilities, love it´s sound

One of my Favorite Companies . They have so many choices .

Every time I see a Mitch Gallagher video, I end up buying something... he's a genius at his job - but also like really great at making sure I end up getting gear that I need rather than crappy gear

Reviews start @8 minutes and 50 seconds (fast forward to 8:50 into the video - You're welcome! :)

Hey Mitch first thank you for doing such through product videos and being real and honest about all of them. My question for you is I use a PC so no thunderbolt but usb 2 and 3 on my machine. Budget is limited otherwise I would just get an RME UFX+ or an Antelope Audio Orion 32 And be done with it all. But at this time I am not able to do this. So am a drummer so I need the add on 8pre with either setup so in your honest opinion sir, please tell me if it were you which would you go with out of the following. This will stay in my home studio not going mobile. Thank you in advance. Option 1. - Audient ID44 with the Audient 800 8 pre? Option 2. - Audiofuse Studio with the Audiofuse 8 pre? Option 3. - RME Babyface Pro fx with either the Audient 800 or the Audiofuse 8 pres. Of you happen to choose the RME option please tell me which of the pres are cleaner between the other two options. Of you think there is a better way to go than these options I have chosen please by all means let me know what you think, again thank you in advance for your expertise and honest recommendations.

I have been using Focusrite solo 3rd gen and I love it, great review also man

I wish that Sweetwater had stores in the UK.

So I needed a box that would let me connect a Mac and a PC to the same set of speakers, bonus points if the box functions as a DAC for better quality than that of the onboard computer audio. I really tried to get by with AirPlay so I wouldn't need dedicated hardware for it at all, but AirPlay has too much latency and occasionally bugs out, even over Ethernet. I started with a $50 RCA mixer, and I had high levels of noise/interference which were a deal breaker. Now I have an Apollo Solo Thunderbolt connected to my Mac, with the PC added through the Apollo's dual 1/4 inch inputs. I am happy with it. It has an excellent DAC and a headphone jack which I wired back to my PC. Now I can hear both my computers through the same set of speakers and they can hear one-another too, so my PC can generate synchronized visual effects and control my smart lights in sync with Mac DJ audio. A couple of downsides: I believe it will be hardware-incompatible with Apple Silicon Macs, my PC motherboard does not have Thunderbolt so I'll have to replace my motherboard if I get an incompatible Mac in the future. It's bus-powered, which is great on-the-go, but what I really wanted was an interface or mixer that worked at my desk even if its host computer was absent. I tried the DC-powered USB version of the same interface but UAD software for MacOS would not talk to it, and the PC blue-screened with Universal Audio Forums saying my PC setup is untested and unsupported. Also it was $500 for the privilege of sometimes having two computers sharing one set of speakers. All that said, I don't see an interface in this video that I know would be more appropriate for my use, so I guess I'll stick with it. Note: I'm not even using UAD plugins, which were almost the entire marketing page for the product. It feels weird. I found the product because MKBHD uses a higher-end Apollo interface for his workflow, and I contacted Universal Audio support with what I needed, claiming a budget of $500 (which was totally the max I was willing to spend) and the Solo was what they recommended.

Video starts at 8:50 folks... If you don't know anything about interfaces then watch it all...

This guy is the best man. He is very easy to listen to. Very Informative. Thanks

Dear sir I Always watch your Video Very Motivational for everone . I m a voice actor . I want to Buy Audio Interface for voice over . But I want professional quality, So please Suggest me which Audio Interface is Best for me

Excellent instructional video. I think he's an Alan Parsons protégé. He knows his business.

I just did all this a month ago I decided on the focusrite scarlett 18i20 with an audient asp 800 running adat to the focusrite massive improvement from the saffire pro 40 I was using before staff was excellent as always with answering any questions I had

Sweetwater worked super hard on this video😩🔥

first thing u need on box is 48v switch .. per mic input

Very high quality video. Great work.

Mitch! This guy knows what he's talkin' about, always.

I love this guy... he is the chuck norris of audio world...

The most important for me is how long drivers will be made. Because of this i bought Babyface Pro FS. And the same goes for the monitors, Genelec. Once you have this, you will have it for a decade or even longer. Otherwise you buy 2 times or more.

As a guitarist I love your IK Multimedia iRig Stomp I/O. Like you said, “Consider your applications”. I use it with Amplitube 4. I’ve used it for recording and performance. It’s perfect for me.

Wow! This covers everything!

very informative video from the amazing folks at Sweetwater! Thanks!

At the beginning of covid lockdown i wanted to get back to making music at home. After watching this video i purchased presonus 96 bundle. Works fine, cool but felt kinda underwhelmed. Last year i purchased ssl2+ which has better preamps and used it for a long time. Few months ago i saw cranbornes r8 on sale and bought it impulsivly. With their camden preamps this thing is a beast! Now i realize i follow through this video irl:D

Always great to see Mitch... Was starting to think Don took his job, lol... Much love for Mitch, Don, & Everyone @ Sweetwater!!!

Dear Mitch, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for the informational video... it was good to learn about all the various options. Thank you Sir. Namaste.

Wow…. Just because of this video im going to buy from sweet water instead of guitar c…. Thanks dude! Amazing video.

This is an amazing video I really appreciate it! I learned a bunch!

He masters what's he's talking about by his fingerprint 😂 Thanks for explaining us all of these. We'll make the good choice for sure

I use the Focusrite 2i2 3rd Gen, perfect for recording guitar I think. If anyone has a better suggestion for DI'ing a guitar to an audio interface then fire away.

Roland Studio Capture is great. Has 12 mic preamp inputs and 16 total channels. Great specs also. Very portable and low latency, clean high quality mic preamps.

Thank you for some great information

Stunning information now I know the one I’ve got is the right one for my application

Where my SSL2/SSL2+ peeps at?

At certain other retailers, prices on some audio interfaces have gone insane. Models that were $40 not long ago, are suddenly $140, $100 interfaces are now more like $200. Sweetwater, I am pleased to see, is NOT price-gouging like this.

Y’all really slept on Audient.

Sr this was SOLID AF ❤! Thanks for awesome videos like this🔥

I use the presonus studio 24c and is still going strong,

This was very good. Interesting to listen at and well chosen information

Can y'all recommend me some microphones that: -can be used to record with a smartphone -can also be used with and benefit from an audiointerface -versatile enough to be used on most instruments and singing. -studio quality.

I've used the majority of the interfaces shown here, including another popular one not featured here (Audient ID14) and soundwise, the Steinberg with the Neve transformers and the SSL sound incredible and rank at the top of the pack here. Don't care so much for the Apollo. Focusrite with air feature sounds really good, Clarrett sounds even better. Also to my surprise the TASCAM sounds much better than I expected given the price. Definitely capable of producing professional sounding recordings.

I'm still on My focusrite saffire pro 24 firewire. I realize it's outdated...it works for what I need it to do. One day, I will update everything...mac,dp,keyscape,trilian,etc.

A lot of great information in this video, thanks.

Soundblaster E5

Superb Explanation. Concise 👍

Very comprehensive, incredible detail. It was a little sibilant I'm guessing you had to raise the gain a bit because the mic was so low down on his lapel. Still I have very sensitive hearing so most people won't notice. Great work

Mitch, you're the best man. But where is the Behringer air series...

This guy is good, why didn't you teach my trigonometry class in college?.

I trust this guy

Nice overview and good advice. More importantly, it's got me off my ass during social distancing and has me thinking about recording. What better time than now?

Excellent, thanks for the insight.

i write songs and always want to record it in a very good manner just like in our local studios.i eguipt myself with sterio powered mixer with 8 channel and 4 jnb speaker.sounds good. but i dont have knowledge bout.modfiers.or interface ur talking.have only microphone..not a condencer one..i recording my songs in my cellphone only.findout its not as good as recording un a music studio yet..until now im still searching for an answer...i need ur lessons on air and advices sir..thank u so much.

get evo if u're just starting out

Thanks, man. Helped a lot

Congrats for the comprehensive treatment of the subject. You're leaving almost no stone unturned. But this video screams for text recap inserts for the shopping criterias and lower thirds when presenting products. Doesn't take that much additional work and it improves readability a ton. Thanks a lot anyway.

I wish that he would have mentioned that you don't need adjustable output volumes on your audio interface because its 2020 and everyone is using a DAW that allows you to adjust the outputs of any track individually. So if you are working with many musicians and need to turn down the output of only one track you can still do that even without a knob on your interface.

Ugh!!! Where was this video 3 months ago when I bought a Focusrite 2i2? It does about 10% of what I want it to do, it’s basically a $200 paperweight sitting on my desk. I’ll tell you this, my “Sweetwater sales engineer” didn’t explain a fraction of what this video does. I mean, It’s not the salesperson fault, he did try to help as best he could over the phone. I blame myself for not knowing enough about it before I purchased it, but it’s hard to ask the right questions when you don’t know the questions to ask. Oh well, It’s just the way it is when purchasing online, I should of done more research on the subject. Anyway, great video, just wish it would of been made a couple of months earlier.

Very educational!!

Hope the SSL2+ is back in stock soon!

Thanks for all the info. However, I am using a Zoom R24, and it has been ok as a Logic Pro interface and controller. I am now using it for streaming audio, and it works well using it with the Zoom Meeting platform on an iMac running Catalina. I have successfully played my flute from my location, with a guitarist and vocalist at another location, but my monitoring situation is low tech. I can monitor the Zoom meetings from my iMac headphone jack, but not myself or my music, so I've managed using earbuds out of the the R24, tucked under the cans of my headphones. It works, but is rather awkward. Is there a way to monitor my R24 output and Zoom meeting audio through one headset?

This is the day for streaming era and need a lot of audio interface analog to digital. . one step further to the sound digital era!

Mitch, great video as always. Why not making one for driver problems and limitations that some of the cards have.? I happened to own at least half of the bunch and to be honest all of them have cons. One is driver or system compatibility,other have poor sound ex. For me, there are only 3 brands and they are RME, Apogee and Universal. Unfortunately Apogee and UA don't support properly on Windows side .And to be honest if the Apogee had same emulations like UA , there will be no competition.

It is March 2021 and yesterday I ordered (from Sweetwater) an AUDIENT EVO 8 which has FOUR COMBO inputs. Can't wait. Aside from vocals, I don't play guitar but what I DO, is sing karaoke! :) Hey, don't laugh! Song "covers" are a glorified form of karaoke, really! :) So I'm hoping that I can use two of the inputs from my cellphone or iPad to plug in the backing karaoke music tracks. I will take the output from the cellphone headphone jack, connect by a split 1/4" TS cable to the EVO 8 like I do with my mixer. I have a Mackie ProFX6V3 mixer which has USB. But it only provides 2 in and 2 out USB tracks on a DAW like Cakewalk. I need one stereo track and one mono track (for the vocals) making it 3. I hope the EVO 8 does the job! ADDENDUM: The Mic Pre-amps for vocals were pretty pathetic on the EVO 8, so the wonderful staff at Sweetwater advised me to send it back and will send a replacement which will come in a couple of days. We'll see. But with the EVO 8, the inputs CAN HAPPILY ACCEPT signals in excellent voltage from a cell phone! Yes! Whereas I tried this with a MOTU M4, and with the line inputs in the back, no good! On this video, at 04:35 he talks about Line Level inputs; please note, this DOES NOT INCLUDE OUTPUT FROM CELLPHONE OR LAPTOP HEADPHONE JACKS!

Amazing job

hey thanks for these vids they are helpful in making a good decision! God bless

So few audio interfaces that work with iPhone and iPadPro for video capture. So far, only Apogee and IK Multimedia seem to have gotten the compatibility right for not just the OS, but key apps as well. Other mfg. claimed compatibility, but it was only partial.

What audio interfaces would be best for 2 sets of monitors.

This is amazing thank you VERY much !

Hello Please help me to buy a High End Pro Interface , I Now use a Pre-amp ( Golden age pre 73 )& microphone TLM 102 & and 2i2 for record RAP ; (my line record ) I want to raise my quality one step higher. In your opinion, between Apollo Twin X ,Apogee duet 3 and RME Babyface Fs ; Which one is suitable for the record? (They have written for all three at the World Class ,level) Thank you 🙏🏻

Whatever you do don't buy a Focusrite unless you like audio corruption over long periods of use (3hrs or more)