An advice is needed for a budget audio interface for youtube channel.

panosru

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Hello and happy new year to everyone!

I'm in look for upgrading my current audio interface (which kind of sucks), Sound Blaster R3, with one of the four listed below. As I'm tight on my budget, I want to stick to one of the four selected below and not exceed the ~100 euros.

I have watched a ton of videos for each of the audio interface I will include in the list but I can't conclude on which I should buy; thus I would really appreciate any suggestion.

1. Steinberg UR12 (101€)
2. Mackie Onyx Artist 1•2 (81€)
3. Native Instruments Komplete Audio 1 (92€)
4. Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen (102€)

I'm aware that those are entry-level audio interfaces and quality difference between them is negligible, but I also saw that there is some difference between them depending on the use where some perform better than others.

So far what I learned by watching other reviews for the above mentioned audio interfaces is that Steinberg UR12 provides very good audio quality with supported software and firmware updates where Focusrite kind of sucks in that field. Focusrite though seems to have the best preamps compared to the other 4, but other than that there isn't anything else to put in pros. For Native Instruments, a lot of credits are given for their software and the crisp sound you get but the build quality is not that great. Mackie Onyx seems to have great reviews, build quality, software and impressive 55db which really boosts your vocals.

Having said that, I'm not a musician, I'm not interested in plugging in any instruments or a second mic, I'm on a Hackintosh running macOS Big Sur and I'm using a condenser microphone, mainly for recording my voice for my youtube channel.

What I need is to have my voice sound clear, without any white and ambient noise (like my R3 does). Also, I would really love to have the ability via the software interface of the audio interface to control a few things like the bass of my voice or how warm it will sound or if I want it to be more on the radio sound side.

If anyone has experience with those interfaces and could suggest me which one should I buy based on my needs, I would highly appreciate it!

Thanks!
 
Have you considered a small Mixer with USB Input - that may give you easier access to 'tone' controls and the option for multiple mics etc.

Joe
 
Hello Joe! Happy New Year!

I bought Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen after numerous reviews, more or less all audio interfaces in my list are pretty much the same with minor pros and cons each one, for my needs, a simple youtube channel, Focusrite ended up, in my opinion, to be the best choice.

I didn't consider getting a small mixer with USB input, not because it could not work for me, just because I have almost zero knowledge on the field, to put it into perspective, I learned about phantom power and how balanced output works by reversing the polarity and cancelling the acquired noise when signals are merged back together in the last month, before that, I didn't know even what XLR is and what the TRS rings are... so, you could say a total noob.
 
Always a learning curve with this kit :)

As you found out the issue with the lower cost kit, which we all use, is finding out what it lacks or don't do well and then working around the issues.

Joe
 
Yes! I bought Sound Blaster R3, which doesn't even have phantom power and is not considered a respected (in low-end range) audio interface, and I connected a condenser mic to it, which requires phantom power... I ended up getting a very low dB; thus I had to increase the gain to max, which of-course brought a lot of noise to my audio, making the end result unpleasant to my ears.

As you said, there is a learning curve in all things! :)
 

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