New audio interface?

Hey good people. I’m looking into selling my RME Babyface Pro fs as it really doesn’t fit me and get a different audio interface. What I want in an audio interface is:

- S/Pdif

- NOT S/Pdif through ADAT

- A big volume dial

- Loopback

- At least two mic inputs

I’m looking at Antelope, Arturia Audiofuse Studio and stuff in this price range. But I think the choices out there are really limited and everyone seems to praise RME, but it’s not for me. It sounds incredible though. And I think that I read a lot of negative stuff about most units beside RME, so I’m really confused about what to do. Many people report about bad support, faulty devices, loud clicking noises on volume dial, the Antelope needs to be connected to the internet etc. So I just read a lot of stuff, I really don’t want to deal with.

Does anyone have any suggestions about a new audio interface, that meets my demands, that I haven’t thought about or seen? Or does people have anything to say about the two mentioned audio interfaces?

Thanx in advance

I have bad experiences with ADAT to S/Pdif through converters. I have an RME Babyface Pro fs right now. Its sound is absolutely amazing. No doubt about that, but the converters I've tried between the Kemper and the Babyface ADAT makes crackles in the sound. I don't want that solution. I want less stuff that can go wrong, so I prefer to skip situations like this, where an extra "unnecessary" step has to be taken. But thanx for your thoughts

I don’t need the DSP stuff either. And the UA Apollo hasn’t got S/Pdif either. So I’m not interested in that.

Audient hasn’t got S/Pdif either.

Black Lion….I will look into that even though it looks a bit limited. Never really heard about them. And yes….Thomann is pretty much my sole music dealer, since I’m from Denmark. Love Thomann.

Yes….I’ve already been looking into that. In fact it was on the first list of interesting audio interfaces. But eventually the volume dial and how it works, unfortunately turned me away from it and pushed me towards RME.

I already have those and if it worked flawlessly on my RME audio interface (Babyface Pro fs), that people tend to express is one of the greatest audio interface companies out there, I wouldn’t have needed a new audio interface. That’s why I’m not leaning towards that solution. The fewer steps between the Kemper and the computer the better. But thanx for your thoughts.

You mean the software? The UI regarding the volume dial and how it’s placed right above the phones input, that the same dial controls both main output and phones output and the way it increases 1 db at the time are the reasons, I discarded the Moto in the first place.

I want a big volume dial like the Antelope or the RME. I’ve found that switching between the shared volume dial of the main volume and phones on the RME is not the perfect solution for me. It works though and it’s okay, but I would prefer them being separate. The Motu way of sharing the volume dial looks even worse to me. Right now I have a huge dial and that will make it better than the small dial on the Motu and that it’s placed right above the phones input - a stupid design imho.

I’ve taken a look at the software and that doesn’t look bad of course, but controlling volume is, to me, superior with a physical dial and that’s what I’m looking for.

Quote from BayouTexan

Yes the software. I never touch my interface, I handle everything through the DAW and the Motu UI.

Yeah….I don’t like that solution. I’m spoiled, I know . It takes too much time to put down the guitar pick, open the audio interface software and adjust. I might have found a solution to my issue actually, that solves this. A monitor volume controller with more than one input and a direct volume knob for each input. The Audient Nero is on my list of interests. It would take 1 second to adjust volume differences with the right monitor volume controller.

Quote from rickplaysbass

Avid MBOX Studio checked all those boxes for me. Plus it has some minor processing in its mixer suite (para eg, soft limiter, verb, and delay) which are nice to have, but not necessary. All in all, I've been extremely happy with mine. As for SPDIF cracks, I find that the only time I have that issue is when I don't have my Clock source set properly. I tend to run my Kemper as the clock.

That looks absolutely sick. I would definitely have that in mind for the future. I will need to dive into that. That’s for sure.

The clock source was correctly adjusted between the Kemper and my RME Babyface Pro fs, so that wasn’t the issue. I had help from the sweetest guy here on the forum, who offered me to help solve my problems with the RME and the Kemper and he confirmed, that everything was connected properly and everything was supposed to work flawlessly. But it didn’t. Clock source, routing in the software etc. was correct. So I really just want less parts in the chain, that can go wrong. BUT….I found a solution that doesn’t demand me changing audio interface. A monitor volume controller. It’s yet another part in the chain, that can go wrong of course, but it looks promising.

Quote from rickplaysbass

Avid MBOX Studio checked all those boxes for me. Plus it has some minor processing in its mixer suite (para eg, soft limiter, verb, and delay) which are nice to have, but not necessary. All in all, I've been extremely happy with mine.

I’ve been looking into the unit and it looks good, but no videos on YouTube really explain anything about using the S/Pdif. Is the S/Pdif accessible from the actual audio interface somehow? I mean….is it possible to adjust volume on the S/Pdif out and the DAW out - on the unit itself?

How is the drivers? Any annoying stuff? How is the quality regarding buttons, dial knobs etc?

Quote from Michael_dk

You don’t adjust volume on a spdif signal

I'm only talking about monitoring. Monitoring the volume differences between the two signals. Not recording level.