Audio interface recommendations?

[StuartR]

I'm in a vocal quartet, and we'd like to purchase 4 audio interfaces, preferably all the same, to use with JamKazam. Two of us have Macs and 2 have Windows PCs. We'd like to keep it under $200 each if possible. Any recommendations? We're considering the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, but are looking for any recommendations.

Thanks!

If you are only going to do vocal, all you need is a USB microphone with a headphone jack. I recommend FiFine K670 on Amazon for $60. It really is "plug and play". I am using a USB mike, myself, for playing flute in a group. You don't need an audio interface unless you want to plug in an electronic instrument, such as a guitar or keyboard, in addition to a microphone. -- Cyril Penn

Helpful, Cyril. I mostly will be playing fiddle acoustically, maybe some guitar also acoustically, so perhaps this solution would work for me. But how would I find an ASIO driver that would work with the FiFine K670 on JamKazam? Can you recommend one and tell me how I could obtain it? I've had difficulty finding (and/or activating) an ASIO driver that JamKazam seems to like. Thanks.

---

I now realize that all members of my ensemble are using a USB mike on an iMac or Mac laptop. Works great on Jamkazam. So I tested my USB mike on the Windows 10  partition I installed on the iMac. Very poor results. I'm sorry to say that Windows PC users will need an audio interface and a non-usb mike to get a decent result. Most of the audio interfaces have an ASIO driver available on the manufacturer's website. I'm sorry that I wrongly assumed that a USB mike would work on Windows, just because the manufacturer said so. To repeat, I now believe that any DAW, including Jamkazam or Jamulus, on Windows will need an audio interface.

Agree. I'd recommend either a MOTU M2 or a Prosonus 96. Both are affordable and provide excellent latency. I've used both.

[DCairns]

We have a clutch of Focus Scarlett devices, including Solos, 2i2s and 8i6. Running for 3-4 months now.
They seem to work well running on Pcs and Macs.
You need to install the Focusrite driver. We run at 96khz.
Optimising laptop for low latency ops seems the hardest challenge!

[rengelman]

I'm in a vocal quartet, and we'd like to purchase 4 audio interfaces, preferably all the same, to use with JamKazam. Two of us have Macs and 2 have Windows PCs. We'd like to keep it under $200 each if possible. Any recommendations? We're considering the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, but are looking for any recommendations.

Thanks!

If you are only going to do vocal, all you need is a USB microphone with a headphone jack. I recommend FiFine K670 on Amazon for $60. It really is "plug and play". I am using a USB mike, myself, for playing flute in a group. You don't need an audio interface unless you want to plug in an electronic instrument, such as a guitar or keyboard, in addition to a microphone. -- Cyril Penn

Helpful, Cyril. I mostly will be playing fiddle acoustically, maybe some guitar also acoustically, so perhaps this solution would work for me. But how would I find an ASIO driver that would work with the FiFine K670 on JamKazam? Can you recommend one and tell me how I could obtain it? I've had difficulty finding (and/or activating) an ASIO driver that JamKazam seems to like. Thanks.

---

I now realize that all members of my ensemble are using a USB mike on an iMac or Mac laptop. Works great on Jamkazam. So I tested my USB mike on the Windows 10  partition I installed on the iMac. Very poor results. I'm sorry to say that Windows PC users will need an audio interface and a non-usb mike to get a decent result. Most of the audio interfaces have an ASIO driver available on the manufacturer's website. I'm sorry that I wrongly assumed that a USB mike would work on Windows, just because the manufacturer said so. To repeat, I now believe that any DAW, including Jamkazam or Jamulus, on Windows will need an audio interface.

Agree. I'd recommend either a MOTU M2 or a Prosonus 96. Both are affordable and provide excellent latency. I've used both.

Thanks for the recommendation. Two friends who use JamKazam have told me Berhringer interfaces work well with it, recommending particularly the U-PHORIA UMC202HD as fairly reasonably priced and excellent, with an available dedicated driver. Anyone else have experience with this unit with JamKazam?

[Cyril]

From Cyril: I just tested a Steinberg UR22MkII interface with an Audio-Technica AT2020 condenser microphone on my iMac's Windows 10 partition; works great!

[Heathcliff_wh]

Thanks for the recommendation. Two friends who use JamKazam have told me Berhringer interfaces work well with it, recommending particularly the U-PHORIA UMC202HD as fairly reasonably priced and excellent, with an available dedicated driver. Anyone else have experience with this unit with JamKazam?

Hi,
Behringer UMC202 HD:

latency 4,2ms at 48000 Hz, Buffer size 8 Samples

I am very happy with it.

It could be worthwile if you spend a bit more and get the UMC204 HD if you need Midi Input and mono monitoring feature.

best regards

[rengelman]

Thanks for the recommendation. Two friends who use JamKazam have told me Berhringer interfaces work well with it, recommending particularly the U-PHORIA UMC202HD as fairly reasonably priced and excellent, with an available dedicated driver. Anyone else have experience with this unit with JamKazam?

Hi,
Behringer UMC202 HD:

latency 4,2ms at 48000 Hz, Buffer size 8 Samples

I am very happy with it.

It could be worthwile if you spend a bit more and get the UMC204 HD if you need Midi Input and mono monitoring feature.

best regards

Thanks. Excuse my ignorance -- I'm pretty new to all this. For JamKazam, or for my own multi-track recording, what would I be using MIDI input and mono monitoring to do? I'm open to spending a bit more to get a good unit I can use for multiple musical purposes, but I honestly don't know what I need. I mostly play acoustically, but could imagine either writing scores (musical notation or ABCs) or using an electronic keyboard, if either of those is what MIDI is used for. Mono monitoring I'm not sure I would ever be needing, but maybe I'm wrong on that. I expect I'd be always working in stereo if at all possible. Thanks for any education.

[Heathcliff_wh]

Thanks for the recommendation. Two friends who use JamKazam have told me Berhringer interfaces work well with it, recommending particularly the U-PHORIA UMC202HD as fairly reasonably priced and excellent, with an available dedicated driver. Anyone else have experience with this unit with JamKazam?

Hi,
Behringer UMC202 HD:

latency 4,2ms at 48000 Hz, Buffer size 8 Samples

I am very happy with it.

It could be worthwile if you spend a bit more and get the UMC204 HD if you need Midi Input and mono monitoring feature.

best regards

Thanks. Excuse my ignorance -- I'm pretty new to all this. For JamKazam, or for my own multi-track recording, what would I be using MIDI input and mono monitoring to do? I'm open to spending a bit more to get a good unit I can use for multiple musical purposes, but I honestly don't know what I need. I mostly play acoustically, but could imagine either writing scores (musical notation or ABCs) or using an electronic keyboard, if either of those is what MIDI is used for. Mono monitoring I'm not sure I would ever be needing, but maybe I'm wrong on that. I expect I'd be always working in stereo if at all possible. Thanks for any education.

Hi,
I don't need these features either, that is why I bought the smaller model.

If you use the 202 with a DAW and you plug your instrument in one of the two inputs, you can only hear the direct monitoring on right or left channel. With the 204 it's possible to hear it in the middle of the stereo image.
But we don't have this problem with jamkazam. And if you don't use instruments with midi output you don't need this feature too. Neither do I

[rengelman]

Thanks for the recommendation. Two friends who use JamKazam have told me Berhringer interfaces work well with it, recommending particularly the U-PHORIA UMC202HD as fairly reasonably priced and excellent, with an available dedicated driver. Anyone else have experience with this unit with JamKazam?

Hi,
Behringer UMC202 HD:

latency 4,2ms at 48000 Hz, Buffer size 8 Samples

I am very happy with it.

It could be worthwile if you spend a bit more and get the UMC204 HD if you need Midi Input and mono monitoring feature.

best regards

Thanks. Excuse my ignorance -- I'm pretty new to all this. For JamKazam, or for my own multi-track recording, what would I be using MIDI input and mono monitoring to do? I'm open to spending a bit more to get a good unit I can use for multiple musical purposes, but I honestly don't know what I need. I mostly play acoustically, but could imagine either writing scores (musical notation or ABCs) or using an electronic keyboard, if either of those is what MIDI is used for. Mono monitoring I'm not sure I would ever be needing, but maybe I'm wrong on that. I expect I'd be always working in stereo if at all possible. Thanks for any education.

Hi,
I don't need these features either, that is why I bought the smaller model.

If you use the 202 with a DAW and you plug your instrument in one of the two inputs, you can only hear the direct monitoring on right or left channel. With the 204 it's possible to hear it in the middle of the stereo image.
But we don't have this problem with jamkazam. And if you don't use instruments with midi output you don't need this feature too. Neither do I

Thanks, helpful.

[Michael Wills]

The scarlett is a good choice but also look into the Motu M2. A couple of my band mates use them and they sound and work great.

Hi G-ManMusic,  Re your band mates using the Motu M2, are they using a fairly recent Windows 10 build or Mac?

[Tom Henry]

I am using an older Steinberg UR22 interface and their latest drivers via USB 2.0. My keyboards and a microphone are plugged into my mixer, then into the inputs of the interface. Input levels on JK are set at 0dB. I use my mixer's output levels to provide the proper gain to the interface.

I find that one computer I am using has a bit of jitter. I reinstalled Windows 10 on top of an older installation. The problem persists. I plan to reinstall Windows on a freshly formatted SSD, as I believe there are some lingering device drivers and dll files that are causing the interruptions.

The Steinberg UR22 is a JK recommended interface with low latency. I have no jitter when using it with my newer laptop.