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depends on your budget, the akai EIE pro is what I'm using now and it's consistently in every "top x best interfaces under 1000" list.

the 2i2 is actually really good too but feels limiting to me, the presonus thing whos name escapes me right now but is just a little more expensive than the 2i2, is great as well

I have the 2i2 and love it. It's been dependable and has been dropped quite a few times due to a foolish initial choice on where to put it. still works great.

The only downside I can think of for it is that you only get two inputs. Good enough for stereo, but I'm about to rig something up for drum recordings and will have to use a seperate mixer board to get enough mics into it. If you just want simple good and cheap, I think it's your best bet.

Need to know a couple things: how many simultaneous ins do you need, and what's the budget? Bonus points for "what daw do you want to use it with".

also consider if you want a multi-channel interface if you want to use your pedals on different audio stems
although you can do this by putting the pedal in the chain as you record your instrument, it's more flexible if you can chop change effect pedals when you just have a raw audio file.

I got a m-audio fast track pro. good for what it does, cheap, but sometimes it does this weird bitcrushing thing (not a good bitcrush sound) and you have to pull the usb out and put it back in.

Im using a 2 input Mackie onyx blackjack using windows 8 and FLstudios 11 with close to zero latency. No issues, no noise. Some reviewers mentioned driver issues but I didnt even install drivers, I pluged it in and windows and my daw recognized it. Ive been using it for about 2 months now and I think its great. Solid thick metal case, very small, anged face for easy access to controls. After researching every other interface under $300, and with the recommendation from sonidero in another thread, I pulled the trigger and very am happy with it. Its what I would recommend.

psychedelicrelic wrote:Im using a 2 input Mackie onyx blackjack using windows 8 and FLstudios 11 with close to zero latency. No issues, no noise. Some reviewers mentioned driver issues but I didnt even install drivers, I pluged it in and windows and my daw recognized it. Ive been using it for about 2 months now and I think its great. Solid thick metal case, very small, anged face for easy access to controls. After researching every other interface under $300, and with the recommendation from sonidero in another thread, I pulled the trigger and very am happy with it. Its what I would recommend.

^^This.. for me the Blackjack is absolutely the simplest and the best sub $200 interface with no fuss audio interface w/ the best control access.. and also the loudest so you don't need to crank volumes like any others. Don't worry about it being USB 1.1 and those bad reviews regarding the software issues, they sorted it out with their latest driver.

I've tried Scarlett 2i2(too much latency and problems running Win 7 64 bit), Quad-Capture (this could be the best, loved the auto volume thingie but I hated the universal volume knob for output and headphones), almost getting a Motu track 16 but hated that bulky break out cable and can't be bus powered via USB.. so I ended up with Focusrite Forte, and so far I'm happy.

The Focusrite is pretty sweet. I've had no probs yet.

I recommend EMU 0404 USB. It has also external power supply (not using USB for power) so its a bit more stable...