Hi,
I 'm a beginner making his first steps in this digital music-making world. At this point in time I am still using the inbuilt soundcard of my laptop but am looking to purchase an audio interface. I would mainly use the audio interface for playback purposes only. Maybe in the future will record some electric guitar or bass (not simultaneously).
I have done some homework. Read many threads about audio interfaces, watched countless videos reviews, etc ...
From all this I had narrowed down my choices to:
- Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (3rd gen)
- Native Instruments Komplete Audio 2
- MOTU M2
I really like the fact that the MOTU has an on/off switch, as I will mostly use my laptop for non-music related tasks, and would prefer not to always have to plugin/plugout the interface.
However, I noticed that from the 3 only the NI Komplete Audio does have a direct monitor dial to blend the recording with playback.
Therefore, prefering the MOTU because of the switch I was wondering if the M4 would be a better choice over the M2, since having a direct monitor dial as well.
At first this seems to be overkill, as I don't actually need the additional in- and outputs available to the M4.
Additionally, I am not even sure I will ever benefit from a direct monitor blending option. As a beginner I am not exactly sure what I will be needing.
I seem to have made up my mind and would prefer the MOTU (M2 or M4), on second place would be the Komplete Audio 2.
So, I am just wondering, is this direct monitoring dial really a big deal?
I 'm a beginner making his first steps in this digital music-making world. At this point in time I am still using the inbuilt soundcard of my laptop but am looking to purchase an audio interface. I would mainly use the audio interface for playback purposes only. Maybe in the future will record some electric guitar or bass (not simultaneously).
I have done some homework. Read many threads about audio interfaces, watched countless videos reviews, etc ...
From all this I had narrowed down my choices to:
- Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (3rd gen)
- Native Instruments Komplete Audio 2
- MOTU M2
I really like the fact that the MOTU has an on/off switch, as I will mostly use my laptop for non-music related tasks, and would prefer not to always have to plugin/plugout the interface.
However, I noticed that from the 3 only the NI Komplete Audio does have a direct monitor dial to blend the recording with playback.
Therefore, prefering the MOTU because of the switch I was wondering if the M4 would be a better choice over the M2, since having a direct monitor dial as well.
At first this seems to be overkill, as I don't actually need the additional in- and outputs available to the M4.
Additionally, I am not even sure I will ever benefit from a direct monitor blending option. As a beginner I am not exactly sure what I will be needing.
I seem to have made up my mind and would prefer the MOTU (M2 or M4), on second place would be the Komplete Audio 2.
So, I am just wondering, is this direct monitoring dial really a big deal?