Best Audio Interfaces for Guitar

hi i'm mitch gallagher from sweetwater today we're checking out audio interfaces for guitar players let's get started it's no secret that there are a ton of audio interfaces on the market covering every sort of connection format i o configuration and feature set but if you're a guitar player or bass player who wants to quickly and easily record your tracks there are some features that are really useful so today i've assembled a list of great audio interfaces that are designed with features specifically for making recording easier for guitarists these features include things like instrument level inputs with proper impedances for electric guitar and bass and some of these interfaces even support variable impedance on the inputs so you can optimize the response for your instrument some interfaces also offer built-in amp output connections so you can easily reamp your tracks and some offer built-in preamp technology and many come with specific guitar-oriented apps as well to get you started right out of the box first up we have audio interfaces that offer great sounding direct inputs for your electric guitar or base while just about every audio interface offers a direct instrument level input these have been proven to perform extremely well the audient id14 mark ii is among the latest audio interfaces from audient and it features a jfet direct input now many players find this feels and responds very natural when recording direct the id14 mark ii is loaded with features including 10 inputs and 6 outputs 2 headphone outputs a usbc connection to mac pc and ios as well as a suite of software that includes two notes torpedo guitar cabinet simulation the scarlett 2i2 generation 3 is an affordable audio interface that includes a really great sounding instrument level input it has focusrite's proprietary air processing in the preamp which simulates the effect of a transformer on the signal in addition to connecting to mac and pc by usbc it also supports apple's ipad pro the mo 2 micro book 2c offers a ton of power in a compact bus powered format you get a really great sounding direct guitar input for your guitar base stereo line level in and a microphone in all managed by motu's built-in qmix dsp powered digital mixer so you can record an overdub with no latency issues it's perfect for recording on the go in the studio and it works with mac pc and ipad next we have audio interfaces that have some great features for guitarists and bassists built in the universal audio apollo twin features ua's proprietary unison input technology unison automatically configures the input in the analog domain to match what you're doing so if you load up an amplifier plug-in unison sets up the input on your apollo twin so that your guitar or bass responds exactly as if it were connected to a real amp this means the tone and the feel which is super important are both going to be authentic of course you get the apollo's great sound quality outstanding uad plugins and tons more ik multimedia has a number of audio interface solutions that are perfect for guitarists and basis i've got three of them here today beginning with the ax io solo the direct input on this interface was designed from the ground up for recording guitar and bass it has variable z tone impedance control and active passive switch for pickups and a jfet preamp for natural feel and sound the axiao solo comes with ik multimedia's awesome amplitube 4 deluxe amplifier and effects software or you can go for the axe io solo amp bundle which steps you up to the amplitube 5 bundle of amp and effects software ik multimedia has another great solution right here this is especially good if you need something compact and lightweight it's the irig hd2 for mac pc and ios this interface is tiny enough to fit in your pocket but it still provides high resolution audio up to 24 bit 96 kilohertz resolution it allows for headphone monitoring and pass through to an amp and even includes amplitube 4 amp and effects software the irig stop io from ik multimedia steps you up to a familiar floorboard style format it supports guitar and bass input midi in and out a headphone out and a device bay to hold your iphone ipad or microsoft surface foot switches make it easy to use the irig stop io on stage or in the studio and you get a full suite of amp effects and recording software along with the interface and finally on our list of audio interfaces today we have to spotlight the audience sono which was designed from the ground up for guitar players in fact sano includes a full tube-based guitar preamp for shaping your tone on the way in and also has two notes dsp technology to provide cabinet emulation as well so you've got a complete guitar recording workstation right inside sano you can store three presets on board you can also route your direct recorder guitar signal out to an amplifier for re-recording later it's an all-in-one solution for crafting your guitar tracks beyond audio interfaces there are other solutions that might work well for you as well for example many of the high-powered guitar multi-effects processors on the market today have usb outputs that can be used to feed audio straight into a computer for recording this essentially allows the multi-processor to serve as an audio interface examples would include line 6's helix family the neural quad cortex boss's gt-1000 and gt001 head rush zoom g6 and many more the advantage here is that your multi-effects processor is doing double duty for you if you prefer using your own amplifier some of the app attenuators and cabinet simulators such as the boss waza tube amp expander can also provide this audio interface functionality this allows you to use your own app but still record direct into your daw it's a very cool solution so there you have it a roundup of great audio interface solutions for recording your guitar or bass now please keep in mind that while the audio interfaces we discussed jump out to me as great for recording guitar most of them can also be used for other sources such as vocals acoustic instruments and keyboards so they'll make a great centerpiece for your studio no matter what you're recording or mixing if you have questions about these or any of the other many possible solutions for recording guitar and bass be sure to visit sweetwater.com or better yet contact your sweetwater sales engineer for full information they'll be happy to help you choose the perfect audio interface for your needs thanks for joining me today i'm mitch gallagher from sweetwater [Music] thanks for watching be sure to like comment and subscribe click here for more videos like this or start at sweetwater.com for all your music instrument and pro audio needs

Channel: Sweetwater

Views: 27,441

Rating: 4.9241705 out of 5

Keywords: Sweetwater, cat:guitar, cat:recording, audio interface, recording, guitar, home studio, mac, pc

Id: Duk61l_hkh8

Length: 5min 58sec (358 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 16 2021