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List Price: $349.00
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Today's Bonus:
- Graphical Control Panel software provides fast, intuitive control of the VS Preamps
- Phantom power, ground lift, and Hi-Z switchesOne-click AUTO-SENS function intelligently sets optimal input levels for the preampsExtreme low-latency VS Streaming driver
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I have owned the UA-25, Emu 0404, Focusrite Saffire 6, Konnekt 6, and Mbox 3 mini in the sub $300 range.
Out of all of them, I strongly feel this is the best in class. It is built in a sturdy compact box that seems like it can be used to travel with. The other ones have their pluses and minuses and all of them have usable pre-amps. You can read reviews on the other ones but basically after owning the ua-25 and Saffire which are both only usb 1, I decided to go with the Konnekt which is firewire. It sounded great, but there were driver issues because it was still a new product, then I got the Emu 0404 and was extremely happy with that, but now it is discontinued so I decided to get the Mbox 3 mini to future proof myself. The mbox 3 mini only records at 24 bits and 48kHz, after getting used to recording at 24/96 I didn't want to downgrade so I sold it and did a lot of research then eventually settled on the quad capture.
Upon unboxing, you will only find the USB cable/ Manual/ Driver CD/ and Sonar X1 LE. Sonar X1 is my DAW of choice after years of being forced to use pro tools, so I already have the producer edition. I downloaded the latest driver of the website and the unit worked perfectly. After testing it with an old project that has 16 synths/2 VST effects per synth, I noticed there were absolutely 0 errors. I then tested it with guitar directly and also through midi and there was no latency. I'm running Windows 7 64 bit/ i7 / 12 gigs of ram, so my PC definitely keeps smooth as well, but this interface does not disappoint.
Pros:
1) Looks great in its black and silver casing and feels like it'll last a long time.
2) Small and compact. There is no space wasted.
3) Auto Sense. Wow this feature is absolutely brilliant. You plug in a guitar and play it while after pressing the button then just adjust your sensitivity to the limit it shows. No more clipping! Ever single interface should have this feature...but only this does. It is a huge selling point.
4) Drivers work flawlessly with Windows 7 64 bit, and it took literally 2 minutes to set up.
5) The headphone output produces a loud enough sound.
6) Pre-amps are the same as used in the V-700 (which in the $1000 range). They are crystal clear and transparent. In a quick vocal comparison, they sound clearer than the Mbox 3 mini.
Cons:
1) No on/off switch. I really don't know why there isn't one.
2) There isn't a separate headphone/monitor output level knob. For me this is annoying, because I keep my unit plugged into my monitors and headphones at the same time and it would have been great to be able to turn down the output to the monitors without having the turn down the monitors physically themselves.
3) Lack of inputs and outputs (but obviously you should do your research and see if this has what you want first) if you need more there is the Octa Capture which is built with similar pre-amps and looks.
I highly recommend this interface if you want a unit that just works, is compact, and looks like a piece of pro equipment. It is USB 2.0 and is relatively new so hopefully it will be future proof. I am definitely going to keep this unit and recommend it to those around me. There is the new M-Audio Fast Track C400 which looks promising, but if it has a lower quality pre-amp than the mbox 3 mini (which is the step up from it), I definitely think the quad capture is better.
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I got the Quad capture from a local BB store recently. It was easy to set up. I use it with Reaper mostly but it works fine with Audacity and Audition too. The preamps are amazingly good for a unit that only uses USB bus power. I also have the Focusrite Scarlett 8i6. This is its main competition in the same price range with similar features. Focusrite has a more sophisticated software mixer, but it is confusing at first although it offers more flexibility in routing. Loopback feature would have been nice on the Quad. As far as the software drivers, Quad is better. Focusrite cannot change the clock rate for spdif on the fly. You will simply get no audio until you realize that something sent audio that was at a different rate. With the quad's drivers, it changes to handle it. For example, if Focusrite spdif input is locked in at 48KHz, and you play a 44.4KHz audio, you will get nothing. Quad does not suffer from this issue. Focusrite also drops out occasionally and you have to unplug and replug the USB cable. On the same PC, Quad has no problems like this.
If you need a simple interface with two XLR/Line and SPDIF I/O, this unit fits the bill. Noise is very low, and it comes with a way to configure a noise Gate as well as a compressor and a high pass filter. HPF is limited to 100Hz but still useful. One interesting feature is the AutoSense for the inputs. You calibrate it for the loudest expected sound and then it takes care of keeping levels below clipping. I think all such devices should have a feature like this. The preamps get noisy after about 3/4 on the gain knob, but that's almost 40 db of gain. To get something quiet above that level of gain, you need to spend a lot more. For most condenser mics, 40db is plenty. The device is rated at 54db max gain. It does not have an EQ section. The compressor is actually usable with the ratio, attack, release and makeup gain settings. It also has a Gate (downward Expander) setting to cut out background noise. It is very effective; I set it to -37db and the room noise is inaudible. Unfortunately, you cannot enable the noise Gate separately from the Compressor. There is only one Bypass button on the software. I suppose you could set the compression ratio to 1:1 but it would have been nice to separate them since they are useful for different things.
For the playback, the results were excellent. Very clear audio out of the spdif into my Yamaha receiver and out to the Adams. It lacks a volume control for the digital audio out, but you can use the Mix knob to lower the output and increase the input volume. For the analog out, it has a volume knob shared with the headphone out. It would have been useful to separate them. Plugging in the headphones does not mute the speaker output.
Sonar X1 is one of the better DAWs out there. The included software is the LE edition. Good enough for simple projects. I prefer Reaper personally but if you don't wish to buy seperate software, then Sonar is a good substitute. Overall, I recommend the Quad.
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I've tried several recently released audio interface from 100 to 300 dollars range.
Things I have tried:
1. E-MU 0204 USB, really goood sounding, even the headphone output. But horrible drivers. For simply music listening, its great.'But if you are recording, it's horrible. Very unstable driver, always have clicks and pops.
2. Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 and 8i6. They are good at recording due to good preamp, but the sound quality, especially headphone output sucks. Bad drivers too, random disconnects in both Mac and Win 7.
3. Roland quad-capture. Definitely the best than the other two. It's got really stable and low latency driver!!! And sound quality, including headphone are good. Comparing to E-MU 0204 usb, its slightly focused on the lower end sound. But overall still great. Only complain is the headphone output and line output volume are together, cannot be separated.
So you should definitely try this one.
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The noise floor must be next to nothing. Using this interface with pianoteq and a 2 year old macbook pro and the drivers work stable with buffer set at its lowest (64samples) on a leopard osx. When I turn the volume up to max noise is nothing, nada. Quite shocking when starting playing actually.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here. I'm rather surprised at how little this oversight is mentioned, but if you're going to call an interface "best in class" or "best in price range," I wouldn't think I'd have to manually turn off all my speakers in order to record or simply monitor with headphones. It's pointless to listen to a mix with headphones if your monitors are blasting, and of course recording is impossible. Depending on your placement and if you have a sub, it can be a pain in the ass switching them all on and off again. This was the main (and only) drawback of my ua-25, and it's hard to believe it wasn't addressed. Komplete audio 6 looks better, sounds just as good IMO, and allows me to easily switch from headphones back to the main outs in the same price range. If this isn't an issue for you the quad will work fine... But, how is this not an issue?
