What do audio interfaces do

This delay exists because it takes a certain amount of time to convert say an analog source to digital A to D to route into your computer and DAW, and then back again D to A so you can hear it through your monitors or cans. Buffer settings in your system can make a big difference to latency.

Think of buffers as processing space your computer needs to process information. Larger buffers increase the amount of data the computer can cope with but may introduce a delay in the process. You hear that lag through the speakers. Few people would notice a 3ms delay, which is a common high performance setting. Once delay gets up to about 10ms and beyond you most certainly will notice it. The delay starts to affect your playing and singing.

Finding the balance between latency and the processing power of your computer is key here. A more powerful computer will be better equipped to deal with latency and this is precisely why consumer grade built in soundcards should be avoided like the plague for recording.

The latency will be horrendous. Fortunately, most modern, decent audio interfaces have functionality called Direct Monitoring which enables the user to listen to the input signal of the interface with near zero latency. They achieve this by taking the input signal on the interface and sending it straight to the headphone or speaker outputs on the device bypassing the computer.

The signal is also routed to your DAW so it can be recorded. Direct Monitoring controls the mix between the two. You absolutely must have this feature on any audio interface you buy to negate latency. The other latency buster — and this is generally the case for anything to do with computers — is to make sure you have the latest and correct drivers for your audio interface installed. Just press it and away you go.

At the budget end, pre-amp performance is perfectly good enough for recording at home. Higher bit rates also offer a quieter noise floor which means you can record at quieter levels without introducing noise. Sample rate is a little less clear cut. Think of frame rates in a movie or playing a computer game.

This can be quite slow, but you can record one or two channels. On the other hand, the choice of sampling rates can vary according to what you intend to do with your audio.

You can try the old trick of recording a dog snarl at kHz and mixing it with a session of 96 kHz without losing any resolution. This will result in giving you the traditional monstrous growl you have heard in most sci-fi movies.

Before buying one for yourself, see if the audio interface will work in sync with your machine or not. Many interfaces include handy features like embedded software control and DSP for mixing. They can do everything from adding reverbs, setting up headphones mixes or delaying headphone mixes. Need to know more about Digital Audio Workstations? How Does an Audio Interface Work? Moreover, an audio interface works in preparing sound that you put into your computer. An interface makes sure that the user is able to record quality, high-resolution sound.

What Is an Audio Interface? The device works by converting analog signals into digital audio. The audio interface sends digital audio to a computer through a medium. The device can perform the same job in reverse as well. It receives digital information and converts it to analog signals. These analog signals can then be heard through headphones, speakers or studio monitors.

If you can, try to leave yourself a little room to grow, rather than just opting for the minimum sized unit that will work. Audio interfaces also usually provide something called phantom power for the microphone inputs. On some interfaces, phantom power can be turned on and off for individual channels, while on others it is switched for groups of channels at a time.

Click here to read our blog article explaining phantom power. Others give you additional analog outputs, which you can use for connecting to other hardware in more sophisticated setups.

This is beneficial when recording multiple musicians because inevitably, the various players or singers will not all agree on the balance they want to hear in their headphones. The buffer controls the amount of time the computer allows for processing and is measured in samples 64, , , etc.

The lower the buffer, the less latency. The tradeoff is that lower buffer settings put more strain on your computer, and that can result in clicks, pops and diminished audio quality. It works like this: your interface sends a copy of your input signal pre-computer directly into the headphone output so that you can hear it in real time with no latency mixed with the tracks coming back from your computer. Some basic interfaces provide this feature via a simple switch that allows you to choose between the direct signal and the output of your host application, but in more sophisticated interfaces, such as the Steinberg UR22C , direct monitoring is implemented with a mix control knob that lets you adjust the ratio of the direct sound to the sound returning from the computer.

Steinberg interfaces all come equipped with top-of-range converters and Yamaha D-PRE mic preamps for consistently excellent sonics.

A major designer of mixing consoles for more than half a century, Rupert Neve products are renowned throughout the recording industry.