USB Mixer Interface with Aux In Recommendations?

[waveman]

I would just get a small mixer, run it stereo into the behringer when you want to record. Headroom issues are user error mostly, from my experience, meaning you need to set proper levels and/or pads.

 

[silky smoove]

but I'd need to be hooked up to a laptop to practice

Not necessarily. Many interfaces will operate in standalone mode without a computer connection.

with a mixer I can send more than two channels into a DAW

Provided you buy a sufficiently expensive mixer to not just have a stereo output to the DAW.

 

[el murdoque]

I know you said no Bringer BUT !! I have a FLOW 8 mixer/USB interface and for the $$ It ROCKS , I use it live and it has 10 ch USB out to a computer ! , headphones out . 4 mic pre's built in FX ( In case you need a live mixer ) the 1/4 in;s are line inputs, i you need 1/8 just get an adapter . 48v on ch 1-2 selectable .

I have used MANY interfaces and for $240 new it has more than anything else I have seen.

Thank you for suggesting this. I wanted to, but since under $200 and no Behringer was specified in the OP,
I felt reluctant. But now that the ice is broken, may I add that the first two channels have MIDAS preamps ?

I'm using mine mainly as a home setup where my electric drums, digital guitar board, bass pedal board and bass amp meet, everything connected to a monitor wedge and, of course, headphones.

hooked up to my laptop via USB, I can have every single line separately. I cannot comment on the quality of the recordings, I've never A/Bed it against a real DAW, but for my needs it totally suffices.

You get bluetooth on top, so you can play along to youtube and such from your phone.

And the controls are quite intuitive and cleverly made. The only thing it lacks is motorized faders - but hey, they've packed in a lot for the price tag.

 

[arepa_funk]

Thank you for suggesting this. I wanted to, but since under $200 and no Behringer was specified in the OP,
I felt reluctant. But now that the ice is broken, may I add that the first two channels have MIDAS preamps ?

I'm using mine mainly as a home setup where my electric drums, digital guitar board, bass pedal board and bass amp meet, everything connected to a monitor wedge and, of course, headphones.

hooked up to my laptop via USB, I can have every single line separately. I cannot comment on the quality of the recordings, I've never A/Bed it against a real DAW, but for my needs it totally suffices.

You get bluetooth on top, so you can play along to youtube and such from your phone.

And the controls are quite intuitive and cleverly made. The only thing it lacks is motorized faders - but hey, they've packed in a lot for the price tag.

Thanks, will look into the Flow 8 too.

 

[arepa_funk]

I think I might be leaning to improve my interface instead of a USB interface/mixer. Conversion rates on those aren't as high as with the interfaces in a similar price range.

The UA Volt 4 is slightly above budget but seems to check all boxes. Has own power supply and on/off switch, so presumably I can use it as a practice tool without needing to connect to a laptop. 4 I/O, two mic inputs, 48 V phantom power.

Interestingly, the SSL2+ has features the Volt 4 doesn't (dedicated phantom power to each input, separate monitoring headphone outs), but of course only has two inputs and cannot be used without a laptop.

Does anybody have experience with these or other interfaces that tick some/most of these boxes? Thank you all!

 

[tothemax]

Just seeing your post and thought I would share some experience I have setting up my home studio. I originally went with a Behringer X2222USB unit figuring it would be good as a mixer for live practices and with the built in USB connection send tracks directly to my DAW. While the Behringer is not bad for the price point, like most USB mixers it only sends a stereo "mix" to the DAW (basically the line out). So you don't have individual tracks to work with. The X2222 unit does have inserts for the eight XLR channels that allows you to route the tracks to a USB interface (the downside is that you are using the Behringer preamps, which are OK). I purchased a Tascam US-16x08 USB interface which gave me 16 channels direct to my DAW, 8 XLR and 8 Line level which matched my budget and the preamps are a bit better than the Behringer X2222. I still have this setup in the studio and the nice thing about it is that we can be practicing with the mixer and send the tracks directly to the DAW via the inserts. I have a couple of drum machines connected to the mixer, and I can use an Aux send with drum tracks to the interface and only tie up one channel which is pretty handy.

That was about 5 years ago and there are many more options out there now. While some of the Behringer gear is pretty poor some of it is fairly decent, especially if you are on a budget. Just need to check the reviews before buying. If you are looking for a mixer/USB interface you might want to check the Zoom L8, that will pretty much do both and I think it may even record.

LiveTrak L-8 | Buy Now
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Good luck, there's a lot to choose from...