My RMEs are so good that I am selling my SSL Six. I simply don’t need it. Not saying the RME’s have an SSL sound, but the ease of use of Totalmix and the reliability of them is simply incredible.
My overall latency is under 4ms and input is 1.62 at 32 samples. It’s glorious.
Thought about this one aswell! Would be a very portable and small solution! But for the price you can also get bigger interfaces who probably have better converters, but im not sure:) How do you like the recording quality of your ES9?
Expert Sleepers ES modules alongside with optical expansion racks such as RME Octamic or MOTU 24I / 24O / 8M.
There is also sooooo many cheaper expansion options such as Behringer ADA8200 (which are AWESOME as long as you don’t need 48V Phantom Power), second hand ADAT MOTU/RME stuff flooding the markets.
Also consider a 2nd hand MOTU Ultralite MK4 / MK3. Don’t believe the haters: MOTU has great quality build, and setting channels up is not more or less complicated than with RME. Using my ULMK4 since 6+ years, never had any issue, in various setups.
And if you need to hook it up to an iPad: Just get an Anker USB C dock with USB A port. Works like a charm and can be used with any USB Audio Interface, even routing is easy breezy with AUM
Whenever this question comes up I always suggest metric halo. I’ve used them for decades and they sound amazing have a great interface and never fail IF you’re on a mac
I have an old Roland/Edirol UA101, it’s a lot better than my previous Focusrite scarlett 2i4. It has 8input+2 digital input.
I would take a look at the new model Ua1010 if i were you.
…interfaces are one of these few things in all this sonic game, u should not go for cheap and quick solutions…
if u do so, u’ll always end up spending more money, just to realize sooner or later, if u’d only have waited a little longer to afford the proper solution…
it’s not so much about naked converter quality anymore these days…but latency and overall handling, versatilty, support, those points u tend to overlook at first, are essentials on the long run…
so better invest a little more right from the start, when it comes to interfaces…
rme, metric halo, uad…are a little more expensive but totally worth it…since for these, u only pay once in a lifetime…
motu is solid middleground…
but with stuff like m audio, u pay every few years again for a next solution, while always a little lost in latency, overall builtquality, detail concept flaws, whatif’s and whatnot’s…
Motu ultralite mk5 is nice with great i/o and small form factor.
The UL mk3 is fine if on mac. Drivers a bit temperamental on win os. Otherwise great
Rme rme rme rme
So very very good. Sounds amazing and as mentioned previously totalmix is crazy useful.
I am considering buying a Motu Ultralite Mk5 or a Mk3.
I understand the Mk3 sometimes have some issues with pops/noises (related to Windows drivers? I have Mac) and that it’s of course always a gamble how long the drivers will get updated.
But is it correct that I can just (cheaply with the Mk3) try my luck - and when that proves lacking, I can always use it as extra ADAT for a new Mk5 later? (The pops/noises won’t be an issue when using it as ADAT, because that doesn’t need its own driver, is that correct?)
Googling further - it seems that the S/PDIF on the Ultralite Mk3 will only add two inputs (or 1x stereo) to a future Mk5. Is that correct?
To follow up on this:
Ended up with a Motu Ultrarlite MK5. Really great audio interface and works perfectly well on my Mac from the first second. The latency is incredibly low!
Can I ask what operating system you’re running?
Mac OS Monterey 12.51, on a MacBook Pro 2017 3,1 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core I processor, 8GB RAM
Thanks.
I’m about to buy a new Mac book. It’s a minefield.
Well yeah have worked with Mac a long time now but the updated are really pain…
Yeh my mk5 been great on win10
MOTU UltraLite Mk3 here with a Mac.
Stable and a work horse.
Can be used stand alone 
Unless you are really going to get high end converters I would recommend one of the RME interfaces. Rock solid drivers, low latency, and good sound. And if you ever want better converters you can still use the RME as the interface.
True that. I actually tested both a Motu UL MK5 & a RME Fireface UCX at my local music store and didn‘t notice a significant difference. With RME you have to install a driver first before getting started, motu is plug and play (with mac). Both interfaces are great. From RME you can probably expect more longevity compared to Motu but its also twice the price, so my choice was the Motu UL.
Still, go ahead and install the max driver for lower latency operation that the class compliant one 