Yamaha Steinberg UR12 USB Audio Interface, small

Amazing for the price. I bought this for some voice-over and foley work with pro tools 12. It's a wonderful upgrade from having to use ASIO4ALL drivers.The pre-amps are quiet, you start noticing the hiss at around 75-85% gain. The direct monitor functions works perfectly, there's a slight volume reduction from my computer when I turn it on but it's hardly noticeable. I only used the instrument input to see how it is, fiddled with my acoustic for a bit, seems to work fine but I don't record music.I do wish the headphone output was a little louder (using Sennheiser 598s), it sounds great but I have it at max most of the time so I hooked it up with my Magni 2 headphone amp.It's an all metal, sturdy box, everything is well built. It sounds great, it records great.Don't forget to read the instructions before plugging it in. I didn't have a CD drive so I just went on their website for the drivers. Took me 5-10 minutes for installing it because I figured I didn't need to read the instructions. Also, do not plug this into a usb hub, plug it directly to your computer.

So, I've tried a couple of audio interfaces before and none have ever done it for me. Mostly, the delay of signal is what puts me off. Granted it had been a few years and I knew technology was getting better. So, I gave this a try after looking around at the Focusrite and others. I use Cubase as it is, so I figured if ANYTHING will work with it, this will.Setup: Do not use the CD to install the drivers. Search for the UR12 drivers on Steinbergs site. They're up to date and work. The ones on the CD are years old, so, just toss them. After the install (and possible restart) plug the device in and then line out into your studio monitors or plug your headphones in. This thing becomes the sound card basically and will override your existing sound card.Now when you go into your DAW, you just set the inputs and outputs accordingly and you're in business. It was the easiest setup I've done to date with one of these things. Best part? I could set the latency down to the 2-5ms range which is barely perceptible. In fact, you can switch between direct monitor and DAW and I can't tell them apart. As a guitar player, you want to hear that immediate response.Pair this with a DAW that has things like amp simulators and it's pretty awesome. I've always played with effects coming out of a floor pedal but the effects in Cubase are pretty nice. Also, my son has nabbed all my older floor gear but just as well, he plays a LOT more than I do these days. We'll both be utilizing this thing quite a bit.I haven't used a mic with this unit yet so I can't comment on that. As for instruments, it's quite nice. I'm just leaving it as my main sound in/out device.I recommend you give it a try if you're on the fence about some other devices. Especially if you're looking at Focusrite and run Windows. I've seen several people complain about the device having issues on that OS. Maybe they fixed it? Also, this one is cheaper and that's quite nice. Give it a whirl.

I feel like I cheated with this product because it was so easy to set up and just as affordable as the UM2 when on sale.I stream to twitch a fair amount and was forced to buy a new interface after I switched from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and my Behringer Uphoria UM2 stopped working. The drivers for the UM2 destroyed my audio for Windows 10 so badly that I had to system restore to get my audio back.This interface actually comes with a cd and drivers on the cd! You don't have to google around for random drivers like you do for the UM2. Blew my mind. You install the drivers, plug in the interface, and it works? I was so confused. It took me more time to unpack this product than it did to get it working.This thing works.... I've been using it for only 24 hours so if it breaks I'll be sure to update you guys.I did a lot of searching to find this product. It's also full metal compared to the cheap plastic UM2. Things a beast. I am so excited. I was so frustrated with the UM2. I tried so hard to get it working for Windows 10 spending time on forums, google, and reddit until I finally just bought this...Buy this. It's twice the price of the UM2 but it actually works. Buy cheap - Buy twice. That's exactly what happened to me. Don't let it happen to you.October 9th, 2021 update -This thing is still amazing. I tell everyone who is in the market for an interface to buy this. I even bought another one when I started to have small audio issues (which were actually related to my dynamic microphone - yes dynamic - for shoutcasting). This thing is a tank. I dropped it multiple times and it still works. Gotta give credit where credit is due. Steinberg is worth the price. Excellent product.

The UR12 usb audio interface is a very nice interface for the money. It has a clean mic pre-amp and a decent amount of gain (not great, but enough for a lot of mics). It's also built like a tank with a nice clean design. Most importantly for me is that the driver plays nice with Windows 10. Just follow the directions for installing the driver and it should all work fine. 24bit/192kHz might be a bit overkill but its nice that it goes that high. Bonus: You get a copy of Cubase AI 10 for free with this. I did have trouble activating the code initially, but waiting 24 hours after creating my account seemed to fix the issue. Over all I am very please and I think its a great choice for the money.