Advice on buying an audio interface for composition/ mixing

[arta]

Hi, I'm new at music production, so I'll explain as best I can, hopefully I get the terminology right.

Basically I'm going to be making beats and dabbling at orchestral scores, so I won't be using recording equipment. Mainly using synths and samples to create instrumentals and scores and then mix them. I just need it basically as a great soundcard and also plug in a midi keyboard and studio monitors. I want to start using an audio interface soon as a step up from the ASIO4All driver I use on my PC. I have around $250 at max to spend but if there's some magical interface that will improve the quality for cheap I'll take that

Right now I'm looking at a couple audio interfaces:

1) Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6


I've only known of Native Instruments for a couple months now but they are amazing with their hardware and software products! So I find myseld looking at this audio interface they have. Only thing is it uses USB 2.0 and my Dell XPS 2720 has USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt ports. I'm wondering if I can maximize them better.


2) Resident Audio T2 Thunderbolt


I have a Dell 2720 XPS and it has a Thunderbolt port which I never use. Apparently Thunderbolt has twice the speed of USB 3.0 and better latency.


So am I on the right track? Am I going overboard and can get something cheaper that has amazing quality? Or should I save more money and go for something higher?

 

[Bugsy]

Welcome to ILLMUZIK!

Definitely go for a Focusrite Scarlett as your first audio interface. There are good reviews on it, as well as its one of the cheapest.

You mentioned that your just starting out, so it might be best to hold off getting anything expensive. Get the cheapest you can find and stay with it for a while.

Good luck!

 

[Fade]

NI has great products, so that's a good buy as well. For USB - doesn't 3 dumb down to USB 2? It should be fine.

 

[arta]

What's the different between the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 and 2i4? Apparently Guitar Center and Amazon have a sale on them right now.

 

[Hadoq]

Hi and welcome
I first wanted to go for the scarlett, but then I've read that, in many occurences, there were severe installation and reliability issues
so I went for the Komplete 6, plug and play, works a charm, a-mazing converters.
I use it for midi control (main in, one out)
Right now I record a virtual analog synth (alesis ion) in stereo (in 3/4), a korg ms20 mini in mono (midi in/out via built in usb)
I ordered a korg minilogue as well as a moog mother32 that I'll also plug in through komplete 6 and an additional usb/midi interface (those are cheap), I also occasionally plug in "regular" instruments, guitars, bass, a rhodes etc...

It has never ever failed me

I think the focusrite work great on macs, but if you're on windows, they can be a huge pain apparently, you never know until you actually try it on your own computer, so it was too much of a russian roulette game for me. But if you get them to work, they're great, as I often hear.
I really needed a very good A/D converter, and Komplete delivered even better than I expected in that regard.

if you're on PC/windows, consider the reliability/compatibility issues with the focusrite