Excellent review! 👍 I bought the M-Track Duo 8 months ago and I just realized that weird issue when you turn the input gain above 9,5. 🤦🏻♀ Still, I think it's a great interface for the price.
I listened carefully with my new Sennheiser HD 300, which recently replaced my old and beloved HD 480. The M-Track Solo is the winner for me also. The noise level is lower, and the overall sound quality is just,...well..... 'crispier'. Thanks for testing. I use my iRig Keys I/O 25 as audio interface and midi controller.
It may not be considered budget, but I just switched from a Focusrite Scarlet to a Universal Audio Volt 476p and holy smoke I was blown away by the difference. The built in 76 compressor and vintage pre-amp option are incredible, 4 independent in/out channels with separate controls for each, plus it works without needing drivers or external power if you connect via usb-c, and even works with iPads and mobile devices while traveling. Not to mention the numerous high quality UA plugins they give you for free to use in Logic, Pro Tools, Abelton, Luna, GarageBand, etc. It’s amazing value for less than half the cost of an Apollo interface. Highly recommended.
the pops an clicks are related to there not being any dedicated drivers for the UM2 as only the UMC204 and above have dedicated drivers that eliminate pops and clicks and low buffer sizes. Coincidentally there exists another driver for an old interface of behringers that just so happens to be compatible with the UM2 which solved he pops and clicks and allowed me to have extremely low buffer sizes(49samples) and a latencyof about 7ms.
Brilliant video and great breakdown 👍🏻 Love my Arturia MiniFuse 2. It’s a little more but has a few tricks up it’s sleeve. But wow, never been a better time! Remember when you needed a ‘studio’!?! 😉
Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude! You may recall, I bought the M-Track Duo having watched your previous M-Track video when I needed a cheap and cheerful way to get my desktop back up and running. For the price, I'm knocked out with it. You're right about that weird issue with the gain knob in high settings though. Interestingly, the duo has a quarter inch jack for the headphones - the main reason I bought that over the solo. Who wants one of those pissypants little holes? oooooer! My friend bought a UM2 a short time before that and it is now in the bin. I personally don't buy Behringer because of who they are as people and some of the things they do. That said, their place and value in the market cannot be understated. Their X-Air for instance, is stunning. If only everything they made was as road worthy.
I still swear by the Focusrite Scarlett. Just automatically works without any drivers to install. My iPads and Mac are just plug and play. And can’t beat the performance or price.
If your looking at budget interfaces just like one level up from these, I absolutely love my M-Audio AIR 192x4! It provides a very clean signal for the price point ($109us last I checked). I have a 3rd Gen Scarlett Solo which is pretty sweet too, but I was gifted the M-audio last Christmas and have been using it ever since. It's audio quality was very close to the Focusrite tbh - not a huge difference really. But the design is far superior with every knob & button exactly where it should be. I was very impressed with both interface's preamp, but the M-audio's super-comfortable layout won the day for me. I highly recommend the AIR 192x4!
Just on History and Reputation alone I would take M-Audio over Behringer for ANY product. I've had Behringer mixers in repair once too often for cold soldering joints etc. M Audio was Midiman way back at beginning of MIDI, acquired by Avid which bundled ProTools LE with M-Audio interfaces etc. They still bundle the great AIR piano and other stuff with their stuff. I'm still using a perfectly fine ancient 2x2 M Audio 001 interface with zero problems as well as their controllers the Axiom 25 and Mk3 Keystation 64 !! 🎸
Hello! I've been planning on buying a Behringer UMC22 interface (which a lot of reviews said it's better than the UM2). I would like to ask if the UMC22 is any better (or worse) than the M-Track Solo? I read a handful of reviews that the audio quality of M-Track Solo is much better than UMC22, but I'm pretty doubtful of it's build quality and longevity since it is full-on plastic, while on the other hand the UMC22 is much sturdier with its metal casing. Taking also into account the all-plastic casing of M-Track Solo would pretty much capture a lot of background interferance. Thanks in advance for your response 🫡
I agree with your conclusion. However, I wouldn’t purchase either as they will probably have a short life forcing you to buy a replacement so, in the end, you really don’t save anything and probably inflict a headache or two on yourself in the process. I have had two midrange audio interfaces that have gone bad on me after years of faithful service. So I have high expectations that these two couldn’t ever match.
@TheGaragebandGuide very useful review! Do you know if the M-audio works as a pre-amp without being plugged into a laptop? I’d like to use it with my MPC, standalone(with some USB power, of course!)
I own a Behringer UMC202HD which was really designed for PC but I use it with my iPad Pro and it works and sounds great. I also sometimes use a Behringer Xenyx 802 8-channel mixer in my set-up…again, works and sounds great.
As far as i know umc202HD is much better than this umc 2 unit, they jave their own driver for 202HD while umc2 still using asio4all driver which apparently blew up the worst latency
Want to run an Alesis E-Drum kit into computer, and then run that audio into the mixer and then to PA system; do I need an audio interface right? And if so, which would provide the best q quality sound through the Pa, without any latency at all?
Do both of these work with windows 11? Is it worth to just buy scarlet 3rd Gen for $100? I play metal guitar Is the $139 worth upgrade to focusrite 4th Gen?
Hi Patrick, is it posible to cover iRig Pro Quattro VS Arturia MiniFuse 4? By the way looks completely different with hair 😂 I used to have long hair before as well!
i m lookinh to buy one for 50$ only for practise i don t care about recording but i don t want to have noticable latency and delay i just want to run it as an amp and that s it
Give that like button a wee tickle, then let me know which one of these super budget audio interfaces get YOUR vote!
Terrific help and info for any musician, but for this comment, I'm a 70-year-old songwriter with some marketable songs. Tips from this guy are great!
This video is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thank you so much for putting this together! Subbed! 🤘
Excellent review! 👍 I bought the M-Track Duo 8 months ago and I just realized that weird issue when you turn the input gain above 9,5. 🤦🏻♀ Still, I think it's a great interface for the price.
I listened carefully with my new Sennheiser HD 300, which recently replaced my old and beloved HD 480. The M-Track Solo is the winner for me also. The noise level is lower, and the overall sound quality is just,...well..... 'crispier'. Thanks for testing. I use my iRig Keys I/O 25 as audio interface and midi controller.
Don't buy the m audio that thing is a disaster waiting to happen
@@kbullet7385 can you elaborate?
It may not be considered budget, but I just switched from a Focusrite Scarlet to a Universal Audio Volt 476p and holy smoke I was blown away by the difference.
The built in 76 compressor and vintage pre-amp option are incredible, 4 independent in/out channels with separate controls for each, plus it works without needing drivers or external power if you connect via usb-c, and even works with iPads and mobile devices while traveling.
Not to mention the numerous high quality UA plugins they give you for free to use in Logic, Pro Tools, Abelton, Luna, GarageBand, etc. It’s amazing value for less than half the cost of an Apollo interface. Highly recommended.
Great shootout! The M-Track seemed more transparent to my ears.
I went with M-Audio because I really liked the old M-Audio midi keyboard I used to own.
the pops an clicks are related to there not being any dedicated drivers for the UM2 as only the UMC204 and above have dedicated drivers that eliminate pops and clicks and low buffer sizes. Coincidentally there exists another driver for an old interface of behringers that just so happens to be compatible with the UM2 which solved he pops and clicks and allowed me to have extremely low buffer sizes(49samples) and a latencyof about 7ms.
Brilliant video and great breakdown 👍🏻
Love my Arturia MiniFuse 2. It’s a little more but has a few tricks up it’s sleeve.
But wow, never been a better time! Remember when you needed a ‘studio’!?! 😉
Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude! You may recall, I bought the M-Track Duo having watched your previous M-Track video when I needed a cheap and cheerful way to get my desktop back up and running. For the price, I'm knocked out with it. You're right about that weird issue with the gain knob in high settings though. Interestingly, the duo has a quarter inch jack for the headphones - the main reason I bought that over the solo. Who wants one of those pissypants little holes? oooooer! My friend bought a UM2 a short time before that and it is now in the bin. I personally don't buy Behringer because of who they are as people and some of the things they do. That said, their place and value in the market cannot be understated. Their X-Air for instance, is stunning. If only everything they made was as road worthy.
I still swear by the Focusrite Scarlett. Just automatically works without any drivers to install. My iPads and Mac are just plug and play. And can’t beat the performance or price.
It's such a dependable, solid interface. There's a reason it's remained so popular for so long!
Agree - for serious musicians the last thing to cheap out is your AI.
If your looking at budget interfaces just like one level up from these, I absolutely love my M-Audio AIR 192x4! It provides a very clean signal for the price point ($109us last I checked). I have a 3rd Gen Scarlett Solo which is pretty sweet too, but I was gifted the M-audio last Christmas and have been using it ever since. It's audio quality was very close to the Focusrite tbh - not a huge difference really. But the design is far superior with every knob & button exactly where it should be. I was very impressed with both interface's preamp, but the M-audio's super-comfortable layout won the day for me. I highly recommend the AIR 192x4!
Just on History and Reputation alone I would take M-Audio over Behringer for ANY product. I've had Behringer mixers in repair once too often for cold soldering joints etc. M Audio was Midiman way back at beginning of MIDI, acquired by Avid which bundled ProTools LE with M-Audio interfaces etc. They still bundle the great AIR piano and other stuff with their stuff. I'm still using a perfectly fine ancient 2x2 M Audio 001 interface with zero problems as well as their controllers the Axiom 25 and Mk3 Keystation 64 !! 🎸
As they say, "Buy it nice, or buy it twice° - Thanks Patrick!
Hello! I've been planning on buying a Behringer UMC22 interface (which a lot of reviews said it's better than the UM2). I would like to ask if the UMC22 is any better (or worse) than the M-Track Solo? I read a handful of reviews that the audio quality of M-Track Solo is much better than UMC22, but I'm pretty doubtful of it's build quality and longevity since it is full-on plastic, while on the other hand the UMC22 is much sturdier with its metal casing. Taking also into account the all-plastic casing of M-Track Solo would pretty much capture a lot of background interferance. Thanks in advance for your response 🫡
second this, I also want to know!
Thanks Patrick. I looked up the Blue Cat frequency analyser that you used also after watching. Seemed very useful.
Cheers Tim, it’s a cracker!
I agree with your conclusion. However, I wouldn’t purchase either as they will probably have a short life forcing you to buy a replacement so, in the end, you really don’t save anything and probably inflict a headache or two on yourself in the process. I have had two midrange audio interfaces that have gone bad on me after years of faithful service. So I have high expectations that these two couldn’t ever match.
-.-
The UM2 has been around for a good while, nearly 12 years. I think if they were particularly prone to failure, we'd already know by now.
The solo sounds better
Thanks for the comparison, great video, keep it up! :)
Also, how about the M-Track AIR 192? Can you tell me something about it?
I opted for the duo and it’s great
perfect, just what i was looking for!
@TheGaragebandGuide very useful review! Do you know if the M-audio works as a pre-amp without being plugged into a laptop? I’d like to use it with my MPC, standalone(with some USB power, of course!)
I wish I couldve seen this video before I bought the um2 been having the same latency problems
I own a Behringer UMC202HD which was really designed for PC but I use it with my iPad Pro and it works and sounds great. I also sometimes use a Behringer Xenyx 802 8-channel mixer in my set-up…again, works and sounds great.
As far as i know umc202HD is much better than this umc 2 unit, they jave their own driver for 202HD while umc2 still using asio4all driver which apparently blew up the worst latency
Want to run an Alesis E-Drum kit into computer, and then run that audio into the mixer and then to PA system; do I need an audio interface right?
And if so, which would provide the best q quality sound through the Pa, without any latency at all?
Do both of these work with windows 11? Is it worth to just buy scarlet 3rd Gen for $100?
I play metal guitar
Is the $139 worth upgrade to focusrite 4th Gen?
can i ask a very dumb question if i get a xlr to 1/4" can i use the guitar input as a 2nd mic input?
Behringer UMC202HD or the m track duo? which is better for duo podcast quality?
Im glad I went with the minifuse 1 instead of either of these interfaces
It’s definitely better quality. Also double the price.
I'm also glad that I went with the apollo twin instead of these interfaces
Hi Patrick, is it posible to cover iRig Pro Quattro VS Arturia MiniFuse 4?
By the way looks completely different with hair 😂 I used to have long hair before as well!
I'll see if I can get my hands on them, would make for an interesting comparison for sure!
Focusrite Scarlett, that's who! 😊
That’s what I use. Works with my Mac and iPad Pro and air with no problems.
It's a great interface for sure!
i m lookinh to buy one for 50$ only for practise i don t care about recording but i don t want to have noticable latency and delay i just want to run it as an amp and that s it
Go for the m audio then.
6:20 6:45
Many thanks
behringer umc22 vs M-track solo?
sir kindly help me how to import audio in m audio solo software mpc beats and record the same karaoke
The UM2 is a direct clone of the MAudio FastTrack
How do i get distortion with mtrack interface
Proving once again that you can...save too much money.
Esi 22xt is what you should buy at this price 0:10
24 bit , stereo inputs and extra switcheable input pairs on back
8:09 9:14
I just want to make cover songs from guitar and vocals it is good for that😟
The latency is a driver issue.
No drivers on Mac.