Audio interface quality question for direct recording guitar

[reapermusic]

Hi everyone,

I was thinking about upgrading my audio interface an (OLD M-Audio mobile pre)
I only record one track at a time and do not mic a cab.
I plug straight in to the M-Audio and use Revalver amp/cab plugins in Reaper.
There is nothing wrong with my audio interface but just wondering if upgrading to a better/newer interface will have any advantages or improvements over the one I presently have. I understand that it would if I was micing a cab but I only record direct and using amp cab sims. Another reason I'm considering an upgrade is simply G.A.S lol

I also record in to a Lenovo desktop, 2nd gen i3 cpu with 8GB ram (I know I'll need to upgrade soon LOL)

I'm still a NEWB so my question might be silly.

[jerome_oneil]

Originally Posted by reapermusic

There is nothing wrong with my audio interface

OK.

but just wondering if upgrading to a better/newer interface will have any advantages or improvements over the one I presently have.

There is nothing wrong with the one you have.

Another reason I'm considering an upgrade is simply G.A.S lol

And that is totally alright. Go get a new interface, man.

[Lorbakounet]

The only thing that would make sense for you currently is to check whether your line input has instrument level impedance (-20db) or not.

[Judders]

If you really want to spend some money, how about getting a DI box with a nice transformer in it?

That should make more of an audible difference than replacing your prosumer interface with another prosumer interface.

[karbomusic]

Originally Posted by Judders

If you really want to spend some money, how about getting a DI box with a nice transformer in it?

That should make more of an audible difference than replacing your prosumer interface with another prosumer interface.

He'll get some insertion loss FWIW. If the interface has a proper instrument in with high enough impedance, there is really nothing he'll gain. A well-designed instrument input is essentially the same as the input of a properly designed stomp box input (that's good). To your point, that doesn't mean that any losses don't sound good, I surely have a box I built where I can adjust impedance because sometimes I don't want an exactly pure copy of the original guitar signal.

[Judders]

Originally Posted by karbomusic

He'll get some insertion loss FWIW. If the interface has a proper instrument in with high enough impedance, there is really nothing he'll gain. A well-designed instrument input is essentially the same as the input of a properly designed stomp box input (that's good). To your point, that doesn't mean that any losses don't sound good, I surely have a box I built where I can adjust impedance because sometimes I don't want an exactly pure copy of the original guitar signal.

Hey, you know far more about the guts of stuff than me, just wondering what your thoughts on the below are:

"Do passive DI's present a different load to a guitar or bass as opposed to active DI's?

Passive direct boxes have had a bad rap for years, mostly due to misunderstandings and holdovers from the early days or touring. In the beginning, the 'transformer of the day' came from broadcast. The 600 ohm standard line level transformer changed the tone and feel of passive instruments like the Fender P-Bass due to loading. What happens is the magnetic pickup in the bass is driving the signal to the bass amp and hundreds of feet of cable to feed the PA system, splitting the signal evenly between the two. When you do this with the wrong transformer, the bass player immediately notices a lack of fidelity and punch. Today, we specify our Eclipse transformers in our direct boxes at 130,000 ohms, a far cry from the 600 ohms that were once used. Therefore the loading is no longer as problematic as it used to be. In fact with the advent of high output active basses, passive direct boxes are often preferred as they are able to handle the output without clipping."

- http://www.radialeng.com/di-questions.php

[karbomusic]

Originally Posted by Judders

Hey, you know far more about the guts of stuff than me, just wondering what your thoughts on the below are:

"Do passive DI's present a different load to a guitar or bass as opposed to active DI's?

Our fellow member ashcat is going to know far more than I but I can offer a couple tidbits. I think 130k is a little low for 2017 but that depends more on what is plugged in so in many ways it is perfectly sufficient. Typically the rule is that the target device's impedance (the DI in this case) should be 10 to 100 times higher than the source impedance (the guitar). Most guitars fall in that 5-10k range IIRC so you can sort of see we are within but close to the 10 times number.

Many modern pedals, at least DIY ones use 1-10 Megaohms to ensure there simply isn't a source impedance high enough to cause any frequency losses. That being said, when I stated insertion loss above I meant loss of dB level not really loss of fidelity.

Another tidbit about transformers, they will pick the crap up out of hum. Thusly to make one that can cover 20-20K and be properly shielded (using MU metal etc.) they can be extremely expensive to manufacture, this is precisely why Jensens (and Radial) cost so much so that isn't a scam, it's just a byproduct of the technology. That's also why Radial DIs have that very thick folded metal enclosure.

All that being said, a true DI is for converting an unbalanced signal to a balanced signal, if that isn't needed then you can achieve the same with any input circuit/buffer that has sufficiently high impedance. Many conflate DI as in plugging a guitar directly in with the conversion to balanced, it's a nitpick but I like calling DIs the ones that actually do the conversion and the ones that don't buffers or similar.