UA volt 2 AI as first interface

[Jonathan31]

Anyone used this audio interface. Looking to get my first ai and some have suggested the scarlet and some have suggested the volt.

 

[claudel]

I'm a Volt fanboi since I got my 276

Checks all the boxes for me.

Sounds good, solidly built, knobs have a good feel and are placed in usable spots.

Compressor is useful for me for tracking bass.

"Vintage" button may be useful at some point, but that's personal taste.

Minimal latency. No glitches @ 96K sample rate

Nice software bundle included that I don't use because none of it is for iPad.

Had it for a month or so and no post-honeymoon regrets.

 

[Jonathan31]

I'm a Volt fanboi since I got my 276

Checks all the boxes for me.

Sounds good, solidly built, knobs have a good feel and are placed in usable spots.

Compressor is useful for me for tracking bass.

"Vintage" button may be useful at some point, but that's personal taste.

Minimal latency. No glitches @ 96K sample rate

Nice software bundle included that I don't use because none of it is for iPad.

Had it for a month or so and no post-honeymoon regrets.

Can you turn the compressor off and on? Im looking at the volt 2.

 

[claudel]

Can you turn the compressor off and on? Im looking at the volt 2.

Yes, one of the compressor presets is "Off"

 

[beleca]

Definitely check out Thomann USA's website. They sell interfaces new for the same prices that guitar center and similar vendors sell used. Like a new Volt 2 from Thomann is $168, and a Scarlett 2i2 Gen 3 is $130; I got an "excellent" condition used 2i2 from GC a year or so ago for $130.


As far as "sound quality", all else equal, the differences are going to be negligible if there's any difference at all. Where the Volt wins IMO is that it 1) has a MIDI I/O in case you have a MIDI controller/keyboard you want to use, you won't have to waste a USB input on your computer, 2) the preamp emulations on the Volt sound really cool, at least as good as the Scarlett's "Air" setting, but the UA has 2 of them, and 3) the plugins you get included. Scarletts come with the base versions of 2 DAWs (I think its Bitwig and Ableton, might be something else, but they include the "light" version or whatever of 2 different DAWs), 1 free virtual instrument from Addictive Keys, a Focusrite compressor VST and EQ VST, a Softube delay, Softube reverb, and a 90-day trial subscription to a sample library. Kinda lame, to be honest. I've found some uses for the Softube stuff but the rest is mediocre. Whereas with the Volt you get some of Melodyne's intro level software, some UJAM stuff, Softube's Marshall (which is great), Plugin Alliance's Ampeg, and some other stuff. That software more than makes up for the $38 difference, IMO. I don't know how deep you've gotten into VSTs so far if you're just starting out, but those will be very useful as an intro to the plugin world.


That's not to say a 2i2 is bad. I have the gen 3 and there's a reason its become so ubiquitous; its great quality for the price. But if it only costs $38 extra to get the Volt, I'd say its worth the money.

 

[claudel]

Volt 2 doesn't have the compressor. That's why it's cheaper. Volt x76 are the compressor ones

 

[beleca]

Volt 2 doesn't have the compressor. That's why it's cheaper. Volt x76 are the compressor ones

Yeah, I said it had preamp emulations, not a compressor. According to Sweetwater:

This audio interface includes two custom analog mic/line preamplifiers that sound startingly similar to Universal Audio's classic 610 tube pre. The Volt 2's Vintage Preamp Mode employs expertly designed op-amps and solid-state electronics to deliver tube-like dynamic saturation and clipping, arming you with powerful, intuitive tone shaping for your microphones and line-level signals. Best of all, Vintage Preamp Mode is selectable, which enables you to use the Volt 2 with external preamps and channel strips with zero added coloration.