what is the best Cubase IO ?
I have a decent UAD set up, x16 + X8P , I always stay up to date .
But going over to native M1 chip I am finding none of plug-ins work m1 native ,
Then finding the Spark versions need a physical USB, ILok key … I am done
I don’t think there is any such thing as the best interface for Cubase. There are many good ones, though.
You can look at different aspects of an interface such as
Personally I have eliminated any Steinberg hardware from my wishlist as the “long term support” is not as good as I expect it. Also driver behaviour can be questionable. But that’s only my personal experience and opinion.
I would not touch anything that doesn’t have its dedicated ASIO driver (on PC) but rather relies on ASIO4ALL.
I would never buy anything from Behringer unless I have no budget (and even then…). Again, highly personal opinion but I have been around for almost 30 years.
I use RME and have not been disappointed at all. Of course I cannot know if their ADCs and DACs are up to your standard.
There are many interfaces that I have no personal opinion about as I lack the necessary experience.
Agreed there is no best. I also use RME as they have rock steady drivers, low latency and transparent preamps. With the power of computers these days I would stay away from interfaces with onboard dsp for plugins.
Yeah, I’m thinking the same stairway from on-board processing, even when the UAD did work, if I unplug my laptop and worked away any plug-ins hosted on the rack unit wouldn’t work,
When I asked if there’s a good one for Cubase, I meant maybe cubase could control the PREs, or do more in the mixer to control the IO
Just looked at the RME iOS , looks like there USB , I thought Thunderbolt 3/4 was better quicker ? I’m no expert. I am a Mac user always been led to believe from the TB is the best
Also found this again.USB , but one unit would replace both my UAD , just need some pre Ferrofish A32 Pro MM
Not a specialist either but, from what I have read here and there, it seems that TB is evolving like Firewire, few years ago : to a dead end…
UA Apollo here too and totally with you in being very disappointed at their failure to provide VST3 support for UAD-2 plus insistence on iLok dongle/cloud for UADx.
But they’re still good interfaces and the Console app still works fine, and of course you can still use the plug-ins in Console for tracking. (Also the plug-ins work fine in native AS in other DAWs that don’t require VST3.)
Personally waiting to see what happens in the next couple of months with rumoured new hardware etc. But yeah, if my Apollo failed tomorrow I would probably go (back) to RME for best driver performance and long-term support. USB 2 has way more than enough bandwidth so for a rack interface I wouldn’t see that as an issue.
Yeah I know what you’re saying , I’m also laptop base now fully , even with the plug-ins hosted on the UAD iOS I have to be careful when I work remotely, when UADx happened I thought this would answer my problems and they would automatically be inserted. I was away from the hardware units. Turns out they’re a different plug-in completely, so do not automatically replace DSP versions while you’re working remotely again this seems crazy .
the mixer can be handy , it’s going over to Cubase, I’m wondering would it be simpler to not have any software between the audio interface and Cubase Support just everything went one-to-one .
I do sometimes hear noise coming from my speakers, only to find that, and I would analog synth has been on muted in the UAD mixer, occasionally, I want to go to the interface set up window because I’m using TB4 if I forget restart my Mac I have to switch iOS set ups or identify the units with the UAD software. I’d love that to gone .
this looks amazing , but I can work out how it connect to the Mac - A32pro Converter Multimode
3 sample latency!
If you use anything other than RME then you’re a novice 
Seriously thou , no such thing as best but i’ve been using Rme fireface’s for 15 years now and they still hold their own , so much so bought another couple of ‘Ti’ firewire cards to keep them running . no issues what so ever for 15 years
So would the RME MADIface USB 2.0 , be ASIO native ? If I was going with a MADI io ?
RME or Prism Sound
Thx , as I am new to cubase , did you find RME drivers were better with Cubase ? As I use a laptop and have 2 c Thunderbolt 4 hubs running my screen , SSDs and UAD , I find I have to restart every day to make UAD connect correctly
I also liked the UAD mixer , but now I am in Cubase land , I just want to build my audio routing in cubase without the need to check setups and routing in external IOS like the UAD configure etc
I just can say: I have tried some, and finally came to RME. The drivers… excellent as can be. And the long-time-support, exquisite.
Steinberg has a history of discontinuation of Hardware unfortunately. It remains to be seen whether this has changed. So far all the people I know using Steinberg Interfaces are quite happy with their choice. Me, I am sticking with RME - flawless and clean.
Not wanting to become a sales rep for RME but that is one feature of their mix software that I like:
Full mode is much more powerful though and is well worth mastering, especially if you need loopback functionality.
Does this mode bypass all the Digital and adat inputs ,only allowing analogue in the bandwidth ? Being able to disable these manually is a great feature and gives you quite a bit more processing power for mixing , but ive never seen this mode before
Oh I like that !!!
RME 100%. UAD are attractive, but all the DSP and after sales gimmicks just puts me off them a little bit, it’s like they’re continually wanting you to be sucked into an eco system.
RME aren’t like that, you’re buying a product that is solid and reliable. I much prefer the simplicity of that, and longterm are a great choice.
Take something like the RME Digiface is just brilliant as you could pick it up and use on a laptop with headphones, or attach it to a rack of ins/outs via it’s ADATs on a desktop machine… It’s so scaleable. Not to everyone’s taste but I think it’s a bit of a hidden gem.
I’m seriously thinking about this