UR22 MKII

Nice product and idea.

I bought this for my learning disabled son, hoping it would give him great beautiful sounds that would encourage him to learn to play keyboard. With Cubase AI LE (included) this product succeeds beyond expectations in giving great beautiful sounds for at least five MIDI instruments, namely church organ (gorgeous and real pipe organ), piano (absolutely real), oohs and aahs (fabulous), numerous guitars, several drumsets. It then gives passable sounds for many other instruments. In some ways better than a real piano, in my estimation, since it takes up much less space and gives more than one high quality instrument. Note that to boost the sound I hooked the UR22 to a TCC TC-754 preamplifier (about $80 on Amazon) which then fed into the AUX jack of my $300 AV receiver, which plays the sounds created by the UR22 and Cubase over a 7.2 speaker system. With this setup, the organ sounds absolutely thunderous and majestic and real as anything played by E. Power Biggs. Oh, and of course, I hooked the UR22 to a MIDI keyboard, in my case an inexpensive MidiPlus AK490, costing about $65. PS(1) I tried the Ableton 30 day free trial. The church organ sounded less real than the Cubase version. PS(2) The UR22 can be installed on a 32 bit PC, and accept 32 bit music composition apps such as Ableton. But please note that Cubase requires a 64 bit PC, and refuses to install on a 32 bit. PS(3) To connect all the bits and pieces, cables cost around $30, including two 10 foot MIDI cables to hook the keyboard to the UR22, a pair of 25 foot RCA cables to hook the UR22 to my AV receiver, a pair of RCA to 1/4 inch adaptors to convert the UR22 sound output from 1/4 inch plugs to RCA plugs. So all in all it cost under $300 (I already had a 64 bit PC and an AV receiver). And gave me my very own audio recording and editing studio. So if you can play keyboard, you can put your very own songs on the web. PS(4) Of course the UR22 interface also allows you to plug in a mike and an electric guitar, so you can sing along with your composition playing your guitar listening to a MIDI drumset and then afterwards add organs, strings, etc etc. PS(5) As noted, my son is learning disabled. He just uses the keyboard and does not touch the computer at all. The computer is hidden away on a shelf about five feet from the keyboard, so he has no temptation to touch it. I select the instrument, and set it to play without recording. And leave it on all day so he can play anytime he wants. PS(6) In my experience, Cubase is easy to learn if you do the tutorials and allow quite a few hours getting comfortable with it.

Product arrived in excellent condition. Well packaged and brand new, not open box. So thumps up. So now I am entering the world of audio recording. I bought this product ur222mk11 on sale for $118.00 at the time. I was looking at the newer model ur22c which is $189.00 but I am glad I got this one instead. It does 90% what the newer model can do and the other model would be better suited to someone who has the need of those extra features. I will be using mines mainly for podcasting. I won't go into, comparing the both models!! So setup was easy, downloaded drivers on my Windows 10 laptop installed software cubebase from the website, didn't use the CD from the product, because you'll get the latest drivers on the website, connected everything up and it works great. Build quality.... Great solid all metal, this interface has a great weight and feel to it. Not cheap at all. No drivers problem. No software problem.. Just my lack of experience. But its me learning how to use the software , but audacity seems to be a better choice of software for podcasting as a beginner, so I am learning how to do the same tasks in both. Cubebase has a beautiful interface and can do more but audacity is great also and can do the tasks i need with much ease. As with other reviews the headphone amp is lacking some beef to it . It works but could have been a tad better. I am using condenser mics and my pre amps sound good and i am able to get excellent results from my audio interface. I look forward for my recordings it brings a big smile on my face when you have dependable gear. Money well spent. 5 stars

After spending hours researching what audio interfaces were best for under ~$200, I finally decided to pull the trigger on this Steinberg UR22. I have only had the product for about 2 weeks now, but it has been working with no problems and was a breeze to set up. It also feels very solid, as the casing is completely metal. The input ports don't wobble or move. The knobs are nice and don't have any play in them. All of the functions I have used so far work without any problems. I am using an old laptop running Windows 8, and I primarily use it to record synthesizers, drum machines, and piano into my computer (Ableton). All of the reviews on cheap audio interfaces are generally not very good, and usually detail how hard it is to set up. This was the complete opposite for me. I literally took this thing out of the box, downloaded the driver onto my computer, plugged it in, and started recording. Couldn't have taken more than 10 minutes to get going. While this interface might not have all the inputs and features some people want, it is great for my needs and is an excellent value for the price. So far, I am happy with the product and would recommend it to anyone that is looking for a cheaper, beginner, audio interface. I will update this review at a later date.

I was updating my MOTU 828MkII, which was an 8-channel Fire Wire interface that died on me. I didn't need so many inputs so researched these USB units and settled on this guy. The audio was a marked improvement over the MOTU. The preamps are very nice and smooth. The form factor is small (about 6 inch wide) and occupies little desk space. The unit DOES require a USB connection to fire up. I'm able to record directly to my computer with the included Cubase recording software - which is a very nice and powerful version to be bundled with this device. I can also do field recordings directly to my Android phone using cheap apps with excellent results, though I do recommend putting the phone in Flight Mode to reduce conflicts. Yes, the phone will power it, though you can also power the device through other means.

Got this to replace the Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 (2nd gen) due to audio issues that were never resolved after doing literally everything possible with tech support. Had audio issues with the ur22 as well so I returned it. Weird part is I never had audio issues before the 2i4 so I thought either they both have issues (as people report), or my computer is having an expensive scavenger hunt problem. In the end, I decided it was time for a new computer. I built this thing a few years back and it's still super relevant and runs perfectly aside from the audio issues - truly a mystery. So I'm switching to an iMac and thunderbolt interface but anyway... while I had this interface I was very impressed by such clean sound. The D-PRE amps are better than the 2i4 in my opinion. The ur22 is a well-built, solid little user-friendly box. My only issue is the gain isn't very high in this thing. For example, I cranked it to the max and it's only a little over half the 2i4. What gives? I guess some certain computers just don't do well whether it's a USB power issue or motherboard issue or God only knows. Neither Focusrite or Steinberg knows. But I still recommend giving it a shot. Your computer may be compatible. It's just that mine wasn't.

This kit is fantastic. The interface is intuitive and you don't really need a manual to figure it out. There really is 0 latency and it doesn't use that much of your computer. I use it on a Mac with a 3 gig Intel i3 and 8 gigs of ram. No issues whatsoever. The description is very accurate. Cubase is their basic version and you do have the option for upgrading to the full version and get all the crazy number of channels. There is a steep learning curve on it, but it seems like you can do more than you would think. I haven't used it, but there is a video sync ability. I can't think of anything else I would need to get started, you don't need a midi interface, or even an instrument to make music with this setup. I does make things easier though. I plugged in an old keyboard to act as my midi interface and it works fine.

Really happy that I did purchase this interface. Previously I had an old mixer, which was also used as interface for my guitar, and overall was working ok, but with this one, I get better sound quality; control over the amplification on 2 different Input; and the combo plug allow me to use both a regular jack and the mic plug interchangeably. Controls are easy to handle, overall the case is metal and very sturdy; no humming even if the box is close to other electrical items. Works like a champ with Cubase (a LE version is included, but now you can get that for free also from the Steinberg website). I can use both the guitar, using Guitar Rig 5, and my keyboard; and this is really nice, since I have one interface for every single need and fits on the desk perfectly