UMC204HD Audiophile 2x4, 24-Bit/192 kHz USB Audio/MIDI Interface with Midas Mic Preamplifiers | For Recording Microphones and Instruments

I am writing this review because when I read the negative reviews for this bit of kit, I had a niggle reading them that people had not set up their PC's properly and so the UMC was not performing properly. Now I own it, my niggle seems to be confirmed as it has been nothing but smooth sailing. I'm also writing this for anyone who is looking for a cheap interface that can handle separate channel cueing to headphones for digital djing for under £259+, as that is why I bought this excellent bit of kit. For reference, I am on a windows 10 pc, I7 CPU, 16gb of ram, 4tb of storage and a Nvidea GTX 1060 6gb ram. USB audio interfaces can be a bit pernickety about your pc setup. It varies from interface to interface, and it depends on how complicated the interface is. SO here is what you should do before installing one, this goes for the UMC204HD but it goes for other USB audio interfaces as well. Firstly - Your USB and chipset drivers for your MOBO. Windows 10 SUCKS at these. Windows update is not your friend for this. You need a decent 3rd party driver maintenance software and you NEED to have the best USB and chipset drivers installed. The best of these softwares have a trial mode that allows you to download a driver or 2. So get your USB and your Motherboards chipset up to date. A lot of the bad reviews would not be bad if people knew to do this. If Behringer had tech support, they would tell you to do this. Another thing, it doesn't come with a cable. Don't use that old USB B cable that fits your printer. Get a brand new one like https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B081TW2MFK?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 , again if people had done this, even less bad reviews. The software. If on Windows 10 get BEHRINGER_UMC_Driver-V5.57.0 from their website. Installing. Firstly to prevent any possible conflicts, disable your motherboard or laptop's built-in sound in the bios. If you have had any other audio interface installed before you got this one, unplug it obviously and uninstall its drivers. If you are paranoid like me you will then install like this. 1: plug the UMC in. 2: install its driver software. 3: when installed unplug the UMC then plug it back in. 4: restart your computer. I set playback at 96000 hz as for a lot of interfaces thats kinda a sweet spot. SO. to basically reply to the myriad of bad reviews that made me think buying this interface was a gamble, I have had no pops in the audio. No dropouts of the interface. I have set Fruity loops 2024 and Stanton Deckadance to use the UMC's ASIO driver and have had no problems whatsoever. If the pc goes to sleep it still works when its back awake, dont have to unplug it and plug it back in. just some software needs to be restarted. If you're a digital DJ this unit is the best thing you can find for the price range. It has 4 outputs, so you set 1 and 2 as your main and 3 and 4 as your monitor. Works like a charm. Only quirk I have found is that the front panel volume pot doesn't affect the volume coming to your speakers if you put phonos in channels 1 -2 . no, you need to put them in the main out for the volume pot to have an effect. That means you either need a twin quarter-inch jack lead with the other end being what you need for your sound system, or quarter-inch jack adapters for your phono lead. I saw buying this as a gamble because of all the negative reviews, but I am very pleased with this piece of kit. I hope you will be to.

The 204 differs from the slightly cheaper 202 in that it has MIDI DIN I/O ports and has 2 inserts for connecting to outboard gear. It also can monitor directly in mono in both left and right channels - something the 202 can't do. For this reason I think the 204 is worth the slight additional cost. Both combo TS/XLR inputs have indepently switchable input impedance and phantom power. Nice! The Midas preamps are truly excellent, extremely low noise and the device has plenty of dynamic range. It also has sufficient gain to drive insensitive dynamic microphones like the Shure SM7B without additional in-line amplification. And the unit is built very solidly. The ASIO drivers seem to work reliably and the device has very low latency. In short, it meets or exceeds the features and performance of most competitor interfaces costing significantly more. And what you save on kit can go towards other kit or virtual instruments and good plug-ins instead. No wonder this little box of hi-fidelity audio goodness has been wildly popular for years. You simply can't go wrong with it.

Quick Summary: Positives: + 2 XLR inputs + Extensive hardware controls + Supports mono and stereo output via a hardware switch + Low latency headphone monitoring + Works on Linux + Amps produce a clean signal until just below maximum gain + Good range of outputs + The price + Good build quality Negatives: - Amps are sufficient for dynamic microphones but not impressive in terms of volume. - Powered over USB only - Possible buzzing at maximum gain I am giving this interface 4 stars because it is a good product for its price. However from the perspective of someone using a dynamic microphone, the low amount of gain is a shame. I have not tested this interface with a condenser microphone so I cannot comment on the phantom power. Starting with the good, the interface is of good build quality, it is made from metal and feels sturdy, in terms of the casing and the knobs, I don't feel as though I would accidentally damage it in normal use at all. 2 XLR inputs is always nice to have, and these are both monitored separately. The headphone monitoring is quite good, there is a bit of noise, however the latency is very low, it feels instant to me. Mono and stereo output is supported via a hardware switch, which is nice as other interfaces will often only allow you to change this in software. The amps are good in terms of signal quality, I find that they are very clean right up until you turn them to max gain, where electrical buzzing can be heard. My favourite part about this interface is that it just works on Linux. I have found issues with other interfaces such as the scarlet solo 3rd gen, where linux will not allow you to have a mono signal, so the microphone would only be heard from one channel, ie one ear for headphone users. I have had no such issues with this interface, and I can control everything I need from hardware which is a big plus. Unfortunately this interface is powered over USB which limits the power of it's amplifier. The overall gain for dynamic microphones is quite low, I am not sure what the exact measurements are, but it certainly doesn't feel loud, however it is likely just fine for instruments and singing, for spoken voice it does okay, but it would be nice to have more volume headroom, not that this interface is any worse than other USB interfaces in terms of gain. I do hear some occasional electrical buzzing, but I am not sure if that is the fault of the interface or not. If you are okay with the drawbacks, this is a great interface for the price and I can recommend it.

So first of all this interface straight out of the box is of sturdy construction and comes with the required usb to hook it up. It provides 48v of phantom power to my DI box no problem, and the preamps have a very distinctive texture that in my opinion are second in sound qualiry only to Audient, who are very expensive and give you less inputs and outputs for your money. Both preamps are that weird hybrid kind that accept both jack leads and xlr cables, possibly more but unsure as i only tend to use those two. The pad that you can toggle to set the preamp to line level or instrument level is pretty nifty and could save you from having to use a di box depending on what you're plugging into it. Direct monitoring is pretty cool too you can switch between stereo and mono, very useful when you use headphones, and can also adjust the mix to the point where you can only hear whats going into the interface, or what's coming out of your DAW, and any blend of the two. As well as the headphone jack on the front it can also have i think it's two sets of monitors hooked up to the back which can be switched between on the front of the interface. Only drawback personally is that the LED system to check levels and clipping is ony like, two lights one green one red but that's fairly common amongst interfaces in and beyond this price range. All this coupled with the fact that it'll probably outlast my laptop and has midi ports on the back, makes me say that this is the ideal audio interface for producers/recording engineers, etc, who are starting a home setup, want a lot of options in terms of functionality and dont want to upgrade for a long time. And it's extremely useful for people of all levels as a portable interface. Fantastic piece of hardware for a fantastic price.

I spent ages trying to decide between various different audio interfaces and tried out several before sticking with this Behringer UMV204HD. I tries a couple of M-Audio products, but they had serious issues with Windows 10 for some reason(?) and lacked in the features that I really wanted for use multi-tracking with Reaper and FL Studio. This Behringer audio interface is superb, bit in terms of sound quality and features and has exceeded my expectations. Ignore the brand snobs out there who mock the Behringer brand name - I have several Behringer products and they all performs impeccably and all have outstanding sound quality without breaking the bank. I am using this audio interface with both Windows 10 and Windows 7 and the drivers from Behringer provide zero latency monitoring of both recorded (playback) tracks and recording tracks when used with Reaper and FL Studio. I did loads of research on this interface before buying, and there are several excellent YouTube videos that have tested the noise levels of this interface. They all expressed amazement at the super-low noise levels that come out of this little box, even what the mic gain is cranked up high. If you are thinking of buying an audio interface to use in your home recording setup, you can't go wrong with this product from Behringer. Buy it - you will not regret it (and you might even have a money spare to buy a new microphone or something too) :)

The Focusrite 2i2 costs almost twice as much as the UMC204HD, and yet it has so many more features. This is because Focusrite's actual equivalent of the UMC204HD is the Focusrite 4i4, which costs even more than the 2i2. The most irritation I had with the 2i2 was that it wouldn't play system audio out the back into my speaker monitors. It would only ever play anything through the speakers if I was in a DAW and I set the ASIO device to Focusrite USB. I couldn't use it to play anything else through the speakers, such as YouTube videos, Movies, etc. Additionally, the 2i2 would occasionally make my microphone start crackling and sound robotic. Restarting my PC would not remedy this, the only way to get rid of it would be to uninstall and reinstall the drivers. Their customer support is awful, as they had the audacity to say that a large portion of returns on their 2i2 units had no hardware faults whatsoever, even though all of the complaints were about their godawful drivers. Not only does the UMC204HD actually make my monitors work in all applications, but it has separate volume controls for the headphone jack and the main out where the speakers play. On the 2i2, the microphone/instrument inputs are panned hard left and right, and there is no hardware option to make them both mono inputs, so you have to do it in software such as voicemeeter. On the UMC204HD, there is a button that lets you choose between mono and stereo inputs that saves you all of this hassle. You also get MIDI i/o, so you can plug in a MIDI keyboard or any other MIDI device, and you get a plethora of other outputs on the back. You get so much more with the UMC204HD than the 2i2 for half the price. Buy this. Focusrite is bad.

Had a mental block to audio interfaces. Previously I'd been using an old reel-to-reel for my musical doodles, and merely the language of the new music technology was deterring moving on. But this UMC204HD is a revelation. Superb sound and minimal hassle to set up. Refreshing to the point of Utopian is that the mic inputs will take either an XLR plug (which some microphones have) or quarter inch mono jack. Even getting and installing the drivers was free of the usual quagmire of website illogic and grappling with the tech-speak of You Tube tutorials. This works on both my Windows 10 and Windows 7 PC's, but needs different drivers for each, though this is laid out pretty clearly on the Beyringer.com website where you download from. However, legend has it that you should avoid driver version 4-59-00, which some people have reported buggish. For Win 7 I therefore opted for version 4-38-00. This works fine on Win 7, but only if you've got the Win 7 updates issued since Microsoft support supposedly ceased in Jan 2020 - in fact support hasn't entirely ceased, and Microsoft, notwithstanding their imperialistic profiteering brains, are still issuing 'crucial' updates. For Windows 10 I used driver version 5.12.0, which works fine but for which you have to delve a bit on the Behringer.com site. The other mental block to overcome concerns the need for a DAW - Digital Audio Workstation, which has to be installed on your computer. Often these cost a lot, but there are some good free versions - including Cakewalk which I opted for. The process of getting it is pretty fraught, and involves going through a recalcitrant site called Bandlab Assistant. But it works, and can do all sorts of stuff if you can get past the sheer terror of the Cakewalk work-screen. For instance, you can record a vocal/acoustic guitar track, then put on an electric guitar while the original track is coming through your headphones. Or you can add any number of other instruments. If you want to put the result on CD, you just do file/export/audio and save it as a standard wav file. All this for £80. £170 including the two Marantz MPM1000 microphones I got from Amazon. (As far as I can see, you can't do true stereo without two mics.) Hope this is helpful to anyone else with mental blocks to this stuff.

I had ordered a Scarlet 2i2 and was let down badly by the seller....(Not Amazon) so, on receipt of the refund I looked around for an equivalent interface and I think I found it! I have used both the UMC204HD and the Scarlet 2i2 gen 3 in Cubase and as far as audio quality and latency were concerned, found it difficult to separate them. Some may like the 'Air' switch on the 2i2 but it is only an Eq tweak as far as I can see and can be emulated in Cubase anyway. The Midas pre-amps in the UMC204HD are very clean and noiseless so no complaints there. The addition of a stereo/mono button and mix control on the UMC204HD totally makes sense if you 'direct monitor' using headphones but on my three year old system I can monitor via Cubase with between a 3ms to 6ms round trip latency and no singer or player has noticed any problems to me. It also has more In's and Out's than the 2i2 including Midi Dins and phono outs (A and B). Ultimately it's the price of the two units that separate them and the extras you get with the Scarlet may make it an attractive proposition however the UMC204HD price represents amazing value for money and IMHO you will not get an inferior product to competitors costing maybe twice as much as this robust little unit. I am more than happy with my UMC204HD and haven't come across anything to change my mind.

Super produit! Très bon rapport qualité prix

I should have bought this earlier. I really regret not buying this sooner.

Great

Very good sound is very perfect and clean

Utilizzo l'UMC204HD da circa sei mesi e posso affermare con certezza che il rapporto prestazioni/prezzo di questa interfaccia audio USB 2.0 è difficilmente replicabile nella stessa fascia di mercato. Sul piano della costruzione meccanica, il chassis in alluminio pressofuso garantisce una schermatura efficace contro le interferenze elettromagnetiche, mentre gli encoder Alps assicurano una risposta lineare e ripetibile nel controllo del guadagno. I connettori combo XLR/TRS sono di qualità superiore rispetto alla media della categoria. Il punto di forza tecnico dell'unità sono i preamplificatori MIDAS, mutuati direttamente dalla tradizione delle console broadcast. Offrono un EIN (Equivalent Input Noise) estremamente basso, una risposta in frequenza piatta e un headroom generoso che permette di gestire segnali con dinamiche elevate senza incorrere in clipping prematuro. La conversione AD/DA a 192 kHz/24-bit garantisce un'ampiezza di banda audio ben superiore al range udibile, riducendo al minimo l'aliasing e preservando l'integrità timbrica del segnale in fase di acquisizione. Il monitoraggio diretto a latenza zero via hardware bypass esclude completamente il round-trip attraverso il DSP del DAW, eliminando la latenza percepibile durante il tracking. Abbinato a driver ASIO con buffer settabile fino a 64 sample, consente sessioni di overdub senza compromessi sul feedback in cuffia. L'implementazione driver ASIO/WDM su Windows è stabile e ben ottimizzata: nessun dropout, nessun glitch anche a frequenze di campionamento elevate. La compatibilità class-compliant su macOS consente l'utilizzo plug-and-play senza driver proprietari. In conclusione, l'UMC204HD rappresenta un'interfaccia con specifiche da fascia media a un prezzo entry-level. Per chi lavora in registrazione multicanale, podcasting professionale o produzione musicale domestica.