Today, Steinberg is announcing the availability of its new USB-C audio interfaces. Designed specifically for Mac, PC, and iOS (iPad Pro), the latest from Steinberg includes three different models raining from home producers to those with significantly more professional requirements. We have already seen some USB-C options from the major brands hit the market and now it’s time to take a closer look at the UR-C Steinberg lineup. Hit the jump for more.
For those unfamiliar, Steinberg is certainly not a newcomer to the digital audio space. Its founders were among the first to fully adopt computer-based music sequencing and created one of the more popular and earliest versions of a MIDI-based DAW environment. Since the mid 80’s, the company has become one of the major players in the production space and continues to shine with its Cubase apps, virtual instruments and now, its new USB-C audio interfaces.
New USB-C Audio Interfaces from Steinberg:
The entire lineup, which consists of the UR22C, UR44C and the professional rack-mountable UR816C, sports USB-C connectivity (USB 3.1 Gen 1 SuperSpeed) and a “rugged” metal casing. You’ll also find 32-bit/192 kHz audio resolution and MIDI jacks across the entire UR-C family of interfaces.
Home producers and musicians will want to take a closer look at the UR22C USB-C audio interface. It features a pair of Class-A D-PRE mic preamps with +48 V phantom power for your condenser mics. That’s on top of two analog combo inputs (XLR/TRS) — one of which offers a Hi-Z switch for electric guitar recording — and two TRS main outputs.
This model also supports latency-free DSP-powered monitoring with REV-X reverb, Channel Strip and Guitar Amp Classics (VST 3 and AU plug-in versions are included here). That means you can load up FX units directly from the interface on to your recordings while making use of its processing power — a feature you don’t often find on boxes in this price range. Speaking of which, the new UR22C USB-C audio interface carries a $239 MSRP and should be available today via Steinberg and authorized resellers although it doesn’t appear to be available for purchase just yet.
The UR44C USB-C Interface:
The new UR44C USB-C audio interface ups the ante with four analog combo inputs, 2 line inputs, 4 TRS outputs, and your standard main output. That’s on top of a dual headphone connection along the front of the box for easy monitoring while recording. All-in-all, this is essentially the same as the UR22C with significantly more ins and outs for larger studio setups and multi-tracking, which makes the $349 MSRP quite understandable.
Electronicsforward’ Take:
It’s not easy to stand out in the audio interface world. There’s just something inherently useful about these boxes that forces companies to focus on digital audio conversions and the quality with which it can do it. So the DSP processing is a nice touch here on Steinberg’s part. Usually, only boxes like the new UR816C, which happens to have 16+ inputs and an $800 price tag, tend to carry features like this. While Steinberg’s boxes might not be the first place hardcore professionals look when it comes to $1,000+ converters, it has undoubtedly created a compelling option for home producers in the market for a new USB-C interface.
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