Preamps also supply Phantom Power which is used to power condenser microphones, and they also manage the signal-noise better to yield a cleaner recording. The Mic inputs are generally on the front and feature a “ preamp“, which is designed to increase the level of the signal to a point where it can be recorded properly and it’s controlled with the Gain knob, which will allow you to set the overall recording level of that input. These would be the Mic or XLR, Line (low impedance, such as synthesizers) and Instrument (high impedance, such as guitars) inputs. The analog inputs on an Audio Interface are the ones that are sent to the PC via USB, Fire-Wire or Thunderbolt as separate tracks.
An Audio Interface connects to your PC via either a USB-, Thunderbolt- or a Fire-Wire cable and converts the audio from any analog device connected to it into digital and vice versa.Īny equipment that does such a thing could be considered an audio interface, such as USB microphones (they have a built-in audio interface), your computer’s sound card, a mixer that features a built-in audio interface, and even some preamps.
