Audient EVO 4 USB Audio Interface sound card for music production (2 in / 2 out USB audio-interface, 48 Volt phantom power, 2 microphone preamps, etc.), Black

Product Information

The Audient Evo 4 is a simple-looking interface that is easy to use but has greater features and flexibility than you might guess. EVO 16’s 8 EVO Preamps provide 58dB Mic Gain, while its advanced converter technology offers a staggering 121dB dynamic range, providing professional grade audio performance across the board. When all you want is to record your band’s latest jam, lay down a beat or capture the chord sequence you just dreamed up before you forget it, the last thing you need is to get bogged down with preamps and gain levels. It was with this in mind that, in 2020, British pro-audio manufacturer Audient launched their easy-to-use EVO range. The Evo 4 offers 48V phantom power, for those who plan to use condenser mics that require it. And the little “fader” button to the right side of the control panel represents the other neat feature here. It’s a dry/wet signal control, letting you choose how much you hear of the raw signal from your guitar/mic, and how much from the output through your recording software. The market for budget, entry‑level interfaces is mostly made up of newcomers to recording. These customers, on the one hand, benefit from designs that present the easiest possible learning curve; but on the other, they’re also unburdened by preconceptions as to how an audio interface should work. Consequently, Audient have put a lot of work into the usability and ergonomics of the EVO series, and they’ve not been afraid to depart from established convention. The EVO 4 and EVO 8 look nothing like any other audio interface I’ve ever seen, and present a refreshingly minimal and friendly user interface.

EVO 8 USB Audio Interface external sound card for music EVO 8 USB Audio Interface external sound card for music

The software only allows 4 mixes, it would have been nice to allow more if using mono mixes as it does have 8 outputs. EVO 4 is scheduled to ship early in the first quarter of 2020 (location dependent). Delivery details for EVO 8 will follow hot on the heels of EVO 4. You can also use the Audient Evo 4 with more platforms than you might guess. It works on Mac and PC without installing any extra software, and you can plug it into an iPad for use with apps like Garageband. I tried it with an older iPad Air and a USB-C to USB-C cable. No issues.Audient started out as manufacturers of large‑ and medium‑format analogue mixing consoles, drawing on the immense experience of designer Dave Dearden. When they moved into making audio interfaces, one of the key selling points was their ability to apply this analogue design expertise in the new sector. Audient’s ID range thus combines ergonomic desktop form factors with mic preamps and other circuit designs closely related to those used in their flagship ASP consoles. Working alongside EVO 16’s hardware controls, Motion UI provides a centralised, one-knob control system for adjusting all EVO 16’s hardware parameters,” continues Andy. “Simply put, every adjustment is displayed on the screen in real time, letting the user make changes on the fly and take full control of the recording session without ever needing to look at the computer.” The EVO software mixer is clear and simple, but gives access to some surprisingly deep functionality.

EVO launches its most powerful audio interface yet: EVO 16

Also, the fabulous Audient JFET instrument inputs are on this device. The quality of these caught me by surprise on my iD14 when I first plugged a bass into it. Short of a dedicated high quality DI and preamp combination, this input really sounds great. The ID‑series interfaces are competitively priced, but on the pure value‑for‑money front, they are undercut by rival products that use mass‑market, off‑the‑shelf components and circuits. Hence the launch of Audient’s EVO series of interfaces, brought to market more affordably by the use of generic audio circuitry instead of the Audient custom designs employed in the ID series. But price isn’t the only thing differentiating the EVO interfaces from their ID brethren. Tabula Rasa In every Expert review we ask three of our team of contributors to give their first impressions of the product. We ask them to give the product a hit or miss, based on factors such as originality, innovation, usefulness, quality and value for money. For each hit the products gets an Expert Award. One hit and it gets our bronze award, two hits gets silver and for a hit from all three of the panel it gets a coveted gold award. Of course if there’s three misses, there’s no award. Luke Goddard On EVO 16There is also room for expansion with plenty of optical inputs and outputs, making it possible to record anything from just drums to a full band. Ensuring the studio can grow with time, there are both ADAT and SPDIF options to add up to 16 extra channels of mic preamps.

Audient EVO 16 24-in 28-out USB-C Audio Interface

One of the things that differentiates the EVO range from Audient’s more costly ID and ASP products is the use of generic audio circuitry rather than bespoke designs. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can expect inferior performance, and the audio specifications for the EVO 16 are actually rather good. (They’re also commendably clear and comprehensive, especially in regard to things like headphone output level, which is often overlooked.) If you’re thinking of interfacing the EVO 16 with other studio gear, though, be aware that like many other affordable interfaces, it doesn’t quite operate at ‘professional’ levels. The outputs generate a maximum level of +12dBu, while the hottest that can be accommodated at the inputs is +16dBu. A new benchmark in audio interfaces has arrived: EVO. Created by renowned British audio brand Audient, EVO delivers a new level of user experience with one focus: to make recording easy. EVO launches at NAMM 2020 where visitors to the Audient booth #10102 can get their hands on the 2in / 2out audio interface EVO 4 – and find out more about EVO 8 which will be available soon after. The more I dug into what the Audient Evo 4 can do, the wider its appeal became. At this price solid performance with two inputs is enough, but there are extras for streamers and podcasters too. Performance Marketing director, Andy Allen explains Audient’s thinking: “We believe technology shouldn’t get in the way of the creative process; it should enhance it and be accessible to all, no matter what their skill-level or art-form and EVO is here to help make great-sounding recordings as easy and effortless as possible.However, it’s actually a lot less restrictive than some other models you might buy at the price. This is a 2in/2out interface, better than the capable but single-input Focusrite Scarlett Solo. These inputs can be mics, line ins, and there’s a dedicated “instrument” input, for greater flexibility than is offered by the recent Focusrite Vocaster line. And it’s more portable-friendly than the Audient ID4 Mark II. Another solution might be to utilise the EVO 16’s digital I/O. The unit features two pairs of optical connectors that let it handle up to an additional 16 channels of I/O, albeit via suitable preamps and/or converters. Each optical connector can be switched between ADAT or SPDIF formats, and so the actual number of digital ins and outs varies depending on how the interface is configured. Nevertheless, including the analogue I/O, maxing out at 24 channels of I/O at up to 48kHz and 16 channels at up to 96kHz is impressive for any audio interface, let alone one this affordable.