The Steinberg CI 1 is very realistic through powered (M Audio SP8B and SW) a little less full through phones (Sennheiser). There is zero latency when playing (Reason 5) and on playback. It's totally compatible, I would say with any style although I wouldn't know about speed metal. Don't play it. All in all a great sounding interface.

A very useful and easy to use feature is the DAW signal feed and Line in feed. At the halfway mark you hear your DAW signal and the recorded signal in a balanced mix. The High Z switch is great for guitar. The phantom power for Condenser mics is a plus. The inputs are simple and just what's needed, nothing more. I will probably never use the software that came with it, I've been using REAPER ever since it came out, and am still with them on Vs 4.14......it works superbly. I also use Reason 5.0.....that's all I use, plus some Izotope plugs.

It was very easy install this product. Another review I've read said that it doesn't work with Windows XP.....not true, it does. I'm using it on a Toshiba Satellite with AMD Athlon X2 (dual core), with 4Gb RAM. Straight into one USB port, the other port is powering a Korg K49 MIDI controller keyboard. The Steinberg is powered by the USB, so no warts to clutter up the floor. Very little or no learning curve to install or use this device.

This unit is made by Yamaha for Steinberg, and has the usual Yamaha quality. It has quite a heft to it for a small box, so far it's very reliable (only had it a couple of days) there are very few moving parts (just the knobs) so I can't see that being much of a problem.

I think it's the lowest price one available. I could have got the M Audio Fastrack, but didn't seem as sturdy, haven't looked at any others except to investigate the TASCAM, but was warned it's a bit delicate in the hardware end.

The Steinberg website is pretty informative generally. I haven't had any conversations with them as of today.

I need it, I'm using it, hopefully to help me make good music.

I've been playing since 1966. I play guitar, keyboards, bass and drums.

Jazz fusion, world, chill, ambient and experimental.

The box itself works fine. I use it with Windows 7, it doesn't seem to work on XP. The 24 bit recording gives a clear roomy sound for vocals and accoustic instruments. The controls are simple and easy to use. Be careful that you have selected the right channel when recording.

The SW Sequel LE and Wavelab are nice to use but have some serious limitations. Firstly the licensing system is a real pain in the butt. I had lots of problems getting started with it though Steinberg did help out with advice through e-mails. Sequel has only 8 tracks which is a bit limiting and the mp3 encoder only allows a certain number of uses which means you then have to pay (No way!) or do this task on other SW. I now find myself recording a few tracks on this sound card and SW with my laptop, which has the faster processor to cope with it, and then transferring it all back onto my old PC to use with Cubase or Logic which is something of a comprise on what I originally hoped for.

I thought that as I knew Cubase it would be easy but it has taken a while to find out how everything works. Another pain is that you can only import audio tracks from your desktop and not from files elewhere.

Seems quite sturdy and there aren't too many controls to go wrong. The sockets are combined to take both jack and XLR so if it breaks there's no alternative connection.

There are other similarly priced soundcards that will do much the same as this one- M-audio, Alesis..

Steinberg were helpful and replied to my e-mails when I had problems.

semi prof musician

folk, blues, Irish