Audient has a history of making very large mixing desks for high-end recording studios, and about eight years ago the company introduced a line of products aimed at consumers: the iD series. The iD series featured the same preamps as those from the large consoles and put very high-quality preamps in the hands of consumers via some lovely analogue to digital convertors.
Now, eight years later, Audient has released another line of products in the Evo series of interfaces. The line-up currently consists of the Evo 4 and the Evo 8, and it is the smaller of the two that is being reviewed here.
Setting Up
The Evo 4 is a 2-in/2-out interface, but the reason it has 4 in its name is because of a clever little trick that the interface can do (more on that later). The preamps in the Evo are not the same as those featured in the iD series of interfaces – they are new designs that have been created specifically for these models, but they still sound very good.
When you unbox the interface, you are greeted with a very cool looking black unit with a few buttons and a very large rotary control in the middle. There are basic ‘getting started’ instructions and a USB-C to USB-A cable for connecting to computers. My MacBook now only has USB-C connectors, so I had to use a convertor to connect it back to USB-C from USB-A, so a USB-C to C cable would be handy, but I also appreciate that this is a very a?ordable interface and most computers still accept USB-A connectors.
Once connected, I downloaded the Evo drivers and app from the website, and I was all set up. The controls in the software largely double the physical functions on the interface, but they do have a few extra functions should you need them.
Target Audience
The Evo is aimed at users who are not as familiar with gain structures and other controls that one might find on a traditional interface. The Evo is being marketed at podcasters and YouTubers who want something to connect microphones and sound sources to their computers, but are more interested in creating content than worrying about the microphone level (and frankly, I agree with them).
The product has a big, friendly looking green button that sets the gain structure automatically. Simply tell it which of the channels to listen to and start talking, playing, or singing, and the Evo will set the gain appropriately for your sound source. In reality, I actually found that the Evo was a little cautious and set the gain a little lower than I might have done, but this is probably sensible, to avoid unwanted distortion and to protect other equipment. This might be perfect if you are working in a classroom with lots of computers and want students to be able to use microphones independently. Simply plug the mic in and get Evo to set the gain, without them having to ask for support every time.
Once I had my gain set appropriately, I connected up some headphones and began recording. I was using it to record live singing that my wife and I were doing for some YouTube videos. The preamps in the Evo sound good and added a pleasing character to the sound. They don't sound quite as warm and rich as the preamps in the iD series, but are still perfectly useable for the task at hand. The headphone output had plenty of volume for monitoring purposes, but it did take a while to increase the volume while I poked buttons to find the right setting!
Internal Routing
The other little trick that Evo has up its sleeve is the ability to route audio within itself. Now you might, at this stage, be asking why that is useful – but it is. Very useful. The ability to route audio within itself means that a piece of software can record the output from another piece of software from the same computer, without having to be converted to analogue signal in the process or having to link two devices together.
One obvious use for this is the assembly of a podcast that features incidental music. Record two mics via the inputs, trigger the incidental music from an audio player on the computer, and record all the resulting audio into a DAW for further processing and mixing. Further, if a student wants to sample a piece of music to remix it, this is now very easy to do without having to download the track first (although, I should say at this point, streaming music and recording it without the copyright owner's permission is illegal). There are lots of royalty free songs that are available and could be great to remix. Now, simply set the DAW up to capture from the internal routing, record the section that you want and then stop. Easy!
The single rotary controller is used for setting the level of whichever control is selected, whether this is input gain on the individual channels (if you want to change from the automatic level), the main output, or the headphone level. The different functions for this control are selected by buttons on the unit or via their equivalents in the software. My only real complaint about the Evo is that these functions are not that clear, and I found myself having to refer to the manual every time I used it to remind myself what each one did. Some simple text labels in the software would solve this, but if you use it regularly, you'll soon learn them all.
Something Bigger
For those who need something a little bit bigger, the Evo 8 is also available and contains another two microphone preamps and another two outputs. If you want to record a simple drumkit or use external effects, then the extra inputs and outputs should allow this, and if done simply, you could even record an entire band on four inputs (the Beatles managed it for years). The Evo 8 is a little more expensive at £150, but for a 4-in/4-out interface, this is exceptionally cheap.
It is unlikely that you'll need this many inputs and outputs most of the time, but if you are considering investing in some interfaces for your classroom, having a couple of slightly larger models might be a sensible option. Whichever model you buy, the software is compatible with both interfaces, so they can be moved around and swapped between machines.
Summary
The Evo is an excellent audio interface, and at £99 retail, it really is exceptional value for money. There is a lot of competition for the 2-in/2-out audio interface market, so to stand out, a product needs to do something unique. The Evo certainly delivers on that front. With the ability to set gain automatically and route audio internally, the Evo has a lot of features that its rivals do not.
In addition, you are getting an Audient interface with exceptional quality preamps and analogue-to-digital convertors for less than £100. If you are looking for a new, small interface for a portable recording setup or to kit out a computer suite, I really cannot recommend the Evo highly enough.
Evo 4 retails at £99.To find out more, visit audient.com
