Volt 2
Customer Reviews
Volt 2
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D. Holmes
Volt 2 acquired March 2023
Only been given minimal use since purchase, first impression was well constructed built like the preverbal brick ****house, feels solid when picked up and the various controls all rotate smoothly, push button switches latch on/off smoothly also. All in all seems good, now to the negative comments. Software may be a good deal but has such complicated installation procedures and are all separate entities there-by making this a troublesome task, myself ! I have given up and will not use them, you would have thought that Universal Audio should have heard of, and adopted, Plug and Play technology that is out there. Not using Ambleton Live 11 Lite although have got it installed on computer, I favour Audacity being a free to use software and a less crammed workstation. Nett result , is Volt 2 worth it's price tag, in my opinion No it is Not value for money as Software let it down !!!
C. Bright
Customer support? What a joke
My interface was great for the first three months. Then it took a dump, rendered my Ableton DAW unable to function or recognize the interface, as well not one of my standalone's wanted to work with it either. So, being within the warranty period, I called on UNIVERSAL AUDIO FOR HELP. HAHAHAHA I did all they asked me to do until this one tech asked me to run some diagnostics which caused my computer to crash, and hard. I had to call Microsoft, who helped me put back the pieces of my tower, in order to try and retrieve all the data I have been collecting for home recording. I explained this situation to Dan, a tech Supervisor, who said either you work with us and try and troubleshoot the device or youre on your own. Really? Why would I want to take that chance again? Right because I'm crazy, maybe the outcome will be different this time and the whole thing would be destroyed. UA cant send for the device and fix it at their shop? He then starts throwing those deeply hidden suggestions that a customer may go looking for, but how are we to know that these anomalies exist? I should be wary of usb ports made by AMD, dont use this, that, or any simple element designed to do a basic function because Volt 2 won't play well with them. Are you kidding? I know that there are a few different types of usb ports, but this device I have, because they wont honor the warranty its still on my desk making sure the furniture behaves, which worked so well and was so easy to use got its ass kicked by a usb port! Anyone can make an account and look for themselves what componenets are compatible with the volt line., he divulged in a patronizing email. Yeah, Dan, any day of the week that ends in "Y". Who, tell me buddy, is gonna think of that? There is no warning on the box, there is no warning on the setup videos, or on any of the limited paperwork the consumer is going to have readily available. Plus, I imagine its in the minds of the UA techs that the rest of the world knows exactly how these work, every nuance, every screw and soldering. No dude, many of us went to school to learn to play music, became involved in entertainment, or even had children that would one day invest in your product so that you can enjoy the position you are so proud of now. I just read your disclaimer about the lack of interest your corp. has about reality, how anything but praise will be deleted. That's ok, I know what I know, and cut and paste is a wonderful tool.
G. Justen
simple handling and sounds good for a good price
A good interface, good sounding, not complicated in handling with the vintage mode, which gives your sound a nice touch of overtones. And it looks nice and modern and solid.
V. Bunch
Volt 2
This interface has worked flawlessly for me so far. I've had no issues at all. I''m using Cakewalk by BandlLabs with "0" latency. I use a Yamaha EW300 keyboard, a Rickenbacker bass. Epiphone 500 MCE acoustic guitar, a Lanikai ukulele and a MXL900 microphone; all with no problems whatsoever. My computer is a desktop HP with a AMD Ryzen 3 5300G with 8 GB of ram. I am also using emVoice with this software and hardware. I have no complaints.
K. Stanley
Awful
I couldn’t get this to work properly and had to return it. Choppy audio, dropouts, does not play well with other interfaces and seems to only want to use its own asio drivers. Kept crashing my DAW and would not load. Awful.
k. dorsey
kez dorsey
great audio interface sound clean sound
R. Griffin
Definitely better than my Behringer...
Still getting used to it, and it took a minute to get it to talk to my DAW (Reaper) ONLY because I had it plugged into a multi-in USB instead of directly. Once, I went direct into my comp, I could go into my multi-in USB hub. I haven't done much with it yet, but it seems solid and i am getting the hang of it. -=80)
A. Marangoni
excellent price quality
Excellent product quality price, the best in its category. The inside vintage compressor is powerfull, great sound quality and sturdy case.
G. Thomas
This thing sounds great! (with a few complaints)
I needed a stereo interface and didn't have much money. I was just about to go for the Scarlet 2i2 until I discovered the Volt 2. I listened to a lot of comparisons between the two and the Volt was the clear winner. It's about $20 more, but well worth it!
I use it for tape and vinyl record transfers, and as a better playback DAC. The Volt 2 sounds great, and essentially flat to about 18,000 kHz. It's dead silent and has a very low noise floor and great decibel range. What else can I say except that everything sounds correct! Absolutely perfect for my needs. There's the Apollo class converters, but, why this little powerhouse isn't billed as professional is beyond me. It sounds like it. It has a wonderful analog sound.
My only problems with it is that the line out monitor gain is quite low, and, though I installed the AISO drivers, I can't seem to use them in my Windows 10 computer with any of my software or playback apps. And, I can't get it to record at anything higher than 44.1 no matter how many system settings I change. I can playback with anything, but the only program I can get to record with it is Sound Forge. It's a hassle to record everything in SF and import to iZotope RX, my preferred DAW. Also, the meters are useless.
I don't need the bundled software, and their implementation of the iLock system is aggravating. I don't really need the vintage modes, as I haven't found any use for it yet.
I have seen complaints about RF noise from a couple of people, but my unit is dead silent and tests as advertised on my gear.
But, the bottom line is that it sounds great and was money well-spent.
S. Vandekerckhove
Almost perfect, but some comments out of love
I'm an absolute novice, so the target audience for this device. It does look good, you can plug in instruments and use it for output. The vintage and instrument button change the guitar sound, which is nice. The small LED meters work just fine.
Still two things bother me and should be reconsidered:
1. The software is terrible: Ableton crashes often on a MBA M1, and there are too many VSTs included with a cumbersome installation process and taking up all your disk space - plus the user experience with those virtual knobs is terrible. I was simply looking for good piano samples, but no luck! Complicated synths and funky bass yes, but if you want clean sounds, it's not included or maybe I just don't find it between the junk.
2. I bought the Studio Pack at a discount, which was really good value. The mic and headphones included are perfect to get started. However: there is no information about their specs anywhere. Considering the resemblance to the 80 USD Mackie EM91C microphone and 30 USD MC100 heaphones, you basically pay the full price for unspecified extras you could have bought separately, and that should just have been spelled out.
If you have such a neat device, why trouble the experience by overdosing plugins, bad software and adding unbranded extras? A bit more Apple-logic, keeping it simple and clean, so that it "just works", would make the Volt 2 perfect.
A. Resuli
Not impressed- please read for details
First I want to say the UA name holds a lot of weight. Their Apollo line is the industry standard for a reason. And so for a lower entry interface, you would think the quality would stay consistent.
Let me break down the 3 things that just aren’t good.
1. Noise floor and meters. The noise floor at this price point is quite loud compared to lesser values models in the market. You can hear it, especially when you haven’t dialled in your meters right. The meters suck. The little led light is not enough to see your levels and combine the monitor colouring, it’s not great.
2. Price. It makes no sense. Again, the name- the hardware doesn’t stack well. You don’t get a hardware dsp in this model and the elusive specs don’t highlight this very well. Running UAD plugins will not work with this.
3. The software. The included software bundles you get are nice- but UA connect and its existence is total bloatware and annoying. It opens everytime you open your daw and use an included plugin (promo ones) but it’s not validating anything. With the internet off, it just auto opens and doesn’t give errors. Deleting it has no effect on the plugins. Again I’ll go back to the lack of a dsp, because the spec sheet doesn’t do a good job at saying, “hey, this is a UA interface, but you still can’t use UAD plugins with it”. To an outsider, super confusing.
Overall 2/5
If you see this review , that’s atleast a good sign they’re not suppressing negative ones and that’s a plus.
P. Wehby
A great start
Keeping it simple works well, this box is pretty easy to understand even if your not a pro, and seems to just plug and play on a mac, without much fuss. Yes the headphone is a tad loud, but it's also ten times clearer than the audio out from a mac, which I never knew.
G. Rogers
Fine
It's a fine little interface but I'm not wowed by it. The vintage mode is really poor and I can't ever imagine making use of it. Drivers really do not work smoothly on a Windows laptop.
A. Urazgulov
Will be waiting for a rev2
A nice attempt to enter the low-budget market. I love the meters, design, and metal finish, overall it doesn't look or feel cheap, and the software selection it comes with is just perfect. A complete beginner can start making music having only this and a laptop. It would be a perfect entry-level product that gives access to professional sound.
I have two significant issues with it that for some may ruin the whole experience:
The amount of RF noise it picks up is insane. I can't believe this product has made it through tests, and UA sells it. The worst thing is that the noise is present in the outputs and gets recorded. Take your cellular phone far away from it.
The headphone output is too loud, and its knob is too sensitive. When the DAW output is around -6 dBfs, I usually turn the output down to a comfortable volume. In this device the right ear signal cuts off, and you have to change the volume digitally in the DAW to avoid that.
M. Nicholson
Analog Warmth
Love the preamp on this thing. It really brings some color and some warmth to my instrument and vocal parts. It has def upgraded my game with better quality sound. Love it so far.
J. FN
Genius little interface for iPad!
Bought this to use with my iPad Air M1, and it's a perfect match - Small enough to just plug in wherever whenever, and with both features and sound quality enough to make great recordings!
B. Guilford
Who knows? Still trying to get it to work with Windows 11
Maybe someday, with enough hours, with more patience. Maybe I need a PhD in computer science, not just the masters I have. I think I'll try my wife's Mac.
K. Baugerud
Great stuff!
This is my first time using an audio interface, and i would consider myself a novice within the field of digital audio. The Volt was super easy to setup, and my guitar sounds awesome both through headphones and monitors!
s. kessels
Sounds GREAT!!
For a portable interface I chose the Volt 2 and I was very happy with the promotional plugins (plate reverb and LA-2A set)! I've used a Solo 610 mic pre/D.I. and I get what they're going for...works nicely but I ain't sellin' the real tube preamp. Great tonal option though (more sparkle and grit for acoustic guitar and D.I. bass). But for my vocals the 'vintage' adds to much emphasis on certain consonants. So for final vocal tracking I'll reach for the actual 610 pre. But I'm quite pleased with the sound of this compact unit! Sounds i.m.h.o. more solid and inspiring than the UR-RT2 (which does have some nice DSP features that are quite useful in my home recording setup) this unit adds two great preamps to that interface ;-) hopefully future drivers and firmware can improve the latency performance
L. Sonary
Don't you dare underestimate it!
Really Don't Cause it's up for your challenge.