UMC1820 : Wonderful interface, but be cautious of location.

I bought this interface after having to return an M-Audio MTrack 8 for internal PSU issues and channel crackling, so I was slightly cautious, particularly with the price.

The Front panel is filled with all your controls, including two combi jack/XLR sockts for easy input, with the other 6 round the back. Phantom power is in two banks of four, with easy sight if it's on or off. All inputs have pad and line/inst switches, which makes hot signals easier to manage, and the gain knobs control nicely. The monitoring section controls well, and the input/output mix control is exceptionally useful for pre-processing monitoring - great advantage for vocal recordings in high latency systems. Two headphone sockets with individual volume controls make a nice change to some other systems, and are completley independant of the main monitor control. The MIDAS pre amps are gorgoeus, but not sure if they're original MIDAS or MIDAS-style, but that would need more research.

The rack-mount size and wings make it great for a rack, but be careful - the top right hand side of does get a little hot, so it would suite a spaced rack or desktop better.

Great interface though.