Steinberg UR22C Green

This is my first interface purchase for personal home use. As I usually only need 2 inputs (guitar, XLR mic) the UR22C is just about perfect. It hooks up to my laptop/DAW over a single USB-C cable that handles power and performant (~12-15ms) low-latency data. No fiddling around with masses of cables.

Works very comfortably with Logic Pro, and of course being a Steinberg product it comes with a bunch of licenses for Cubase AI and various content packs. Of course this also means dealing with Steinberg’s multiple, non-interoperable and slightly confusing licensing systems, one of which is closing down soon.

Audio quality is top-notch thanks to a very clean pre-amp. If you’re plugging in a guitar with standard 500k pots use the high impedance input switch available on channel 2. No Hi-z means line-in only on channel 1, but that still suits my needs fine. One thing that is missing is level gauges - there’s a clipping indicator for each channel but that’s about it - fair enough considering how little room is left on the face plates.

The live monitoring is great and frankly feels like some sort of black magic. Make changes in the DAW, play live through your monitor/headset with no USB return latency and directly compare your dry/wet sound with the input/daw mix knob. Great for practicing chunkier sounds without deafening everyone in the house.

Add to that excellent quality low-noise line outputs, switchable 48V phantom power(!), the ability to directly interface with tablet-based DAWs/live performance apps on the go, low enough power consumption to run off a modest battery, and the hugely understated added flexiblity of a full midi interface on top of an already great ADC and you have a flexible, performant package that will meet and exceed the needs of anyone playing around at home. Pros will want more channels and maybe not want so much crammed into one package but for the enthusiast that wants something better than a crappy amp and line in to your PC this thing packs a lot in for a modest price.

I’ve been the owner of the first-generation UR22 for years and always loved it. The combination of the UR22 with Cubase worked flawlessly from day one.

Now, after moving much of my workflow onto the iPad, I decided it was time to upgrade my interface. Since the old UR22 never let me down, the decision to go with the newer UR22C was a natural step. I briefly looked at other products, but in the end I’m very glad I stayed with Steinberg.

And honestly—thank God I did! It was true plug and play. Cubasis recognised the UR22C immediately. No drivers, no discs, no complicated setup—just plug it in and start making music.

I mainly use it with my iPad in combination with Cubasis, GarageBand, and Peter Vogel’s Fairlight app. I haven’t tried it with Logic yet, but everything else worked perfectly right out of the box.

The sound quality is excellent. Of course, it can’t be compared with interfaces that cost ten times more, but for around €170 it’s absolutely amazing.

The build quality is solid: a full metal housing, no wobbly knobs, everything feels reliable. I also really appreciate the separate power input, which accepts any standard 5V phone charger—super handy when using it with an iPad.

If you’re an iPad user like me, I can absolutely recommend this device without hesitation.