I've reviewed a dozen audio interfaces this year and five of my top picks have chunky discounts this Black Friday – including a $200 saving on the Universal Audio Apollo

Tthe Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 4th Gen delivers a great balance of features, performance, and software offering. Its low-latency performance is simply phenomenal, and you can get it to go below 5ms on Mac, which is incredibly low considering the price. It’s great on Windows too, with one of the most robust drivers I’ve ever encountered. Add in some cool features like clip safe and auto gain modes alongside significant improvements in AD/DA conversion, and there’s a good reason it sits in the top picks of my guide. With a nice $30 off over at Sweetwater, it’s the ultimate interface for the vast majority of music makers out there.

The Audient iD4 MkII is a fantastic bit of kit, and I actually still use it as my travel interface when I need to mix on the go. It’s compact, easy to use, and delivers top-quality sound as you’d expect from a company that makes consoles for professional studios. I love the dual headphone outputs which allows for quick and easy collaboration, and I picked it out as a great option for beginner mixers who want something easy to use, but with enough room to grow into as they develop their craft. It’s currently got a cool $30 reduction in the Guitar Center sale, so if you’re looking for a great all-rounder they don’t come much better than this.

If you want something a little more ‘pro’, the Universal Audio Apollo Twin X is the step up you’ve been looking for. I use its bigger brother, the X4, as my daily in my home studio, and when I was reviewing the Twin X I really loved the analogue style workflow it encourages you to take on. By harnessing the DSP power within the interface itself, you can offload processing from your computer to the interface itself, allowing you to place plugins on the input path like you would in a proper studio. It’s got a huge $200 discount at Sweetwater right now, so if you’re ready to step up to the big leagues, then this is the interface for you.

For those who primarily record guitars, the IK Multimedia Axe I/O is the ultimate guitar audio interface. It’s got some properly cool guitarist-friendly features, like the ability to switch the input for active or passive pickups, an impedance control for changing the high-end content, a dedicated reamp out for changing those DI tones, and it even has a built-in guitar tuner. It’s got a ginormous $100 off at Sweetwater in the Black Friday sale, so if you want to upgrade the way you record your guitars, this is my favorite interface for guitarists.

I picked out the SSL2+ MKII as a great interface for recording vocals, because SSL preamps are known for being ultra-clean. This is certainly the case with what’s an offer here, but there’s also some additional functionality that I think makes it particularly well-suited for singer-songwriters. The dual headphone outs are great for collaborating with others on tracks, and with dedicated volumes for each, you can set a perfect balance for you and the vocalist you’re working with. The built-in low cut for each track is also super handy, allowing you to get rid of any low-end rumble you might get from your singer moving around whilst they deliver their take. With a nice $50 reduction in the Guitar Center sale, it’s a great time to pick up this interface and upgrade the sound of your recordings for Black Friday.