[Solved] Choosing Between Alto 18 Mixer and Focusrite Audio Interface for Home Studio

Good day.
I need your help in choosing components for a small amateur home studio
At the moment it looks like this in my case:
I have an Alto 18 channel mixer with a USB interface, however this mixer produces quite a lot of noise and I put it up for sale. For the money I get, I want to buy something else - an audio interface, for example a Focusrite or other small mixer with a USB interface, but better quality than the Alto, for example Allen & Heath ZED 6 or some small Yamaha.
I would prefer a mixer as it would be useful in my team for small games, however I heard that audio interfaces have better pickups and preamps than mixers of the same price range. Is it true?
Only I will not take the interface to play.
I do not know what will work better in my case - whether the interface or the mixer, and I am asking for a hint here.

My expectations are precise, but probably quite high
Namely:
I will want to connect a key (in stereo), a guitar and a dynamic microphone. But the Phantom power supply would also be useful, as it is possible that I will buy a condenser microphone one day. In addition, I want to buy listening monitors, so far I like the Yamaha HS 5/7/8 series (depending on the budget) and all this to work with the computer, so that the music played from the computer (including computer games - this is very important) was reproduced by these monitors.
And now: I do not know if to achieve this goal I need a sound card in my computer or is it redundant? Right now I have a very old sound card from my first PC, it's Creative Sound Blaster Live. I read that now cards are recommended, eg ESI Juli @, Asus Xonar.
Since I've never used a USB interface, I don't really understand how it works. If, for example, I play music from a computer, will this music be sent with a line signal or via USB? If via USB, will there be any delays, e.g. when playing computer games?

Summarizing:
- I need min. 4 inputs: 2 for key in stereo, 1 for guitar and 1 for mic, but as I plan to buy another synthesizer in the future, so another pair of stereo, i.e. 6 inputs in the future
- monitor outputs and USB interface
- cooperation with listening monitors (impedance, etc.)
- cooperation with a computer on the basis of the same principle as I wrote above
- cooperation with my KOSS UR40 headphones with an impedance of 60 ohms

Budget:
If, in your opinion, the audio interface is more useful to me, I could spend up to PLN 400-500 on it.
For a mixer up to PLN 1000.
I would like to spend no more than PLN 1500 per pair on listening monitors, but it would be nice if it was closer to PLN 1000 per pair.
If you need to buy a PC sound card, I think up to PLN 500 for such a card.

And overall I would like to get the best sound quality possible on this budget from all of this as this noise and distortion from the Alto mixer is so irritating to me and I don't want to hear it anymore
I am counting on your help.

greetings

The mixer is designed to sum the signal, and the interface is used for recording.
Analog mixers up to PLN 2-3,000 will hum. This is normal. Look for a multi-track solution. So that you could record each channel separately. This allows you to really work with the recording.

Daniels111 wrote:

Do I need a sound card in my computer to achieve this goal or is it redundant?

Redundant, not essential. The interface is a sound card for the computer.

Daniels111 wrote:

Since I've never used a USB interface, I don't really understand how it works. If, for example, I play music from a computer, will this music be sent with a line signal or via USB? If via USB, will there be any delays, e.g. when playing computer games?

The USB interface is a sound card for the computer. A digital signal goes through the USB cable, which is decoded into analog in the interface. The delays will always be, but at the same level as with a regular music card. In games you will not feel.

Daniels111 wrote:

If, in your opinion, the audio interface is more useful to me, I could spend up to PLN 400-500 on it.

Little. For this amount you will buy an average quality interface with 2 inputs, e.g. Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, Presonus AudioBox USB 96
Interfaces with 4 and more inputs are rather PLN 1000 up. You can take a look at behringer fca610, it has 6 inputs 10 outputs for around PLN 850. I don't know about these new behringers, I had BCA2000 noise level of -65dBfs. So is the cheap Phonica mixer. Alto class.
It is worth looking around for tablet-controlled digital mixers. Some have the option of multi-track registration. I don't remember now from which company behringer, presonus or soundcraft had this function. But this is an expense of PLN 2,000.

Hello, as for Focusrite, a lot of people recently wrote on another forum about problems with the drivers for this interface, and the support washes their hands, I would also avoid it.
As for ESI, these are old designs as well, although @Juli_a had quite a tolerable latency and was less problematic than Maya.
ESI Maya 44 has a mic input with phantom power again, but only 2 stereo inputs / outputs, I have both of these cards and they work well in a home studio, when working in a DAW, there were no problems there.

If you want to work really comfortably and forget about any problems with the sound, I recommend looking at auction portals because these cards are very expensive, I bought a used one for half the price from the man who liquidated the studio, so I was sure it was a good purchase:

RME HDSP9632 (PCI) and its counterpart RME HDSPe AIO (PCI-E)

Since then, the sound has never crashed to me, no crackling or random problems have happened to me since then.
And I could write a bit about ESI cards, what problems I had there, while working not related to DAW, and there were a lot of them.

When it comes to multi-track recording, we already have a digital mixer in our team. It works well during rehearsals and we also record concerts sometimes. I don't need this functionality at home.
After your comments, I am leaning towards the audio interface. What do you think about the Akai EIE Pro? New PLN 1000, stimulants can be obtained from about PLN 500.

Edition:
Something else. I also mean that when I play the keys, I can hear myself in the monitors, will the audio interface provide me with such a thing without the need for a computer?

Daniels111 wrote:

I also mean that when I play the keys, I can hear myself in the monitors, will the audio interface provide me with such a thing without the need for a computer?

It depends on the specific layout solution. First of all, the interface is usually powered from the USB socket, and no power from the computer = interface is turned off. This Akai just has an external power supply. The second thing is whether the internal routing is digital or analog. Here, you would have to ask the seller, or rather the distributor, whether there will be such a possibility. In the case of an analog circuit, this can work as a normal mixer. If DSP is used without a computer and drivers running, the device will be dead. This is how I have firewire solo in my m-audio.

Thank you.
Now I have even more confusion in my head If I understand correctly, one device is not enough for everything.
Because yes:
1.the sound card itself, which is not enough for me, because I will not have a way to connect a key and a microphone to hear it all in the monitors.
2. The Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 audio interface itself will not work when I want to play and sing without a computer - because it is powered by USB.

Edition:
What do you think about the Allen & Heath ZEDi 6/8/10 mixers? And how do they possibly compare to the Yamaha MG or AG series?

The topic can be closed. Thanks to everyone for the answers.