Akai Professional EIE Pro Reviews

It was well past time for me to get a little more serious about recording my music efforts. I'm only a home player these days and my primary instrument is ukulele. I spend immense number of hours playing at home after being burned out from gigging so much in the past.

I did my usual online research in the hunt for a product to suit my needs, which are at most, three condenser mics will be used in my situation. Two instrument mics and one one vocals large diagphram figure 8 mic for a couple of acoustic instruments and vocals.


This unit fell well within the needs and further beyond for my needs. Well built, smooth operation and solidly understandable functions that make sense. This unit does it all then some for small recording purposes.

The Pro Tools Express software that is packaged with the unit is plenty sophisticated to suit even the biggest button freak for options and toys. The software requires some learning curve efforts but isn't that the case in all things music ?

A good looking unit that doesn't try to run off every time you make an adjustment, stays put and means it. I'd recommend this PRo over the other unit simply because of the 24 bit recording capabilities and the Pro had a more updated USB connectivity.


Sweetwater did a fine job in getting the unit to me.

Thanks a million to Sales Engineer Tharon Jones for your expertise and professionalism. Ask for Tharon Jones at Sweetwater and IMHO and experience, you'll get the best of the best .

Price point get 5 STARS
Quality gets 5 STARS
Sweetwater Sales Engineer Tharon Jones get 10 stars

now i saw reviews on different sites before i went on in brought this interface i hav other akai products as well i hav the akai mpc studio and the old mpc 1000 that i had for near 8 years now so i no akai is pretty good with me . but any way the eie pro is good. the only thing notice is that alot of people have mac's and they have driver problems when installing . i will say this if u thinking of getting this go to the akai pro web site in get the latest drivers dont use the disc drivers thats where ur problem will happen. but um with out the drivers it does have plug n play. like i said nice peace of gear very nice rich sound i love the usb hub on the back very handy its a plus in my book. it does come with protools im not a protools user tho but its cool to hav if u wanna try something different. it works with any daw software of choice i use Samplitude Pro X Suite. the eie 16-bit dont come with protools but does the same and it works good on windows 8.0 8.1 also windows 7 as well so with that said grab u one i did and this is my review

the akai enterface does just what it says it will do. I have a small mixer pluged into inputs 3&4 to premix drums. I find alot of times I liked to run my guitar straight thru board and use head phones so my mic dont pick up the guitar.

it does every thing it is suspose to do I run 2 mic's in it and I have a mixer going in 3&4 that gives me alot of versatality.

The quality that comes out of this box through my JBL monitors is crystal clear, and the latency for recording is under 10ms. It's overall pretty awesome.

Honestly, this has been a great purchase; It works really well and I've managed to get signal through it every time I've used it. My only regret is that I didn't get any XLR cables to successfully pass phantom power on this thing (plus I didn't know that you needed XLR to pass Phantom at the time.) Other than my own negligence, I can't see any other problems. I haven't managed to play around with much else, but I hope to do that very soon

Hi guys,

Solid controls, quiet operation, nice sound quality.
We tried it with guitar, overdrive and reverb with Palmer speaker simulator DI and without it, and it sounds well either way, thumbs up for built-in preamps.
WDM drivers seem to work fine (tested with Audacity), no hum nor nasty clicks.

All features are useful, great looks and power supply supports 240V operation too.

Recommended for anyone looking for inexpensive USB recorder!

Does eferything I need it to do as far as recording. have had no Latency problems of any sort. I definetly like the fact that I can control the input and output levels at the touch of a finger to control any clipping. Works great with IK Multimedia software, Sony Sound Forge 10 Pro, Nuendo, and Adobe Audition 1.5.

great sound, no hiss, no hum, hub feature is very convenient, inputs are very clean. it's a bit bigger than i imagined (~ 6"x3"x4") and pretty heavy (all metal) - so it's not quite laptop bag compatible, but it's still portable.

My EIE Pro was a Sweetwater demo unit. The box was a little scruffy, but the unit itself was pristine. I've had it for a year now, and I still love it.
Current drivers are essential. The original drivers were pretty bad, and led to a lot of less than kind reviews. With proper drivers, it shines.
The EIE Pro has a few very cool features that set it apart from other units in its price range.
The integrated USB hub is great if you have multiple MIDI controllers.
And the split phantom power is nice. With most interfaces at this price, phantom power is all or nothing. I can use condenser, dynamic, and ribbon mics at the same time.
SNR and crosstalk are very good.
The EIE is quiet, and has good channel isolation.
It is chunky, but the build is solid, and it has an old school look.
Bottom line, the EIE Pro delivers.
I gave it a 4.5 because nothing gets a 5.

So after many years of using the M-Audio FireWire 410 I decided my I/O needed an upgrade. I figured I wanted 4 ins and at least 2 outs with a headphone out with volume and I definately wanted a better display. I got all that and more with the Akai EIE pro.
I did some research and didn't find hardly anything in terms of negative feedback on the EIE pro. I considered purchasing the EIE rather than the Pro model, but one of the issues I was looking to address in the upgrade was that I was often getting distortion at very low levels (even doing lots of gain structuring) with cardioid microphones and coming out of a console, so I figured the higher sample rate might help that and it definately made a huge difference. There's no distortion anymore unless I intentionally try and make it happen.
The best thing I can say about this unit is it's useful. The 4 inputs are great. Now I can use left and right out of my drum machine or what ever beat generator I may be using and I can play guitar or bass along with it if I desire. The built in USB hub has been great for connecting flash drives, iloks, and anything else I need with out having to use one of the 2 left on my Mac.
The Meter on the front lights up red if there's any clipping going on and can be switched to what ever you want it to display.
My only real complaint is that the meter is lit up with no way to shut off the light other than turning the unit off. So if I leave it on, it can light up my entire desk.
The headphone jack works great, though the level is a bit low if you have background noise like a guitar amp. I just hooked up a headphone ampliphier and had no problems. I've had the same problem with most stuff I use headphones through.
It came with Pro Tools Express and an iLok which were a nice bonus. My PTE key didn't work but Akai was very quick about getting me another.
Overall, this is a great unit that works great and has extra features I didn't know I would use.

Easy set up works awesome it deffinatley the best. Usb hub is awesome

Upgraded my NI audio kontrol to this beast. I love the functionality of it all, the usb hub in the back makes things easy and neat. The inserts allow me to finally dabble with some hardware components. It looks amazing and built like a tank. Oh, and the thing sounds awesome. Not the most portable, but it can be. I had the same noise issues whith playback but a simple change in my windows sound options fixed that in a second flat. (Set it to the highest settings) couldn't be happier with this purchase.

Quality exceptional! Love the zero-latency feature input monitoring. Only wish headphone gain were greater.

i give it 4.5 because i like the features and what its offering, i haven't used the interface to its full capacity so i cannot exactly say its a 5
but i use Akai pro products, mph 25, and 49 monitors rpm3 and i like them and they have great quality and features so i would assume that this will live up to the name

i used this interface with mic, monitor speakers, monitor headphones, audio 1,2 ins... didn't use a guitar... recording vocals is good.... i am using it to record demos, and what work i need done at home studio....
the price was great and the extra usb hub in the back is a great idea since i use lots of midi controllers
i do recommend it... get this 24 bit vs the 16bit

A Pro Audio Interface for a great price.

What a great product at a reasonable price...thanks Sweetwater!! We received it just a few weeks ago and already the band has a four song EP ready for the merch table. Easy to use and a heavy duty piece of gear. Kudos.

I ordered the EIE pro because i wanted a good portable recording interface with more than 2 input and outputs and that was able to record above 44.1. I was a little skeptical because of the price but i wanted to give it a shot anyway.. I tested it with 2 Neumann U-87's on a piano recording at 24 bit 48k and good really impressive results!!! I would definitely recomend this to anyone!!!!! Great buy!

Great, ruggedly built unit. This is an upgrade from a Fast Track Pro, and maybe the only thing missing is the outputs are limited (compared to the FTP - no S/PDIF). Still, the construction and design are spot on....not the least of which is that it's aesthetically pleasing. So, why four stars?

Well, there seems to be a growing noise issue on playback with this unit (there are more than a few complaints on their forums). If you run outboard monitoring to a mixer, or utilize some other playback method, this *shouldn't* affect you too much. Akai's forums are moderated by employees, so I am sure they are addressing the issue, and will probably release a driver to fix it (if, in fact, that's what it is -- and who doesn't make a poor driver from time to time).

I have confidence it will be addressed, although owning/using USB interfaces for a while has definitely dulled my senses, and I seem to expect issues with them. Outside of this issue, which I can work around, I still like the unit a lot.

Does what it says...clean install...works great with sonar x1

I bought this to replace an MBox mini due to needing 96Khz/24-bit capability. The all metal/toggle switch/VU Meter retro design is pleasing in a molded plastic world but it does make it heavy as a portable unit. The drivers installed easily on my Macbook Pro with Lion and I had Pro Tools 10 and iTunes working with it in no time, and the 96Khz sessions I couldn't open before now open just fine. I leave it and the Mac on 24/7 and no stability issues so far

If I have any complaint, its with the VU meters. In the Output setting, they don't even twitch until the master volume is almost at max, a USB/line level setting would be cool. Also, they are very bright and if like me you leave your interface (and USB hub in this case) powered up all the time, can be an issue if your studio setup is in the bedroom. A dim/off switch would be nice. If you do want to turn it off there is a switch on the back, a nice touch its the first interface I've had with one.

This is a great interface for the price. I enjoy using it especially since it has the USB hub in the back. A great tool for smaller editing studios. Would I recommend this for recording? no not really. However, It gets the job done really well when looking to expand your equipment.

This product is decent in the studio. It crackles when you use up the RAM on your machine. If your careful, though, it is worth using. Warning: Don't use it live.

I own this paper weight and love how it keeps all my sheet music from blowing off the table...Seriously, it was noisy , generated all kinds of hum when used with more than one usb device and could not record and play back at 24bit (at 48 and 96Khz) without making noise. It also did not come with routing software for managing the device.
Support from Akai provided no results and tended to focus fault on the user rather then the product.I would say that it was badly designed and untested. This product should be taken off the shelves.

As a previous review stated, this unit is not good for mac users. I had to ship the unit back to Sweetwater at my expense because there was not a working driver for the current Mac OS (10.9). This OS has been out for almost a year so there is really no excuse for AKAI not having a working driver. There are quite a few angry posts on the AKAI website and elsewhere regarding this issue.

Next time I will do more research before making a purchase but I feel that Sweetwater should make this clear in the product description. The description states that it will work with your favorite Mac or PC DAW and that is not accurate. Hopefully other mac users will see this review before buying the product.

I ordered this for Christmas and sent it back because the drivers are not compatible with Mac as a audio aggregate device. I bought this to add to my M-Audio Fast Track c400 and my Zoom B9.1ut bass effects pedal board with USB out. The Zoom and M-Audio work as aggregates but the Akai would not. After researching a bit it seems that the driver are not happy with Mac 10.9 either. I am looking for another device now. Might get the Zoom R24.