USB Audio Interface

Audio Interfaces

Published July 2026

SSL boil down the USB interface to its bare essentials!

Many companies offer both affordable and premium products, but few span the same range as Solid State Logic. At one end of the market, they’ll happily sell you an analogue console costing six figures. And at the other, they make audio interfaces costing less than the monthly electricity usage of that console. The latest, and most affordable yet, is the 1.

2s Become 1

The 2 and 2+ desktop USB interfaces have been mainstays of SSL’s line‑up for more than six years now, and received a thoughtful overhaul back in 2024. The 1 is at heart a cut‑down version of the 2 MkII, housed in a very similar but marginally smaller wedge‑shaped box. Despite the name, the 1 does offer stereo output, with a large volume control that goes to 11, and also has two mono inputs that can be recorded independently. However, whereas the 2 and 2+ both accept mic, line and instrument signals on each input, the 1 adopts a ‘divide and conquer’ approach.

Input 1 has a female XLR rather than a combi socket, and is designed primarily for plugging a microphone in. If you want it to accommodate another source, you’ll need a DI box, or perhaps just a funky cable and an enquiring mind. Input 2, meanwhile, presents only a quarter‑inch jack socket, and loses the phantom power, ‘4K’ and high‑pass filter options. Instead, a single button toggles between instrument and line modes, shifting both the gain range and the impedance to suit different source types. Output signals emerge on a pair of line‑level quarter‑inch jacks, and a single front‑panel headphone socket.

The 1 has a second USB‑C socket that can optionally be used for powering when bus power isn’t an option.

SSL have also further simplified the 2’s already simple direct monitoring arrangements, reducing user control in the 1 to a single Mix button. When active, this feeds both inputs into the monitor path at a predetermined level. Both are centrally panned, and are routed to both the headphones and the main outputs. However, there is one 1 feature not available on the 2 or 2+: a second USB‑C port. In a laptop recording context, it would be bus‑powered as normal, but the ability to use a separate USB supply might prove valuable with phones and tablets.

Like the 2 and 2+, the 1 is designed to be plug and play. There’s no software control panel, and it’s class compliant, so Mac users won’t need to install a driver. SSL have enhanced the loopback functionality of their desktop interfaces since I reviewed the 2 and 2+; both those models and the 1 now appears to your computer as eight‑in, six‑out devices. Outputs 3+4 loop back to inputs 5+6, whilst outputs 5+6 loop to inputs 7+8.

In terms of audio specifications, the design of the 1 closely follows that of the 2 MkII. Consequently, the mic preamp is super‑clean, at least unless you engage 4K Legacy mode, and the headphone amp is pleasingly loud.

What I need is the simple ability to record a mic and/or an electric guitar in a reliable, noise‑free fashion, whilst hearing what I’m doing on cans. If anything, the 1 actually simplifies that process.

The 1 & Only?

SSL’s desktop interfaces have always been convenient problem‑solvers for me. I can’t begin to count the number of last‑minute overdubs, podcasts and impromptu performances my 2+ has captured when I’m out of the studio and all I have to hand is a laptop. When I first heard about the 1 I wondered if it would be a bit too limited to fulfil the same role, but looking back, there’s actually very little I’ve done with my 2+ that would be beyond the scope of the 1. In these situations I rarely need to drive two sets of headphones, record two mics, capture a stereo line out from something, or mess about with the monitor balance. What I need is the simple ability to record a mic and/or a guitar in a reliable, noise‑free fashion, whilst hearing what I’m doing on cans. If anything, the 1 actually simplifies that process, and it’s even more affordable. What’s not to like?