The US-224 is a simplified version of the US-428, even more affordable and portable, but with some hardware limitations:

- 2 analog inputs (instead of 4);

- only 4 channel faders (instead of 8);

- only 1 set of MIDI ports (instead of 2);

- no Aux Select buttons, Channel Stripe controls and User Soft Keys.

The audio quality is the same featured by the US-428 (24-bit A/D and D/A converters), as well as the bundled sofware (Steinberg Cubasis for PC and Mac platforms).

The US-224 also has the ability to run in a special US-428 emulation mode, that ensures the compatibility with software already supporting the US-428.