Which USB Audio Interface?

Which USB Audio Interface Should I Buy?

  • ESI DuaFire 2 in / 4 out Firewire (Not really USB but close enough)

    Votes: 5 3.2%

  • Line6 TonePort UX1

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Line6 TonePort UX2

    Votes: 3 1.9%

  • Tascam US-122L

    Votes: 11 7.1%

  • Tascam US-144

    Votes: 8 5.2%

  • Tascam US-224

    Votes: 2 1.3%

  • M-Audio Fast Track Pro USB

    Votes: 91 58.7%

  • Edirol UA-25 USB Audio

    Votes: 3 1.9%

  • E-MU 0202 USB 2.0

    Votes: 3 1.9%

  • E-MU 0404 USB 2.0

    Votes: 29 18.7%
  • Total voters
    155
Hands Down. For what your wanting to spend on an Audio Interface..
Emu 1616M PCI Audio Interface
Why?
Onboard DSP Effects, for "latency free" monitoring of your Vocals with EFFECTS.(Reverb,Delay....) without effecting your Computer System RAM, because its all onboard the Emu via DSP chip.

From the website, features worth noting-
24-bit/192kHz converters (the same A/D converters used in Digidesign's ProTools HD 192 I/O interface),

Class-A ultra-low noise mic/line/hi-Z preamps with 48V phantom power and analog soft limiting circuit for clip protection.

They have the Latest ASIO drivers for 64Bit PC's. Vista Compatible.

Too much more to list.

I have the discontinued Emu 1820M. And I would trade it in for a 1616M if I could.
NO, I dont work for Emu my peoples.

Also, big factor. Which recording software were you going to want to use.
And what kind of computer you have, or plan to get in the future.
Are you Mac or PC.
For example:
Protools- Well, you gotta get a ProTools Compatible recording interface.
Or Logic for the MAC
Sonar-Cubase-Audition 3 for PC
There are alot of other of course Im sure you know.
 
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i see the fast m audio track pro is killing in the poll...is it really that good?...

would yall use it to dump tracks from a laptop into a bigger studio?
 
i have a fast track pro ,upgraded from a edirol ur-80 ,i'd say its pretty good the pre's are okay they are a bit noisey and thin and the output is pretty clean aswell,its good for what i paid 149$ ,it depends what you need exactly how many outs/in's? other features etc..


i think im upgrading to a mbox2 though real soon
 
major handz said:
i have a fast track pro ,upgraded from a edirol ur-80 ,i'd say its pretty good the pre's are okay they are a bit noisey and thin and the output is pretty clean aswell,its good for what i paid 149$ ,it depends what you need exactly how many outs/in's? other features etc..


i think im upgrading to a mbox2 though real soon
Click to expand...

i dont really have a need for a lot of outs...2 is enough...midi would be nice...but isnt necessary...i can get a basic midi interface...im more worried about the audio...the outputs are really important...i want them to sound as good as possible....inputs arent necessary because i'm getting a turntable that records as an mp3 so i'll be able to sample...

which mbox are u getting?....i was thinking about the mini or the micro...

obi...which m audio's would you not recommend?
 
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Micro has no ins at all - just a single output for mobile mixing. Not really an interface as much as a mobile mixing "helper".
 
Edirol FA-101 has much better i/o than UA-25 and not too much more expensive. If USB is a must the UA-101 is the USB version of the FA-101 but it tend to be a little pricey (around $500 I think). Yeah the Alesis IO26 is pretty nice. That's what my buddy has been using lately with Garageband. I do not use Macs though and I tried a quick setup on my Vista laptop with the IO26 and had some driver issues (probably user error). Although I think the issue was with the software I was using at the time for recording (Sonar 4 Prod.).. Somebody mentioned the M-Audio Firewire 410. I've used these in the past and while it works well, it has limited inputs and the mixer UI is weak IIRC and they are overpriced. You can also find Tascam FW-1804's for pretty cheap.
 
For my personal projects I bought a M-Audio Fast Track Ultra. I used to interface with a Behringer mixer into a Soundblaster LIVE card but those days are over. The pre-amps sound much better and the vocals on an album I made this past year were tracked entirely on the FTU.

I've also tracked an electric guitar direct-in (the FTU has instrument inputs...not just line-ins and that's a big deal to me for impedance matching) and used guitar amp simulators and the tracks were very clean. Mostly I use the FTU for vocals/voice-over type of projects though and like it a lot.

See my profile for the website...samples are right on the front page under "Matt Pless."
 

Go firewire....but if not check out the Tascam US-122L(loved it) or the E-mu or M-Audio line of products. All worked good for me with no problems.

Nicole

 
Get a M-Audio Fire 410 then save up your money and get a great Pre-Amp. Trust me the money on the pre-amp is worth it.
 
in my honest opinion m-audio sucks due to their drivers i have owned 6 pieces of m-audio
*Audiophile USB - gave me hell always had to turn it off and on
*Axiom 25- never got that thing to work the way i wanted
*Fast track pro usb - i use it for my bedroom studio with my mac book and i acutally havent had any problems with it , but i dont record on it or anything .
*Keystation 61es have to use the power chord and midi chord into my motu , becuase i cant get it to work usb. boooo
*oxygen 8- for my bedroom studio , just got it for free not bad havent had any problems
*Triggerfinger usb- never got that thing the work the way i wanted
* Midisport uno- must say that thing worked like a champ i still use it here and there its a good buy

so all and all i can never get m-audio to work the way i want them to... they work but not the greatest....u get what u pay for
 
I have a M-Audio Fast Track Pro and I'm happy with it, even though I want to upgrade to the Fast Track Ultra 8R for the additional inputs and outputs. The only thing that I don't like about the Fast Track Pro is the Mix control. Having to split the mix between playback and inputs kinda sucks when I'm using Reason and my MPC, but its something that I can deal with.
 
im with sidetrack on this one...personally iv had almost the same hardware as him, an most of mine caused me problems when tryna run them on vista.they worked fine on my old pc system with XP, but the drivers seem to not work very well with vista,especially wen u hav more than one m audio thing plugged in, EG fast track an controler keyboard.

altho everyone else seems to vouch for them, so who knows!?
there also seems to be absolutly thousands of complaints an problems ont he maudio forums about loss of sound an crackling (same as my problems).
 
I never had any luck with MAudio kit , bad drivers and didn't like the sound .
RME Fireface 400 , or Echo Audiofire are good value for money and audio quality .
 
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