Advice on buying an USB audio interface

Which low budget USB audio interface would you buy?

  • Alesis IO2 / IO2 Express

    Votes: 1 6.7%

  • Presonus Audiobox

    Votes: 2 13.3%

  • Lexicon Lambda

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Steinberg UR22

    Votes: 3 20.0%

  • Mackie Onyx Blackjack

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Presonus Audiobox 22VSL

    Votes: 2 13.3%

  • Edirol UA-25 / UA-25EX

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Focusrite Scarlett 2i2

    Votes: 4 26.7%

  • Other (Please detail which in the thread)

    Votes: 3 20.0%
  • Total voters
    15
Pinky said:
I'm sorta in the market for a new interface myself. Not entirely sure if my problems are entirely Tascam 1800 related, but recent fresh windows install hasn't solved the random drop outs (even seeing the USB light toggle on the unit itself, as if it resets). I don't have a spare computer or sound card to troubleshoot, and it's likely I'll just drop $150 on a new interface before $1000 on a new PC. The Tascam can go hours without problems, or dropout/need power cycling 3 or 4 times in an hour session. I need more reliability than that.

So take my input with a grain of salt. The Presonus I had (lower end model) had latency problems, the Tascam has improved latency but still gets bogged down before I think it should. So there's no perfect low end solution from what I've read, yet.
Click to expand...

Still fighting that problem? Could it be you have a bad USB connection? If you're on a desktop, try a PCI USB interface, maybe something like this: Amazon.com: StarTech.com 7 Port PCI USB Card Adapter PCIUSB7: Electronics
 
Never had ab 1800 Pinks (but always on the lookyouty!) but plenty here have them and so I should be surprised if it was the cause of the dropouts. Have you run Dpclat?

But I strongly suggest you get a second computer of some sort. Even something around 1.8G and a ram would run the Tascam well enough to diagnose problems I am sure, so long as you did pure "tracking" no plugs!

I am struggling at the moment with an XP Pro re-install* and if I did not have spare machines to download drivers and get advice I should be stuffed!

*Any Network wizards out there? I am getting desperate!

Dave.
 
Yes and No guys. I'm certain now it's the unit, and I'm finally sending it back to Sweetwater (just hit send on my support email). I'll just resell the refurb/replacement, as I can't spend any more time with so many other options on the market. had I needed all those inputs then I'd be stuck with staying with the US1800, but I don't and only got it because the price was right.

[Same computer with the Presonus exhibited none of these problems fwiw, and like I said all other USB devices work flawlessly, even when this one seems to lose its usb connectivity altoghether. I've literally tried every one of the ports on this computer and it acts buggy on them all.]

I definitely don't need a second PC. I just need a working interface. lol

Sorry for the collateral hijack of another thread, but figure my struggles factor into the discussion. Bad units matter in deciding on a model. Since the model was discontinued Sweetwater pulled the US1800 from their site, and my poor review weeks after I purchased mine along with it. It's hard for people to find out about problems when companies do stuff like that (intentionally or not). I'm a reasonable and highly skilled computer technician and network engineer, sometimes it's just a bad unit. Took me longer than many to return it, probably because I'm a little sick and like the challenge.
 
ecc83 said:
Ah Bobbs! ASIO drivers, do you mean ASIO4ALL or are there actual M-A drivers? (lazy sod! I COULD go and look couldn't I?) .
The instruction for the iO2 say to use the drivers on the CD but I don't have that and Alesis UK are playing hard to get.

If there are ASIO drivers I bet they would work for my interface. If you have a link that would be bOOOtyful!

Dave.
Click to expand...

I mean proper drivers. Have a look HERE.
 
Pinky said:
... I'm finally sending it back to Sweetwater (just hit send on my support email).
Click to expand...

Just a quick update, ended up getting the Scarlett 2i2 and it's been running problem free for two straight days (wouldn't get 2 straight hours most of the time with the Tascam). So I guess that's the good news - the Tascam was definitely a bad unit.

I noticed immediately the Scarlett had much less background noise on playback. The Tascam wasn't recording noise (input recordings were clean), but the playback had some low level buzz/hum most of the time. Now I only hear the occasional, very low level SATA hard drive or USB noise as I would normally expected.
 
Pinky said:
Just a quick update, ended up getting the Scarlett 2i2 and it's been running problem free for two straight days (wouldn't get 2 straight hours most of the time with the Tascam). So I guess that's the good news - the Tascam was definitely a bad unit.

I noticed immediately the Scarlett had much less background noise on playback. The Tascam wasn't recording noise (input recordings were clean), but the playback had some low level buzz/hum most of the time. Now I only hear the occasional, very low level SATA hard drive or USB noise as I would normally expected.
Click to expand...

Have you tried returning the 1800? I don't hear buzz on mine, that might be some indicator that the unit is bad.
 
Thank you for all your replies. Finally I ended buying 4 used interfaces on eBay (average price was around $50). It's hard to loose in that price range. I bought:
- Lexicon Lambda.
- Presonus Audiobox.
- Mackie Onyx Blackjack
- Presonus 22VSL

This is what I found after testing and comparing these units:
- Lexicon Lambda. Nice construction but not too much preamp gain. Also headphones amplifier is weak and lacks of low end, my laptop sounds better on headphones. This is an issue for tracking loud instruments. Also the 1/8" headphones jack is the cheap detail.
- Presonus Audiobox: Like the Lambda, preamplifier has not enough gain if I decide to use dynamic microphones. Also headphones amplifier sounds cheap and worse than my laptop. This unit also has a higher noise floor compared with the other interfaces.
- Mackie Onyx Blackjack: I love this interface despite it weird look, more than enough gain and the headphones output is great. This unit also has a very low noise floor. Easy to operate.
- Presonus Audiobox 22VSL: This is also a winner, it's on pair with the Mackie but it's USB 2.0 and allows to record up to 96KHz.

I'll keep the Mackie and the 22VSL and I'll sell the old Audiobox and Lambda interfaces.

Thank you again for your help, it was really useful.
 
If you can, shell out a little more cash and go with the Presonus Audiobox system. Updates are free with Presonus (within version) and all Presonus equipment is designed to integrate seamlessly together to make expansion easier. Also the included Studio One DAW is quickly becoming the new standard for audio production. I used to run Protools exclusively but after trying S1 I have never gone back and have NO REGRETS. It is really worth looking into further. Cheers
 
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