US-1641 with a Lenovo H214 and Cubase LE5

S

SimonBlvd

New member
So, I decided to blow some money on a home recording setup, and I got the things mentioned in the title of this thread. I should have done a bit more research before launching this whole affair, but 800 bucks later, here we are. Here's what I want to know:


1. Since the US 1641 is an audio interface, does that make up for the fact that the factory soundcard is probably inadequate for recording?

2. I just had to re-load the US 1641's drivers. Did the computer kick out my first attempt at installing the 1641 because of lack of RAM?

3. I have a hideous amount of latency when trying to use the MIDI in Cubase. Is that a function of using USB instead of Firewire? I am using a low latency setting for all of this.

4. Sometimes the 1641 does not give me the nice little "turn-on" sound when I fire it up, and instead I am rewarded with a nasty, tinny screeching and the inability to playback tracks from Cubase. What in hell is going on here?

5. Are there just inherent compatibility issues related to the fact that I am using an older piece of hardware with a newer computer? (Win 7 instead of the XP that the 1641 was initially designed to run with).

I'd hate to think that I wasted 800 bucks on all of this, but I am new to this too, so don't hold back if I have made some terrible error here.
 
1) Yes, It replaces your soundcard. It's probably not a bad idea to disable the onboard card in either the bios or the system settings.
2) Not sure, does the manufacturer recommend more RAM than you have.

All of the other problems could be a number of things. Take a look at this Optimizing Your Computer for Audio - Windows Vista/Windows 7. Also Google "optimizing a windows 7 pc for recording". Maybe look on the manufacturers site for optimization recommendations. Is there a Win 7 driver from the manufacturer? DO you have the right one installed 32bit/64bit?
 
thats a nice setup. its common to have to "tweak" the pc to get it setup just right, which can be many interfaces of this type.

your above the smaller 2/2 type interfaces, which seem to install easily. i been reading, imo, going to 4 or 6 or 8 often requires a bit more fine tuning...

double what the TetraFish said.

your post reminds me of my 1820 EMU setup pain.....but it was all resolved and was rock solid from there on out, even through powerdowns etc.... not a glitch...while my downgraded US122 was running/recording in 5 minutes.


$209 ?
They have the Tascam 800 or 2000 for Windows 7 right? 800 is same price at $200.


Strange on the 2000 they list pc requirements on the 1641 they dont list the pc requirements?

Tascam US-1641
What made you pick the 1641 over the 800 or 2000?
 
Thanks, guys. All of this is a huge leap from anything I've used to record on previously, which was usually my 2-track Kenwood tape deck (until it melted), and a handheld Sony TCM-20DV variable-speed tape recorder.

I got the 1641 for the number of XLR inputs (I'm primarily a drummer, so microphones aplenty here) and for the fact that said inputs are all on the front of the unit. All of this stuff will be in a rack at some point, and the less crawling behind the unit there is, the better. Thus, the 800 did not make the cut for not being rack-ready, and the 2000 was eliminated based on price. I was also looking at PreSonus and M-Audio, which had Firewire versions of the thing for about the same price, but the new computer did not have a Firewire input, and after seeing that USB 2.0 actually runs a tad wider than Firewire 400, I figured I would be OK.

I ended up finding a refurb for about 50 dollars less than the new units, and as a bonus it came with Cubase LE5 instead of LE4. The Tascam driver disk that came with was useless for 64-bit, so I got the latest version for Win 7 from Tascam's site, as well as the latest firmware update. I was also under the impression that I only had 2GB of RAM, but the box actually has 4GB, so I'm not as bad there as I thought.

My cousin is a hip-hop producer and just got a new unit (ProFX12) and is now experiencing the joys of latency due to post sound card monitoring, so we are both on a learning curve here.
 
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