Some USB questions

S

sodapopinski

New member
So, I just bought an Alienware 14x. I've been recording for years on my desktop, but this is the first time I've tried to use a laptop. Obviously, the Realtek crap card isn't working very well (interestingly it works pretty good in Ubuntu with Audour 2, but in Windows 7 using Sonar 7 it sucks. Horribly latency, clicking, etc.) I probably should have upgraded to the X-Fi they offer, but at the time I wasn't thinking I would want to use it for recording.

So, I've been considering getting an external sound card, but honestly i don't know anything about them. I've been reading feriously on here to try to educate myself, and i wanted to ask a few questions.

1. is there a difference between a USB interface and a USB sound card? Does the interface just work with the sound card on board? Doest that question even make sense?

2. If I want to run some studio monitors, do these USB cards offer that as an option?

3. Are there any USB cards that can be used for sumultanious multi-track recording, or are you stuck with only 2 in's?

4. Any recomendations that won't break the bank? (My bank has about 200.00 in it--in other words, less than that would be good. :) Under 100 even better.
 
1. The interface will be your soundcard

2. You will connect your monitors to your soundcard and a power source (if they are active) or an amplifier (if they are passive)

3. Well technically 2 inputs are also simultaneous, but yeah there are USB interfaces with upto 8 XLR inputs, if that's what you're asking.

4. Tascam US1800 (I beat you to it, Jimmy;) )
 
Ooops. What I meant by question number 3 is can you record 8 inputs to 8 seperate tracks in your software with USB? At one point I thought I read that that will only work with firewire interfaces, and that USB only allowed 2 track recording.
 
If your USB interface has 8 inputs then yeah absolutely, you'll get 8 seperate tracks on your DAW. You're probably thinking of a mixer, a mixer will give you 2 outs.
 
It seems that USB 1.0 has a two track limit. USB 2.0 can easily do 16 simultaneous inputs. Maybe more, though I am not aware of any such interface.
 
Hey, thanks everyone! this has been very helpful. As far as asking to much for under 200, I don't need 8 channels, but that being said the Tascam comes pretty damn close to my price range.

On a side note, I discovered Asio4all while doing some research, and amazingly it fixed my latency problems in Cakewalk. Still gonna grab the Tascam though.
 
ASIO4ALL was a great tool to use before hardware manufacturers/users got a grip on reality. Any soundcard/interface worthy of recording these days, will not need a 'crutch' driver like that. An internal, crappy ass soundcard, will work a bit better with it. Sound quality will however not improve. A 'real' soundcard/interface will outperform any built in sound card/driver, always. Get the Tascam dood. You will not be disappointed. :)
 
ASIO4ALL was a great tool to use before hardware manufacturers/users got a grip on reality. Any soundcard/interface worthy of recording these days, will not need a 'crutch' driver like that. An internal, crappy ass soundcard, will work a bit better with it. Sound quality will however not improve. A 'real' soundcard/interface will outperform any built in sound card/driver, always. Get the Tascam dood. You will not be disappointed. If you
 
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