New interface suggestions.

Roozter

Roozter

New member
I purchased a Tascam US-122mkII last christmas upon recommendation and an issue others seem to be having with it has fully come to light.

My L/R Line Ins seem to produce an odd crackling noise. After checking every part of my chain Ive isolated it to the interface. I am going to attempt to return it or trade it in for a completely different brand and model.

Does anyone know of a USB 2.0 Interface with about the same specs in terms of its inputs and outputs and somewhere in the same price range (I could go about $50 higher) and with the best sound quality? Im not looking to get more I/O's. I simply need to know what is the quietest (my tascam is noisy!) and what seems to offer the best sound quality.

I use a HP Pavilion dv7 running on Windows 7 64-bit (apparently thats the cause). I use Sonar 8.5 Studio. My mics are a Rode NT1-A/ShureSM57/CAD KBM 412. I also directly plug in my electric guitar and electric bass (which is where I get the crackling issues).

Also, does anyone think its worth it to buy a very high quality USB 2.0 cable??
 
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How much ram do you have? Very possibly adding a stick of 2gb ddr2 ram may speed your processor. A mass market laptop like a dv7 is built to general-consumer use, not the power/processor-intensive use to which we subject our equipment. If it has less than 2.4 to three gigs of ram it may have just enough processing power to keep up with a good recording setup.
Next issue is your sampling rate... again processor-related. If you set your sampling rate to 44.1 Khz at 16 bit depth you may relieve the clicking popping issue. However 44.1/16 is standard CD quality recording/playback levels. This is the lowest setup available for digital recording. It is usually 'good enough' for hobby/demo recording...just something to get your ideas onto hard disk. I have been stuck in this realm for recording my and my ex's music because my I4/2.4 Ghz system couldn't handle anything more without whistles, pop, and static. I would much rather record at 96Khz/24-bit.
Sonar HS 8.5 is 32-bit capable and W7 64 handles it easily. Your interface is capable of recording at 96/24. While you will never make a recording of higher quality than your interface is capable of producing, recording into HS at 32-bit will give you more headroom to work with, in order to mix with.
The last thing I will address, although it really should be the first issue you resolve is instrument shielding. Are you using single-coil pickup instruments? If you plug the line-outs from a keyboard or the audio-out from a cd or portable music player into the same inputs on your interface, do you still get the popping/crackling sounds? If not, then I would definitely look at shielding your guitars' cavities. GuitarNuts.com - Shielding a Strat(tm)
This is actually directed at reducing/eliminating hum on single-coil pickup guitars, but can be effective in eliminating pops and static that are elicited by touching the pole-pieces and exposed metal (including the strings). It's a step that should be part of the manufacturing process, but virtually NO guitar manufacturer does it, as a cost-saving measure on their part.
My ex-wife and I did it on my cheap, cheap Harmony Strat. We used regular aluminum foil and 3M spray-on adhesive to line the cavity. Now I have to have virtually max out every level in my chain to hear any substantial hum or to encounter those annoying pops.
Sorry it took so long for anyone to reply to your post, but I haven't on HR much for a long time (a result of real life intruding on my little world).
Hope I've helped, or at the very least, pointed you in the right direction.
Don't spend more money than you have to to fix your immediate problem. Tascam has made some mighty good quality, affordable home-recording solutions for as long as I can remember. But if you are looking at upgrading, I would seriously look at Zoom's R16 or R32 devices. A little more costly now, but everything I've seen or heard about the R16 tells me that it's worth the $300 - $400 price point. R16 is most likely my next setup. Check it out: Zoom R16 Multi-Track Recorder & Mixer, Computer Interface & CON & R16
BTW, digital interface cables are, for the most part, all the same. They all transfer the same data at the same quality and rate as your lowest-quality piece of hardware--whether it's VGA, HDMI, USB or any other digital data cable--does not matter. Period. Audio cables, on the other hand, are something upon which proper manufacturing and high-quality shielding have a great effect.
 
This is simply an issue with the interface itself. I singled it out in the chain and I turned it to input instead of computer and the crackling still occurs. I tried it with 3 different instruments 2 electric guitars and an electric bass. It isnt the cable as I use a very nice one usually and I also tried it with a lower quality one.

and yes, im considering getting a Monster USB 2.0 audio cable for my interface (whatever that may end up being) and was wondering what that would do for the sound quality.
 
Look, a lot of people sneer at Phonic gear but take a look at their firefly 302 usb for a low cost audio interface with most of what you're looking for.

I have one and from a recording point of view it's crisp clean and efficient.

One or two folks have said they can detect a slight undertone on the headphones (with their own independant control by the way) - but recording wize they're great. Also available at slightly under your budget. Check out the spec on Phonics website - plus there's a demo and review on UTube (the cheap gear guy). Also very portable, compact and robust on the road.
 
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