Tascam US-1800 - Questions

R

ray.meer

New member
Hey Guys,
I'm looking on purchasing the Tascam US 1800 tomorrow, i just want to find out a few things before i buy it.

I am planning on using Pro Tools, Logic 9 or Adobe Audition with this interface, so just to confirm, it will record all of the 16 inputs, multi track to a new track on the DAW that i'm using correct?

I am going to be using it to record my band and i was recently told that if i want to have 5 monitoring outputs (for each member) , i'll have to buy a headphone amp/splitter, which should be no problem is this correct? Is the monitoring managed by the Recording software (Pro Tools, Logic 9 or Adobe Audition) or is it managed within the interface?

One more thing which is the most important. - When we perform live how can i use this device? can i use it to amplify as well? can i hook up and link a mixer to it so i can record and amplify at the same time? Can i hook up other interfaces to it etc?

Help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks in advance

Regards
Ray
 
You need to read the threads 'sticky-ed' to the top of the Newbies section of this forum. There's a lot of information you need to ingest. Recording is just not 'plugging and playing'.
The only purpose the interface would serve live would be if you want to take the individual (or mixed) tracks from your mixer and send them to your computer for live recording. That's what an interface does, live or in the studio, it's all the same.
 
The us1800 does not work with pro tools. The tascam website has a lot of info about the uses of this interface and Google can get you almost all of the rest of the info you're looking for in about 1/3547th of the time it would take to type it out here.

When you do go looking for info, remember that the 1641 is the same device under the hood.
 
mjbphotos said:
You need to read the threads 'sticky-ed' to the top of the Newbies section of this forum. There's a lot of information you need to ingest. Recording is just not 'plugging and playing'.
Click to expand...

yeah of course i know its not "plugging and playing" i didn't mention that nor did i imply that, and i find it quite disrespectful, you making assumptions on my knowledge. isn't a forum a place where you come to discuss, share ideas and help other?

but anyway cheers for the reply, i'll look around.
 
The US 1800 does work fine with Adobe Audition.

However, make sure you check out the combination of inputs available: it's 8 mic level inputs, 2 instrument/line inputs, 4 line inputs (on the back) and 2 digital inputs to make up the 16.

This could make using "all 16" inputs in conjuction with a mixer pretty awkward. Since the direct outs (or using insert jacks as direct outs) would result in everything at line level--the input gain on the 8 XLR inputs is designed for a slightly lower level than the line inputs so you'd have to be careful about headroom (and have a mix of different cables). Even so, unless you can find a couple of stand alone A to D converters, you'd only have 14 inputs, not 16.

Finally, your computer MIGHT let you add a second interface but approach this with caution. Since the US 1800 isn't set up for external word clock, a second interface would be synced to a different reference and drift would likely be an issue.
 
Hi Bobbsy
Thanks for your reply mate, really appreciate it.
Yeah i wasn't planning on using it live anyway, it will just remain in my studio and be connected directly to my computer.

I'm just going to use it to record my bands demos (live recordings mostly) my band consists of A drummer, 2 guitarists, a bassist and a vocalist. so i was thinking to have the guitars plugged directly into the Instrument line ins (2 on front 1 on back) and the Vox into the XLR ins and the same with the drum mics. And do the vocals last.

Do you think the US-1800 would do the job for me, if i'm just running that on it's own? would i need any other hardware/interfaces to record in multitrack?

Regards
 
It's all down to how many inputs your band needs and how they're split between mics, instruments and line level sources.

However, you'll struggle to find an interface with as much "bang for the buck" as the US 1800. Upping the number of mic inputs will likely cost a fair bit more. It occurs that, since you refer to a mixer, you could use that to add a few more mics to the mix and feed them to the US 1800 at line level if you need to.

To answer your last question, if 8 mics and 6 line/instrument inputs are sufficient, then the US 1800 would do the job with no more hardware (other than mics, cables and stands obviously). The usual caveats about monitoring etc. apply of course.
 
ray.meer said:
yeah of course i know its not "plugging and playing" i didn't mention that nor did i imply that, and i find it quite disrespectful, you making assumptions on my knowledge. isn't a forum a place where you come to discuss, share ideas and help other?

but anyway cheers for the reply, i'll look around.
Click to expand...

Sorry if you mistook my reply for having a disrespectful tone - it's just you asked some pretty basic questions that could be answered by doing a little reading. You better get a lot thicker skin if you plan on hanging around here!
 
Bobbsy said:
It's all down to how many inputs your band needs and how they're split between mics, instruments and line level sources.

To answer your last question, if 8 mics and 6 line/instrument inputs are sufficient, then the US 1800 would do the job with no more hardware (other than mics, cables and stands obviously). The usual caveats about monitoring etc. apply of course.
Click to expand...

I was planning on plugging the 3 guitars (bass,rhythm,lead) directly into the line ins, and using VST to do the amping effects.
They'll then be 3 XLR Mics connected, and around 4 Drum XLR Mics. so the ammount of inputs should't be a problem.

As for the monitoring, i was told on another post that if i want all members to be able to monitor through headphones i'll need to get a headphone Amplifier/splitter? is this correct as there is only 1 headphone on the interface?

Sorry if you mistook my reply for having a disrespectful tone - it's just you asked some pretty basic questions that could be answered by doing a little reading. You better get a lot thicker skin if you plan on hanging around here!
Click to expand...
.

No worries man! :)

Cheers
 
ray.meer said:
As for the monitoring, i was told on another post that if i want all members to be able to monitor through headphones i'll need to get a headphone Amplifier/splitter? is this correct as there is only 1 headphone on the interface?
Click to expand...

Yup. I don't know of any interfaces with more than one headphone output. Typically, the interface headphone out is for the person operating the recording...if more feeds are needed for the musicians in the studio, then you need a headphone splitter/amp.
 
alright perfect. probably looks like i'll go ahead and get it.

Thanks for your help man really appreciate it!

Regards
 
Hey man, I know I'm only a few months late, but I just registered when I saw this, LOL!!! You have 4 "line outs" on the back of the unit plus "monitor L and R". Along with the phone out on the front, you have 7 monitoring outputs. however, you will only have 5 monitor mixes available: Out1; 2; 3; 4; and the phone out and mon L and R will be one mon mix.

I currently have a template set up within my DAW that allows me to run 4 monitor mixes to 4 separate headphones. It's all in the routing within your DAW... It's a bit tricky from DAW to DAW, but my template was tuned and perfected within 2 or 3 days of an hour here and an hour there. ALL instruments run to all mixes and can be raised or lowered individually. I can also add VST's to each mon mix individually for the VOX that hates hearing his/her voice with no reverb (LOL!!!) These are just plain monitor mixes that are only routed to the outputs, they are not included in the recorded tracks or master output...

Also, one trick to using monitors to your advantage:

If a musician/singer is not loud enough or TOO loud (which is normally the case) use their monitors to aid them in getting it right. I only discuss this with other "sound folks" but if a singer is too soft, turn their monitor down so they have to get louder :) IF the guitar is comin in hot, give him a little feedback in his monitor. Of course, if you soundcheck before hand you can avoid most of this. All guitars should be checked while turned to max volume... Unless you got pros.

Sorry for the rant man, I hope it is all going well for you
 
JHREX said:
Hey man, I know I'm only a few months late, but I just registered when I saw this, LOL!!! You have 4 "line outs" on the back of the unit plus "monitor L and R". Along with the phone out on the front, you have 7 monitoring outputs. however, you will only have 5 monitor mixes available: Out1; 2; 3; 4; and the phone out and mon L and R will be one mon mix.

I currently have a template set up within my DAW that allows me to run 4 monitor mixes to 4 separate headphones. It's all in the routing within your DAW... It's a bit tricky from DAW to DAW, but my template was tuned and perfected within 2 or 3 days of an hour here and an hour there. ALL instruments run to all mixes and can be raised or lowered individually. I can also add VST's to each mon mix individually for the VOX that hates hearing his/her voice with no reverb (LOL!!!) These are just plain monitor mixes that are only routed to the outputs, they are not included in the recorded tracks or master output...

Also, one trick to using monitors to your advantage:

If a musician/singer is not loud enough or TOO loud (which is normally the case) use their monitors to aid them in getting it right. I only discuss this with other "sound folks" but if a singer is too soft, turn their monitor down so they have to get louder :) IF the guitar is comin in hot, give him a little feedback in his monitor. Of course, if you soundcheck before hand you can avoid most of this. All guitars should be checked while turned to max volume... Unless you got pros.

Sorry for the rant man, I hope it is all going well for you
Click to expand...

Hi,

I was wondering if you can actually use for both recording and monitoring a live session.

Let's say I want to hook up 10 of the inputs, which will be routed into my DAW using ASIO, then after that I can use the 4 outputs with an individual mix for each of them using a bus so I can get an individual mix for the person doing the mix, another output that goes into a headphone splitter so that the musicians can hear themselves, a custom mix for the singer and another one that goes into the PA?? wouldn't I get noticeable latency for playing live, even if while monitoring I am also recording the session? and using different VSTs for each mix?

Thanks.
 
Depends on how powerful your PC is. I can run a full mix with mine with little latency but My PC is built for recording.

Yes, you could have 4 separate mono outputs from DAW with the 1800.
 
jimmys69 said:
Depends on how powerful your PC is. I can run a full mix with mine with little latency but My PC is built for recording.

Yes, you could have 4 separate mono outputs from DAW with the 1800.
Click to expand...

SO it is possible to use it on a live environment as long as my computers has enough power, right?
 
Yes. I myself rarely find the need for multiple headphone mixes. When it is necessary I use the 'AUX' inputs on my HA4700 headphone amp. Each of the four outputs on the 1800 are only mono, so I just take the main mix into the 4700 and then run an output group channel to the aux of one of the headphone channels if say the guitar player or singer needs more whatever.

So you can theoretically get 4 different stereo mixes with 4 channels of adding whatever in mono to the main output of Cubase or whatever DAW you want to use. Hope that made sense.

When I did record with the 1800 I was basically just looking to capture the drums and scratch tracks for everything else. It can be tough to get editable recordings if you are recording in the same room with drums. There is so much bleed from each mic that you are limited with what you can do to each track. I have two rooms separate from the control room, so that was less of an issue. Drums in one room, guitars in the other, bass direct, and singer in the control room (not planning on keeping that so just for reference). Typically I would have everyone but the drummer in the control room. Even have a full PA system in here so people don't usually have need for separate headphone mix.

Even if your computer wasn't that powerful, audio usually does not take much to just record. It is when you start adding plugins that you will find it's limits.
 
jimmys69 said:
Yes. I myself rarely find the need for multiple headphone mixes. When it is necessary I use the 'AUX' inputs on my HA4700 headphone amp. Each of the four outputs on the 1800 are only mono, so I just take the main mix into the 4700 and then run an output group channel to the aux of one of the headphone channels if say the guitar player or singer needs more whatever.

So you can theoretically get 4 different stereo mixes with 4 channels of adding whatever in mono to the main output of Cubase or whatever DAW you want to use. Hope that made sense.

When I did record with the 1800 I was basically just looking to capture the drums and scratch tracks for everything else. It can be tough to get editable recordings if you are recording in the same room with drums. There is so much bleed from each mic that you are limited with what you can do to each track. I have two rooms separate from the control room, so that was less of an issue. Drums in one room, guitars in the other, bass direct, and singer in the control room (not planning on keeping that so just for reference). Typically I would have everyone but the drummer in the control room. Even have a full PA system in here so people don't usually have need for separate headphone mix.

Even if your computer wasn't that powerful, audio usually does not take much to just record. It is when you start adding plugins that you will find it's limits.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for the answer.


You know, I wasn't planning to do anything very pro and clean with it, I just wanted to be able to record all of the tracks individually but while playing in a live envirnment in a way that I could send a processed signal with few VSTs (mostly reverb/delay/simple FX for vocals or some compression for drums) to the PA and monitors so that everyone could both be listening to the band but also to have the ability to do some minor mixing after the performance so I could upload the live session to Youtube and that kind of stuff. Yes I'm aware it wouldn't be very clean because all of the bleed, even more so being a live setting, but I also know that some audio cleanup could be done. So anyways, thanks you so much, I will be really looking forwardto buying this interfase.
 
Wow, after all these years this thread is still alive a week ago. I just wanted to go ahead and add my input to this. Been using the 1800 for over a year now (maybe 2) for recording my bands live practices. Basically I run all the drum mics into the 8 preamps, ( 6 mics), then 1 for lead vox and one for backup. gtr 1&2 in the 9 and 10 line ins, then bass in the line in 11. Sometimes I like to get the guitars on line 12 and 13 from a direct box so if someone messes up, like hitting the vol pedal instead of the wah on their gear (lol it's happen, kinda funny). You can edit those with VST if needed. Works fine and really gets you a nice recording for reference , Just scratching tracks you dont like. Mic bleed is your only real worry when recording this way, but if EQed right the bleed in is not too bad as it will fit with the other instruments. Just nothing too pro there.

It can be used great live it has a dial to hear whats coming from the computer or just direct. And still get a beefy reference recording to your PC. IMO this is one of the best bang for your buck when it comes to recording multi-tracks in a live session. sure as hell beats the old days of recording practice for reference with a single mic in the room.... tell me none of you have done it, before this digital age ROFL.

If you want a strait one go for all instruments, electronic drum kit to MIDI on there works wonders ( personally use Addictive drums). Then you have 6 free mics and no bleed, but really a e-kit is up to taste and what the drummer likes.

Sorry for the long rant guys just had to add my input to this thread, I love this interface, if this ever busted or got stolen, I'd buy it again.
 
Tascam 1800 definitely works with Pro Tools. I'm trying to keep weight and equipment to a minimum for remote recording, so my question is: Will the Tascam 1800 output a multitrack file to a tablet or some other computer or file capture device that accepts a USB input, saving a file that can later be downloaded into ProTools and split into 6 or 8 mono tracks? Thanks for any help you can provide.
 
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