4 Channel USB Interface?

[sjaguar13]

My friends have really sucky computers that aren't worth getting a real good sound card. We were planning on getting a usb interface and just share it, but if we get a 4 channel usb, does it record to 1 track, or would each intrument get its own track?

 

[brzilian]

My friends have really sucky computers that aren't worth getting a real good sound card. We were planning on getting a usb interface and just share it, but if we get a 4 channel usb, does it record to 1 track, or would each intrument get its own track?

Getting a USB interface won't help any if you've got a crappy PC to begin with.

USB sucks for audio and is worse than PCI. Don't expect to record 4 tracks at once succesfully, especially if you are working with 24bit audio.

USB's bandwith is a fraction of PCI's (1.25Mbytes/sec versus 100Mbytes/sec).

This topic has been covered to death here - do a search on USB and you will see why you shouldn't bother.

 

[Chris Shaeffer]

Er...yeah.

Except that I have been using Tascam's US-428 for almost 2 years and it does simultaneous recording of four 24bit/44.1 just fine- on a well tuned system. Fact is, the USB bus CAN handle that level of throughput regardless of how inferior it is to PCI.

Period!

(Sorry. I'm just sick of people slamming USB when it does do what it claims, even if it doesn't claim all that much.)

To answer your question: the 4 inputs are recorded to 4 seperate tracks.

I have to add, though, that unless you NEED usb (i.e. laptop recording or cheap mobile interface) I would spend your cash on a PCI card system. You'll get more bang for you buck that with USB.

There was another 4 track USB unit (Eridol something?) that I saw mentioned somewhere for pretty cheap ($180US?). I don't have any experience with it, but I thought I'd mention it any way. Sounds like you aren't looking to spend your inheritance on an interface.

Take care,
Chris

 

[brzilian]

Er...yeah.

Except that I have been using Tascam's US-428 for almost 2 years and it does simultaneous recording of four 24bit/44.1 just fine- on a well tuned system. Fact is, the USB bus CAN handle that level of throughput regardless of how inferior it is to PCI.

Period!

(Sorry. I'm just sick of people slamming USB when it does do what it claims, even if it doesn't claim all that much.)

To answer your question: the 4 inputs are recorded to 4 seperate tracks.

I have to add, though, that unless you NEED usb (i.e. laptop recording or cheap mobile interface) I would spend your cash on a PCI card system. You'll get more bang for you buck that with USB.

There was another 4 track USB unit (Eridol something?) that I saw mentioned somewhere for pretty cheap ($180US?). I don't have any experience with it, but I thought I'd mention it any way. Sounds like you aren't looking to spend your inheritance on an interface.

Take care,
Chris

Good that if works for you, but how much did you have to pay? I'm guessing it was more than buying something like a Delta 44. That's the point.

Why spend more money for something that IS inferior to its PCI counterpar? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, especially if you're not working on a laptop...

 

[sjaguar13]

I plan on getting a PCI interface, but my friends can't afford one. We were going to go with the USB because it is mobile and we were going to split the cost. Right now, we are using a mixer into a the line in of some sound card that came with a Gateway computer. One of my friends is using a laptop. The other is using the Gateway. The Gateway was better than I though, its a 1.0Ghz. We just don't like recording all of us together without being able to separating the tracks.

 

[subtractor]

I use the us428 too. I paid about $550 2 yrs ago. The cool things about it are the preamps, it's also a dual midi interface, it's also got digital in and out, and it saves you from having to fuck around with the mouse all day.

 

[Chris Shaeffer]

Jag,

Whoa. That 1 gig gateway would probably make a fine recording computer. I'm using a PIII 800mHz and it does the trick. If you'd like to hear the 428 on a laptop:

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=1247&alid=-1

All songs except "Deep Blue Skies" were done with the 428. You can find used 428's on ebay for a little over $300.

But, there are a number inexpensive PCI cards out there. I can't see how a USB interface that lets you record 4 tracks is going to be less expensive than a similar PCI card. If you can forego needing to record on the laptop, you'll get a much better deal on a PCI card to go in that gateway.

What is your budget? There are lots of options out there these days.

Brzillian, I agree, and said the same thing in my post. PCI offers more value, but I was also answering the question of the thread.

Take care,
Chris