A few random questions...

[majourXthreat]

I'm new to home recording and I am slowly learning the ins and outs of it all.

That being said, I recently received a preamp that my father found at work, it is somewhat old (2002-04 I would say), however it is brand new in terms of condition, as I opened the sealed box myself.

Anyways I was looking to record some vocals with it, however my current computer doesn't have a soundcard with a 1/4 or RCA input. After some research I found some USB soundcards that would provide a necessary RCA or 1/4 inch jacks and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with them for recording use? I heard some have bad latency problems so I did some more searching and also found the Behringer UCA222 U-Control. Although it is refereed as a 'mixer' it seems more or less just like another usb sound card, however it does boast extremely low latency which is one of my concerns. Do any of you have any experience with these products and if they'd be worth the time and money? If not, suggestions or ideas for alternatives? I would like to keep it moderately cheap, and at the moment my budget would be at most $60 to $70.

I was also curious to know if their is vast difference in terms of quality when using a 1/4 inch or xlr plug for connecting the microphone into the preamp? Also do 1/4 to 1/8 converters and/or 1/8 to 1/4 converters hinder quality?

Hope to hear from y'all soon so I can get to work!

 

[Chili]

Hey, welcome to the site.

Let's see....

I heard some have bad latency problems so I did some more searching and also found the Behringer UCA222 U-Control. Although it is refereed as a 'mixer' it seems more or less just like another usb sound card, however it does boast extremely low latency which is one of my concerns. Do any of you have any experience with these products and if they'd be worth the time and money?

Personally, I would stay away from the Behringer UCA stuff. Those things are 2 channel converters that are meant to plug into the Tape Outs of Behringer mixers. I do not have personal experience with them, but others here have reported problems. I don't think they come with drivers and rely on Windows default drivers. A 2 channel interface will work for most people who are recording just themselves, but the UCA units are a band-aid to provide USB interface capabilties to Behringer mixers.

I would like to keep it moderately cheap, and at the moment my budget would be at most $60 to $70.

There are alternatives and will work for what you want to do. Your budget might be a little low, but some good internet shopping and perusing the Used Equipment classifieds might yield something good. Here's a list of USB interfaces that would work. I suggest from about $80 on up:

http://www.sweetwater.com/c695--USB_Audio_Interfaces/low2high

I was also curious to know if their is vast difference in terms of quality when using a 1/4 inch or xlr plug for connecting the microphone into the preamp?

Yes, there will be a difference, mostly in sound level. However.... XLR connectors are for balanced cables which significantly reduce noise. The 1/4" jack on your mic pre may not support a mic, it could be for instrument or line level. What model preamp is it? Anyways, you want to plug your mic intot he mic pre with an XLR connector and a proper mic cable. Then from the mic pre to the interface, you want to use a 1/4" cable. This will bypass the mic pre on the interface (you don't go from one mic pre to another).

Also do 1/4 to 1/8 converters and/or 1/8 to 1/4 converters hinder quality?

The signal degradation won't come from the adaptor, it will come from the poor A-D conversion of your onboard soundcard. You want to avoid using it if possible. It's meant for games and such, not recording.

have fun,

 

[TetraFish]

+1 What Chili said.

This looks like a good bet. It says demo but it still has a 2 year warranty.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/US100d/

From amazon and it's new and cheaper...
http://www.amazon.com/Tascam-US-100-USB-Audio-Interface/dp/B002QQC1ZI

 

[majourXthreat]

Well thanks guys, this actually helped immensely. At this point I think I might just be patient and save up for a decent audio interface.

The PreAmp is a JoeMeek Pro Channel VC3:
http://www.joemeek.com/pdf/vc3hb.pdf

I don't know how well it'll work but I figure I can try and tweak it to my likings. If not oh well.