Audiogram 6 or US-122MKII?

[SuccessPastaTim]

Hey everyone, I'm pretty new to the whole recording with a computer thing, but I've been recording analog for a few years now on a few different cassette based rigs. Now, I have decided to finally get myself some hardware to take advantage of digital recording. Now, I have found two rigs in my spending area, but I can't decide between either one. I found the Yamaha Audiogram 6 first and I was dead set on it, but then I began to think it was too good to be true, so I did a little more searching and I found the Tascam US-122MKII, which, as a user of Tascam Multitrack Recorders, I know they make some good products, so that has really made me indecisive now. I'm not too knowledgeable about what I would want in an interface, but I'm a beginner, so I just want something that will get me recording without any interference and absolutely no latency. Now, if you guys could be so kind, would you mind helping me decided by maybe letting me know which one is truly the better buy? Thank you!

 

[futuredays]

I would cast a much wider net in terms of products. I would definitely add products from M-Audio, Cakewalk, E-mu, etc to your list - whatever your budget can handle. Read the reviews for each product. The world of USB interfaces can be a bit of a gamble and you may have to work at finding the right fit with your computer and recording software. When I was searching for a USB interface I pretty much was committed to the possibility that I might not hit the jackpot right away and that I might have to return a product for something else.

Of the two products you mentioned, I was surprised to read a number of bad reviews for the Tascam. It could just be that people are having trouble with it in Vista and Windows 7. It is an update to an existing product so maybe the kinks are not ironed out yet. I have read good things about Tascam interfaces in the past.

The Yamaha gets better reviews but my own peeve with it is that the sample depth/rate is limited to 16/44.1. A lot of people are recording now in 24/44.1, 24/48, 24/96 etc. Higher sample depth/rate gives you better quality overall although the 16/44.1 offered by the Yamaha is leaps and bounds better than cassette tape. It might seem good enough for you right now but in the future you might want better when working with various effects plugins. (It's a shame because I think Yamaha is a really solid company with excellent products and I would love it if they had a more solid footing in the interface arena.)

I use an M-Audio Fast Track Pro. It was the first interface I tried and it worked. There are a couple of things I don't like about it: 1) the mic preamps are not very strong and 2) the headphone jack output is wimpy depending on which headphones I'm using.

I'm using the FTP with a Toshiba Satellite laptop with Windows 7. I do need to turn off some processes (like Windows update) and make sure no firewall or antivirus is running. I also disable my wireless adapter. By the way, it's not likely you will have "absolutely no latency". But with the right interface and tweaks to your setup you can get it to acceptable levels where latency is not an issue.

Good luck.

 

[Cwadroon]

I've got a brand new tascam 144mkii still in the box, if you're interested. After deciding to record again after eight years, I figured to get some newwer portable gear, I bought two of them, hoping to link them together with vst system link on two laptops, but they dont support digital signal through. For a portable little usb unit though, I have had no problems with it. It also comes with cubase le4, and they work pretty well together. Dont go with the older versions, as they will not work with windows 7.

 

[SuccessPastaTim]

Well, I was getting it as a gift from my mother for Christmas, so I think she would rather get it through a store because she is really weary of buy stuff through the internet. Thank you though. I think I am going to go with the US-122MKII because it's USB 2.0 as opposed to the Audiogram 6 being USB 1.0, which kind of freaks me out and makes me think I will run into a lot of problems. You guys think thats a good idea? A little noise and that sort of thing from it doesn't really bother me too much, I'm mainly gonna be using it to make Lo-fi stuff.

 

[futuredays]

My understanding is that USB 2.0 is most beneficial if you're recording multiple tracks at once (eg. recording a full band). If you're just recording a single source at any given time, USB 1 is fine. But yes, the Audiogram is only 16 bit so the Tascam is better if everything else is equal. Good luck.