Behringer UCA222

[darkmutton]

I was just wondering if anyone has had any good results from one of these and if so are there any tips/pitfalls. I'm new to home recording but not to managing PA systems. My intentions are to ultimately set up a half decent home studio to initially record one vocal and one guitar but like many it will take time to acquire the correct bits and then I'll want to add the rest of the band to the recordings. If I use a UCA222 I can very quickly rig up my spare equipment such as either my spare yamaha MG mixer or my main Allen and Heath mixer to my laptop running Audacity and record on 2 channels. Mics I can use either an EV767 or an SM58 with an SM57 on the guitar.
Searching the site i've only found reference to getting the levels right which i can watch overall on audacity or individually on the mixers so dont think thats going to be much of a problem, if the vocals do peak a bit high I can compress them down slightly.

I know this is going to be more hit and miss with things like adding effects which will have to be done at source but at least i can be running whilst I save up for decent monitors, condenser mic etc. I'm obviously not expecting studio quality but would like to put some demo's together for our website.

Does this sound like I'm barking up the right tree to get started quickly or just barking mad.

Better add that the laptop is a recent i7 and well upto the job running 64 bit windows 7

 

[mjbphotos]

You get what you pay for. $30 interface and free Audacity ...

What's the purpose of the recordings? If just for reference/practice purposes, go ahead and do it, if you want 'quality' recordings for demos or for CD/online distribution, get a quality audio interface and use a real DAW (I recommend Reaper).

 

[Bobbsy]

The UCA222 works. It's a $30 interface so don't expect miracles in terms of quality but, to get a stereo/2 channel signal from an analogue mixer into a computer it does what it says on the box.

Yes, there are 64 bit ASIO drivers for download on the Behringer site.

At the price, when you start to bump your head on quality or functionality issues, frankly it's pretty much disposable.

My bigger concern would be Audacity. I suspect you'll rapidly find it pretty limiting for music recording and mixing--at heart it's basically a 2 channel editor. By all means try it but if it's not enough, have a look at Reaper--free for an unlimited trial and only $60 to buy if you like it.

 

[darkmutton]

Thanks for the input guys, I've taken on board your comments and pleased you haven't either slated it or said your crackers but I agree we will outgrow this setup very quickly.
Anyway it arrived today and I've hooked it upto my Yamaha mg82cx mixer as it was to hand, along with an EV767 mic and used a line in for the guitar. We had to play with the levels a bit but very quickly got a half decent recording from it, obviously considering the cost.
So hello peeps from a new member, over the moon at being up and recording in 24hrs. Now to start the long slog of upgrading, I think I'll start with the monitors 1st and bin my £20 computer speakers.

 

[darkmutton]

Oh and our 1st recordings are initially to replace the live demos on our website. We arnt really too worried about them being studio quality because anything is better than the ones we have taken straight from a mixer via the laptops sound card.

 

[ecc83]

The UCA units are in fact pretty good for the money. They are 16bit only devices and are thus limited in their dynamic range, but (and as a PA guy I am guessing you know decibabble?) both the boxes that I have had have returned a rec/play noise floor of -83dBFS. To put that in context my M-A 2496 cards return -95dBFS and my NI KA6 usb interface -101dBFS . Those last figure might make the UCA look bad but in truth you will find it hard to get a source/room quiet enough to "show up " neg 83!

They do not like to be overdriven! Keep peaks to -10 or -8 absolute max, not usually suggested but a bit of mild compression or peak limiting might be in order here?

The boxes are WAY better than PC built in soundcards and better than most usb mixers. You'll be right until you can go RME or Prism!

N.B. You will probably find when you arm record that there is a standing reading on the meters? This is wrong and is a foible of W7. Go into the W7 sound menu and find the level controls. Usb "mic" will almost certainly be slammed at 100%, pull it down to 5%, or even less. While you are in there, kill system bleeps and bloops.

Also, look at MAGIX Samplitude Silvercloud FREE DAW software.

Dave.

 

[LeadPaint]

I've used one of those small Behringer interfaces, but not the red one. It gave me some really annoying beeps when I turned up the volume of my amplifier. I often had to turn up the volume, because I record at about -18dB. Had no problem with it with casual music listening though. I hope your UCA doesn't do the beeping

 

[darkmutton]

The UCA units are in fact pretty good for the money. They are 16bit only devices and are thus limited in their dynamic range, but (and as a PA guy I am guessing you know decibabble?) both the boxes that I have had have returned a rec/play noise floor of -83dBFS. To put that in context my M-A 2496 cards return -95dBFS and my NI KA6 usb interface -101dBFS . Those last figure might make the UCA look bad but in truth you will find it hard to get a source/room quiet enough to "show up " neg 83!

They do not like to be overdriven! Keep peaks to -10 or -8 absolute max, not usually suggested but a bit of mild compression or peak limiting might be in order here?

The boxes are WAY better than PC built in soundcards and better than most usb mixers. You'll be right until you can go RME or Prism!

N.B. You will probably find when you arm record that there is a standing reading on the meters? This is wrong and is a foible of W7. Go into the W7 sound menu and find the level controls. Usb "mic" will almost certainly be slammed at 100%, pull it down to 5%, or even less. While you are in there, kill system bleeps and bloops.

Also, look at MAGIX Samplitude Silvercloud FREE DAW software.

Dave.

Cheers Dave

Yes I had noticed the standing readings on the meters but i've had a problem with a background noise, a bit like an old tape hiss and i thought it was that causing the readings. I've spent most of the day trying to find the cause by isolating everything and checking for ground loops etc. Eventually changed the usb to a port on the back of the computer which caused a loss of the inputs, so I then loaded the Behringer drivers, originally i'd been using the generic windows version, and that's cured it. Up until today i was having to use the noise removal tool in Audacity to remove the hiss. I'll now look into the standing readings but i've just downloaded Reaper so got more to get my head around.

Mark D

Update:I've just pulled the mic level down to 50%, 5% was a bit low and was having to use loads of gain on the mic. Level readings are now on zero but quickly respond to any sound so seem to be more accurate.

 

[darkmutton]

I've used one of those small Behringer interfaces, but not the red one. It gave me some really annoying beeps when I turned up the volume of my amplifier. I often had to turn up the volume, because I record at about -18dB. Had no problem with it with casual music listening though. I hope your UCA doesn't do the beeping

That sounds to me as if some of your set-up settings were wrong.

 

[ecc83]

That sounds to me as if some of your set-up settings were wrong.

Indeed it does. I had forgotten, (old, tired meds....) in XP the 202 can give very low playback volume, the unit should give unity gain rec/play but sometimes Win XP is set up wrongly. Again, as with W7, go into the Sounds and Audio Devices menus (from Control Panel) and, in the case of XP set the playback volume to max and as I said earlier, in W7 set the RECORDING level way down 2 or 3% may not be too low.

Once set up the wee boxes really do give a good account of themselves and there is at least one review (can't find it atmo', old, tired, me.....!) that classes the playback quality along with much more expensive D to A's.

I was going to use one at work to record test results etc and actually got as far as building a box with pots in it for input level setting, one thing the 202 lacks. Still, you can't have everything for 20quid!

Dave.

 

[darkmutton]

Indeed it does. I had forgotten, (old, tired meds....) in XP the 202 can give very low playback volume, the unit should give unity gain rec/play but sometimes Win XP is set up wrongly. Again, as with W7, go into the Sounds and Audio Devices menus (from Control Panel) and, in the case of XP set the playback volume to max and as I said earlier, in W7 set the RECORDING level way down 2 or 3% may not be too low.

Once set up the wee boxes really do give a good account of themselves and there is at least one review (can't find it atmo', old, tired, me.....!) that classes the playback quality along with much more expensive D to A's.

I was going to use one at work to record test results etc and actually got as far as building a box with pots in it for input level setting, one thing the 202 lacks. Still, you can't have everything for 20quid!

Dave.

I'm running my inputs into a cheap Yamaha MG82CX mixer so that I can control the levels. It's far from ideal but it's a big job to use my Allen and Heath mixer because that's in our touring rack, and there is no way i'm even going to attempt to lug that upstairs lol. I think I may need to do something shortly though because I'm struggling to get a headphone feed for vocals, this little mixer does not have any Aux sends on it. I think a headphone amp is one of the 1st things I'm going to have to invest in and then i might be able to use either the channel insert or the monitor output (but that's post fader on these things)

Mark D