HELP. Home recording set up question!

[celebraden]

Hey guys,
New to the site! Anyways, I've been messing around with home recording (always loved doing it growing up) and I've started to get more serious with it. When I was younger I got a Tascam DP-02CF Digital Portastudio for one of my birthdays. At the time I thought it was awesome to just be able to track guitars and such and not create anything too amazing. As I got older I started to switch to recording using a computer and became more fond of doing so. Lately I have just been running my guitars and mics directly into my Macbook using USB cables, which has worked fine thus far, however sometimes I run into trouble. I am considering buying an audio interface (or even possibly a mixer) to make recording easier by controlling the input volume. That being said, I was wondering if I could use the Portastudio mentioned above as a pseudo interface. My plan was to plug the instrument into the portastudio and use RCA cables. The RCA cables would connect to something such as a Behringer U-CONTROL UCA202 USB-Audio Interface and then connect it to my computer via USB connection. Would this work? Or should I just spend the money for a interface?

Thanks!

 

[CelesteMac]

If the Tascam doesn't have USB -- and considering that you are getting more serious with home recording -- I would suggest that you can't go wrong with a basic audio interface in the $100 to $150 range, like a Scarlett, Presonus, or other popular brands in that price range. Don't spend a lot of time researching it. Just set your budget, browse some reviews, get something, and get back to work! We all have a tendency to get gear-headed but with an intro level interface in that price range, I don't think you need to over-shop. I have a Scarlett and it's great for my purposes. Very happy.

 

[mjbphotos]

You would have seen more replies if you had put this into the newbies section of the forum rather than the 'gear review' section.

CelesteMac has it right - go for a decent audio interface, you can get one for as little as $99-$149 if you only want 1 or 2 inputs. It'll give you better recording and monitor capabilities.