Interface for Repear

starbuck26

starbuck26

New member
Hey fellas,

I used to be very active on this board but fell off as of late.

I bought this laptop the other day:
Amazon.com : ASUS 15.6-Inch Dual-Core 2.16GHz Laptop, 4GB RAM & 500GB Hard Drive : Computers & Accessories

Just to have something to kick around with and I loaded reaper onto it and it's handling mixes better than I thought it would.

What I would like to do is be able to capture 2 channels of audio. Lag is not a problem, just capturing demo performances on guitar and voice, no overdubs necessary. I realize I've been writing all of my stuff on my acoustic at my house and then redoing the performances at my studio. I'd rather just lay them down in my pajamas and be able to add tracks later in protools.

I'd like something with phantom power so I can run a pair of behringer ecms in stereo, hardwired into my living room.

Ideally I'd like 44.1 24bit sample rate.

I'd say $300 max.
 
I'd say give this a look. It's a 2X2, has phantom power, midi, and comes with pro tools express if you'd like that. I use Reaper myself.

M-Audio M-Track Plus | Sweetwater.com

Or try Focusrite. I have the 2i2 and would NOT suggest getting that. It doesn't have a pad sot he instrument side is un-usable as my guitar clips no matter what I do. Just have to use the line. But it also doesn't have Midi in case you'd like to add a Midi controller down the line.

Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 | Sweetwater.com
 
starbuck26 said:
Also if it had rca in so I can record off my turntable that would be sweet.
Click to expand...

If you want to go straight from turntable to interface, there could be some difficulties on the pecularities of turntable outputs.

However, if you can connect said turntable to a conventional amp and a phono input with standard RIAA eq, you can take a line out of the amp and go to a line in on the interface.
 
I have a laptop similar, use Reaper. I use it as my Portastudio. I purchased a Tascam 1800 and have had no issues with it, even when I was tracking all 14 inputs.

I will be honest, I have only used it to track. I export out and mix on another computer that has more power. But it captured everything at 44/16 with no issues. I am very happy with it.
 
If you already have the turntable, get a preamp for it like this one - there are cheaper and more expensive choices. Then you can use the standard line-in jacks on the interface. If you don't have a turntable yet, get one with a USB interface in it already.
If you just need 2 inputs there are a myriad of choices in the $150-$200 range, incuding the Steinberg UR22, Mackie Onyx, the new Behringer Uphoria series, the aforementioend Focusrite, Roland Duo-Capture. I just noticed that Sweetwater has the Tascam US1800 for $250 - now THAT's a great deal! (but maybe you'll never need an interface with 8 mic preamps)
 
Even if you want ot use an external device to provide metronome/drum track, there's no reason to record that live while you are also doing other live tracks. Same price as the Tascam which has 8 mic preamps and is tried and trusted.
 
Last edited:
If you are moving into the $250 area the NI KA6 takes some beating but I agree the Tascam 1800 has a good rep.

I would steer clear of the Akai. I wanted to like it, I really did and for the facilities, at the price it should have gone down a storm. It hasn't and there have been rumblings of driver issues.

Re the gram amp, depending upon the rest of the setup you might find integrating a pawn shop hi fi amp a good solution.

Dave.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top