Interface Question: 4 possible setups

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mbouteneff

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I'm about to purchase an interface setup for my desktop PC. I need audio inputs, MIDI inputs, preamps, and a headphone jack..! (I'm just looking to use MIDI to control Reason software, and record vocals & guitars with audio ins) With my limited budget, I'm currently looking at three possible setups:

1) Tascam US122 -- has preamps, MIDI in, audio in, and a headphone jack

2) M-Audio Mobile Pre + MIDI Sport -- The Pre doesn't have MIDI ins. Will the sport have latency issues?

3) M-Audio Delta 1010LT + Rolls headphone amp -- the 1010LT has everything, but no headphone jack. This setup may be a bit of overkill, and may cost more than necessary.

4) M-Audio Audiophile + a cheap $40 preamp (?) -- the audiophile doesn't have a preamp

Is latency a big concern, if I'm only recording one input at a time? Any suggestions are much appreciated! Thanks!
 
MIDI transmits a very small fraction of data compared to audio. I've never heard of latency problems with any of the MIDIman stuff.

Latency is the time it takes your converters to process analog to digital. All you need to do is rig up a monitor scheme where you can hear the playback of previous tracks and the new track at the same time. This is where a mixer comes in real handy.
 
Cool

Stonepiano, thanks for the recommendations. The two units are a bit outside my budget of $2-300 for an interface, but they do look like cool units!

And c7sus, thanks for the explanation of latency.

Do you know anything about the quality of the preamps in the Tascam US122 or Mobile Pre? Would you recommend either of the four setups I mentioned over the other?

Also, when looking for a set of headphones (for both monitoring and mixing), what should I look for -- any specific suggestions?
 
Practically latency is several things:

the time to make the conversion;
the time for the software to get the data from the converters via the drivers into RAM and onto the hard drive;
the time for the data to be routed through an DX or VST effects plug-in, if used, then back out to the outputs.

This last step is where latency becomes an issue. If all this doesn't happen fast enough, what you play in real-time is echoed back out to the output many milliseconds later. If this is more than 10-20 ms, it becomes noticeable; much more than this, and it becomes unworkable.

If you just record while listening to what's already been recorded, the latency is irelvant because you play along with what you hear; this is recorded and the software accounts for any lag that might exist, so when you play back what you've recorded, the new track is in time with the others just like you perceived it.

Latency becomes an issue if you are trying to monitor the audio after it's been converted and processed in real time... also, if you are using soft synths, these typically take some time to respond to the MIDI messages received in real-time with the generated sounds.

Good modern soundcards on fast new PCs with modern operating systems, fast data pathways, and good modern low-latency drivers minimize this. There's no way to eliminate it, but this is no big deal. If you take the speed of sound and compute how long it takes you to hear a drummer that's fifteen feet away aftrer he actually hits the snare, you'll see that a few milliseconds is nothing to wory about.

MIDI interfaces have some latency and jitter but it's usually small enough to be undetectable.
 
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