Laptop Recording: is sound card bypassed with interface hardware ?

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Breadfan

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Hi there,

im thinking of purchasing a Tascam US 122. my plan is to record my amp though a mic.

I have a laptop with no Mic In and the sound card is pretty poor (only headphone out and speaker out).

My question is will the Tascam US122 and a good MIC be all i need to start recording ? or will have have to purchase a decent USB sound card as well to get
decent results I.E. if i have the Tascam is the sound card then bypassed. will the tascam feed my recording software directly? or do i still need a good sound card

heres the what im having trouble understanding

is it
A: guitar->amp->mic->tascam->PC->recording software

or

B: guitar->amp->mic->tascam->PC->Sound Card->recording software

if its B then will the quality of the sound card effect how good the recording is or does the Tascam take care of it

all help very much appreciated

thanks for your time
 
yes, think of the USB as an "external" sound card.

My advice: ditch the US-122 and go with a firewire interface (if you have firewire) or else go with the Echo Layla Laptop system (about $700 though) if you only need to record one track at once then I would suggest getting the Echo Indigo I/O. It's 24 bit/96 khz and it goes for $139. I use this when I am field recording, it's really nice!

The US-122 is an older interface and I've heard that people have had problems with it because USB 1.0 just isn't up to snuff for recording audio (it skips, stops, crackles etc...)

stay away from USB 1.0 interfaces!! They are sold for cheap for a reason.

Here's a setup for recording one track at a time:

instrument (ex: guitar) ---->amp----->preamp or mixer ----->echo indigo I/O

Provided you have a decent laptop (not a celeron or any crap like that) and plenty of RAM (at least 512) , then you should get the Echo Indigo I/O ..it'll suit your needs and it sounds awsome!

one note on the indigo: there is a grounding issue with it. Running off the battery works fine but if you're working off the power cable, then make sure you get a three prong to two prong adapter (about $2.00 ...pretty simple item) but It'll improve your sound to pristine quality.

hope that helps!
 
.

Hey Adam,

Thank you very much for an extremely helpfull and informative post.


I am aware of the latency issues with the TASCAM however currently im only giong to be recording 1 track at a time so hopefully this shouldnt be an issue, also my laptop is half decent P4 2Ghz, 512 RAM for the job at hand.

As for the Echo Indigo I/O its seems like a great little unit, however i need MIDI in/out.

i may however end up going for the Edirol UA20. its been slashed in Price quit a bit(it currently costs 99 bucks) and seems just fine for what i need its 60 bucks cheaper than the TASCAM.

does anyone have feedback on the Edirol UA20 ?

anyway thanks again for clearing things up for me :)
 
hi again :P

Yes, I know somebody with the UA20 (or at least used to anyway) he had the same problems that people are having with the US 122 to a lesser degree(popping, skipping) but when it worked, it worked well!! The popping and clicking only happened while he was recording audio only and occured on playback only (meaning that the pops did not get recorded)

It is GREAT for midi purposes and it is generally aimed at someone who uses soft synths a lot (low latency ASIO drivers) it also has pretty decent converters but not full duplex (so you can only record one track at a time)

another bad thing is that it does not have GSIF drivers...so you won't be able to run gigastudio (if you use it) But I don't think Edirol supports GSIF at all.

that's the good and bad of it! ...read the reviews for it at zzsounds or harmony central..a few people have reviewed it

on the other hand---> if you need midi, you can purchase a $35 midi I/O usb interface (providing you have at least 2 usb ports) and it will work well with the Indigo

USB (in my opinion) works great for midi but not audio.


there ya have it! Really: if you can, save your money up for an Echo Layla or a similar cardbus interface (RME makes one too)...you'll be SO happy that you did! You have a really powerful laptop and the Echo systems seem to work great with pentium 4 systems. But if you absolutely must choose between those two then I woud go for the UA-20..I do understand what it's like to be on a budget. Just make sure you read ALL the reviews you can.

there ya have it! glad to help.

Adam
 
hi again :P

Yes, I know somebody with the UA20 (or at least used to anyway) he had the same problems that people are having with the US 122 to a lesser degree(popping, skipping) but when it worked, it worked well!! The popping and clicking only happened while he was recording audio only and occured on playback only (meaning that the pops did not get recorded)

It is GREAT for midi purposes and it is generally aimed at someone who uses soft synths a lot (low latency ASIO drivers) it also has pretty decent converters but not full duplex (so you can only record one track at a time)

another bad thing is that it does not have GSIF drivers...so you won't be able to run gigastudio (if you use it) But I don't think Edirol supports GSIF at all.

that's the good and bad of it! ...read the reviews for it at zzsounds or harmony central..a few people have reviewed it

on the other hand---> if you need midi, you can purchase a $35 midi I/O usb interface (providing you have at least 2 usb ports) and it will work well with the Indigo

USB (in my opinion) works great for midi but not audio.


there ya have it! Really: if you can, save your money up for an Echo Layla or a similar cardbus interface (RME makes one too)...you'll be SO happy that you did! You have a really powerful laptop and the Echo systems seem to work great with pentium 4 systems. But if you absolutely must choose between those two then I woud go for the UA-20..I do understand what it's like to be on a budget. Just make sure you read ALL the reviews you can.

there ya have it! glad to help.

Adam
 
whoops, didn't mean to repeat myself....sorry 'bout that!
 
Hey again adam.

Once again thanks for all the *great* info.

yeah i am on a pretty low budget, and thats why im drawn to the edirol, also the extras on the tascam like phantom power etc are kinda irrelevent because im going to be using a Shure sm57 so i really dont need those.

with the indigo, it does seem really nice- however at this time i just cant justify the extra cost.

i had a look on harmony central and there was only one review of the edirol, but it was positive. The was also another site with a couple of reviews again both positive.

the only thing that hesitates me is the quality of the mic pre amps on the edirol but from what i can gather ,from the things i read, the unit works pretty well.

so i think ill end up going for the Edirol UA20

so in conclusion you rock adam! thanks alot bro
 
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