MobilePre USB

[SGPIANOMAN]

I am looking to purchase a Mobile Pre USB, i was wondering if any of ya'll have used this product and would like to right a quick review, I have done my homework and it seems to be a good product, i was just looking for some more consumer feedback. Thanks

 

[Scott Adams]

Mine went back...

I don't think I was using it the same way most people will but mine went back because it kept causing problems in my system.

I was using it hooked up to my laptop. The "out" of the mobile pre went to a mixer and one of the "ins" came from a sub-out on the mixer. This was in a church environment and I was recording the whole service start to finish. The recording was great. I would also use my mp3 collection in the computer for background music - the playback was great.

The rub was that if I was recording first and then started playing an mp3 (with a different program then the recorder), the recorder would jump into hyper mode and the timer would go to double speed. It would still record but when you played it back it would (obviously) sound like it was at 1/2 speed.

If you were playing a mp3 first and then hit record (again, two separate software programs) the mp3 would jump to 1/2 speed.

This worked with 3 different recorders and 3 different media players and any combination of them. IT also didnt matter what sample rates I was recording/playing at.

M-Audio techs tried to tell me it was my fault for using 2 different players, that it was my fault for using the wrong bit rates, it was my fault for using the wrong computer (A P4 2.0 with 512 megs ram ???) or that it was in "interupt" problem. See the dicussion on the newbies section for usb and interupts for an interesting thread. Well, no matter what it couldnt be the hardware.

So I packed up the computer and went straight to Guitar Center and SHOWED them the problem. We took a Tascam off the shelf, installed the drivers and plugged it in. Ran the same software doing the same thing and low and behold it worked just fine. I LOVE the US-122. Now I have hardware that works AND I get 24 bit AND I get something that will truly power 2 mics with its pre-amp (I had read that the AudioPre has pre's on both channel but will truly not power condensors on both at the same time but I never tried).

FWIW - I got the Audio Pre for 125 from GC so if you decide to go that route - talk 'em down.

Good Luck!
Scott

 

[mrface2112]

i had a problem with the mobilepre as well. bought it used from a member of this forum, installed the drivers on my laptop (new dell d800, with usb 2.0), and the damn thing kept bluescreening my laptop.

i'm a systems engineer by trade, so analyzing a memory dump is second nature to me, and it was definitely the mobilepre's driver that was at fault. no mistaking it when windbg points directly at a dll.

i brought this to maudio's tech's knowledge, and we went through all the hoops--uninstalling, reinstalling, downgrading the driver, upgrading the driver, all to no avail. then they tried to blame it on my usb2 port, saying it was really a "usb hub" (bullshit).

so i punted figuring it was just incompatible with my system and sold it to another member of this forum, stating my issues with it on my laptop up front. he understood, bought it anyway, and lo and behold ended up having the same problems. thankfully no one had ever filled out the registration card, so he at least had that avenue to go down. i don't know how that ever turned out. i did feel bad for having passed on my problem, but at the same time, i WAS up front about what it was doing to my machine and i DID think that it was just that the driver was incompatible with my machine....so.....

haven't tried the tascam, and i'm really looking at the maudio firewire 410, b/c it's what i wanted in the first place. i had real issues with the lack of LED signal monitoring on the mobilepre, as well.

i've got an audiophile 2496 and a delta 1010 installed in my desktop machine downstairs and run them together with no problems at all for 10 tracks of audio, so prior to the mobilepre issues, i HAD been very thrilled with everything from maudio.


YMMV,
wade

 

[mrface2112]

oh yeah, it should be noted that in the times that the mobilepre actually did work (prior to the BSODs), i DID manage to record some good sounding audio with it.

i used it for line-in purposes (recording from sub-outs on a mixer) and i ran a pair of MXL603's off of it with no issues with it supplying them with phantom power and plenty of clean gain. i recorded a pretty nice thunderstorm one evening from my front porch (wish i'd had a compressor at that point, though, b/c the lightning strikes generated some serious digital overages!).

so, when it worked, i was very happy with it. it just wasn't stable on my D800 (intel centrino 1.4, 512mb ram).


wade