My Review of the Behringer FCA202 audio interface

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jndietz

The Way It Moves
Behringer FCA202

I purchased the FCA202 at the end of my freshman year of college. I bought a new laptop in February, sold my desktop, and then I was out an audio interface. Being the frugle college student I was, I didn't want to spring to buy the $79.99 interface. But, at the end of college, with some new songs under my belt and a new band, I needed an audio interface.

Enter the FCA202.

I received it two weeks ago, on my last day of class. I eagerly ripped open the box, then opened up the box holding the FCA202. This thing is TINY! Its a lot smaller than I thought it would be. It fits great on my desk with my laptop, my mixer, and now the FCA202. If you are limited for space, or just like simplistic audio equipment, this thing is perfect.

It runs through a FireWire interface, with virutally no lag (2 milliseconds). I run it a 96KHz--switchable between 44.1KHz, 48KHz, and 96KHz. The drivers are a breeze to install for a Windows XP PC. It is even easier with a Mac OS X computer--just plug it in and use it! However, the control panel for the FCA202 on a Windows XP box is interesting, the only things you can change in it are the frequency (44.1KHz, 44KHz, or 96KHz) and the response time of the device. These response times vary with what frequency you have chosen, very limited features. Also in the Windows Recording Mixer, you cannot change the level of the audio input (they probably did this for a reason). And as far as I know with this device, you can only record one track at once. It has one stereo input, which may be able to record two mono inputs at the same time on separate tracks. It also has one stereo output (or two mono outputs). And finally, it has a headphone jack on the front with a volume control so you can hear what you are mixing on the computer.

Overall, I would say this is a great buy and a very high quality piece of equipment, especially for what I do with it. I run guitar, bass, and vocals into a mixer, then into the FCA202. I couldn't be happier.
 
i have one too, and love it, but i wish i could have more inputs. i want to hear if anyone has tried daisy-chaining them since there are two firewire slots in the back. has anyone tried this?
 
I have one as well, and have used it mostly for playing soft synths live with a controller. I've had zero issues with it and the sound has been good. I wouldn't think you could daisy chain them, since the control panel software doesn't support it.
 
i dont know much about daisy-chaining but wouldent all the inputs still be coming in through one firewire cable if they are daisy-chained? so wouldent you be able to select out of four inputs in your daw? but i really dont know.
 
I just bought an FCA202 and so far really like it. The small size is great, as is the price. The metal case is also very welcome and seems solid, thank goodness they didn't put it in a plastic case.

Initial setup has been a bit troublesome for me on a Mac G4 iBook though. I've had a lot of issues with crackling, and I'm not entirely sure I've sorted them out completely. It seems the FCA202 likes lower buffer times. That eats CPU cycles but it did seem to help the crackling.

The other thing that helped was to set the system audio output and default audio outputs in the Audio MIDI Setup panel to "Built-In Audio". Obviously, any routing of audio in the DAW uses the FCA202, but system beeps, etc. go to the internal speaker by default. It seemed to help a lot, and also reduced the CPU load by almost half.

I still need to play with the FCA202 for a while to make sure the crackling is solved, but if it is I'll be very happy with this little thing. It's so small and flat, it takes up barely any space in my laptop case.
 
surfmaster said:
i have one too, and love it, but i wish i could have more inputs. i want to hear if anyone has tried daisy-chaining them since there are two firewire slots in the back. has anyone tried this?
Click to expand...

I plan on doing this in a couple weeks. i am going to buy another and see how it works out :) i would like to record more than one track at once anyway... two at once would be good enough for me!
 
surfmaster said:
i dont know much about daisy-chaining but wouldent all the inputs still be coming in through one firewire cable if they are daisy-chained? so wouldent you be able to select out of four inputs in your daw? but i really dont know.
Click to expand...

yes, this is how daisy-chain works :) in my daw (adobe audition) i have my audio interfaces show up as

[1] Conextant Audio
[2] Behringer FCA202 (1)


I am sure when I add another, it will how up as [3] Behringer FCA202 (2)

the only problem i suppose would be keeping track of which is which :D
 
it works!? nice!! hmmm now i might just have to get my hands on another instead of saving up for a firepod or something. but you can actually send in four seperate tracks now?
 
i've just ordered one to go with my new laptop to use just for the outputs, as i will use it for playing music at gigs, will post how it goes this week
 
I have used my keystation 49e into my laptop (energyXT running soft synths) into my FCA202 out to the board live at my past few shows. It seems pretty solid.

A little warning. I had a HELL of a time getting the drivers to work well on my laptop running Windows XP. I realized after doing some searching that there are issues on some laptops that also have ASIO4ALL drivers installed. I uninstalled the ASIO4ALL drivers off my computer, and it has worked great since then.
 
I recently bought one of these too, thought it was crap until I realised you could reduce the latency level in the control panel...now there's barely any. Seems like a good piece of kit, can't do anything with it at the moment though as I've got massive latency problems due to my computer (presumably).
 
I have concluded that in Audition 2.0, I can use the FCA202 and record two mono tracks at once (L&R). And daisy chaining these together would produce two stereo/four mono inputs. I use mono input when recording vocals and guitars. kits i will record in stereo, usually.

this thing is quite a gem. i can't get enough of it.
 
do you guys think i can hook up a presonus eureka onto this and this into the computer?
 
Aice said:
do you guys think i can hook up a presonus eureka onto this and this into the computer?
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As long as the Eureka supports 6 pin firewire to plug into the back of the FCA202... you should be good to go :) yay for daisychain!
 
I'm thinking of getting one of these.

What is the logic behind it having unbalanced inputs and balanced outputs?
 
Honestly, probably just to save a little bit of money. They're always aiming to be the cheapest one around, so they shave some here and there to get the price the lowest, and $80 certainly is the lowest of any firewire interface i've seen.
 
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