Please help me with USB Soundcard.

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sajs

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I have a laptop that I would like to get a USB 2 soundcard for. I only need 1 instrument input and 1 Mic input. Midi in and out, Digital ins and outs, headphone jack with pot.

I am confused after reading some of the reviews on several USB soundcards.
Some get rave reviews and then it gets blasted by several people.

I don't need any recording software bundled in since I already have some.

My laptop has the following:

P4 1.7Mhz
512mb ram
40 gb hard drive
CDRW/DVD
Win 2K Pro

Any suggestions would be helpful. Price range of no more than $500.
Thank you.
 
There aren't that many usb 2 cards around. The Edirol UA101 is the only one I know of in your price range. What about firewire? The M Audio FW410 and Presonus Firebox are good units and a couple of hundred cheaper
 
Thanks for the reply. My laptop does not have a firewire port.
 
I use the M-Audio MobilePre which works great for me. Not to pricey either and runs fine on USB 1.1

I don't think there are many USB2.0 interfaces available, this is partly due to the nature of the USB 2.0 protocol.
 
sajs said:
Thanks for the reply. My laptop does not have a firewire port.
Click to expand...

Do you have a pcmcia slot? You could get a firewire adapter card like this ;)
 
Yes I do have 1 PCMCIA slot. Right now my wireless card is in there. I guess I can simply take it out when using the sound-card/firewire.
Now this opens up a whole new array of choices.
 
I own the Edirol UA-25. It is USB 1.1, and has the inputs you requested. The older USB protocol is entirely adequate for this box. I encourage you to always use a powered USB hub with these devices. They draw a lot of current, very close to the maximum spec. Much safer/better to use a powered hub to provide the power.

I use an external Rolls phantom power supply instead of the (mediocre) one built into the UA-25 and MobilePre. The MobilePre does not have MIDI inputs.

The Apogee Mini-Me is USB 2, but about $1500 also.
 
pick up a used mbox ...

or the m-audio midiman buddy or something, one input.. does what you need!
 
bgavin said:
I use an external Rolls phantom power supply instead of the (mediocre) one built into the UA-25 and MobilePre.
Click to expand...
Not sure if I understand: How can phantom power be "mediocre"?? Either it supplies +48V phantom power or it doesn't. Phantom power is not critical at all since most mics run on anything between +12V and +55V.
 
Giganova said:
Not sure if I understand: How can phantom power be "mediocre"?? Either it supplies +48V phantom power or it doesn't. Phantom power is not critical at all since most mics run on anything between +12V and +55V.
Click to expand...
noise on the phantom power supply will couple into the signal.
 
My AT4040, AT4047, SP/C4 all sound like ass when running on +15v phantom provided by two different Rane rack pres. The sound is completely awful.

Turning off +15v phantom on the Rane, and using +48v from the Rolls restores the mic performance. The only difference is the phantom voltage.

For the USB unit, +48v is derived by a step-up circuit, since the USB circuit only provides +5v. It is probably a solid-state oscillator (switching) or some such, and is apparently very noisy. Ozraves did a review on this and described it as the sound of "frying eggs".
 
bgavin said:
My AT4040, AT4047, SP/C4 all sound like ass when running on +15v phantom provided by two different Rane rack pres. The sound is completely awful.

Turning off +15v phantom on the Rane, and using +48v from the Rolls restores the mic performance. The only difference is the phantom voltage.

For the USB unit, +48v is derived by a step-up circuit, since the USB circuit only provides +5v. It is probably a solid-state oscillator (switching) or some such, and is apparently very noisy. Ozraves did a review on this and described it as the sound of "frying eggs".
Click to expand...
Well, +15V is the wrong voltage, so no surprises there. Phantom power should be around +48V.

sheriffpony: Yes, that makes sense!
 
Bulls Hit said:
There aren't that many usb 2 cards around. The Edirol UA101 is the only one I know of in your price range. What about firewire? The M Audio FW410 and Presonus Firebox are good units and a couple of hundred cheaper
Click to expand...

There aren't ANY true USB 2.0 audio interfaces. There are just USB 1.0 interfaces that run at USB 2.0 speeds. The USB 2.0 audio spec isn't out yet unless it has happened in the last week or so.

Don't expect those hybrid devices to "just work" when you plug them in. The manufacturer is going to end up having to maintain their own custom hacked drivers for all eternity, which makes them a bad idea unless you plan to stay on your current OS version forever. :)
 
Giganova said:
Well, +15V is the wrong voltage, so no surprises there. Phantom power should be around +48V.
Click to expand...

Rane designed their +15v phantom for a different application. Evidently a number of condensers for industrial use are designed for this voltage. +48v is correct for mics designed to use +48v, which encompasses most recording mics.
 
The M-Audio FastTrack is a pretty simple box, although it doesn't have MIDI, Digital I/O or Phantom Power. But I think anything that has all that is going to have more than one mic/line input.

If you were able to get a FireWire card and wanted to that route, I would take a look at the MOTU UltraLite.

I think they pretty much all come bundled with some type of software these days, but of course you don't need to use it.
 
I'm looking for USB too

So far, like TASCAM USB's with 2 phantom's (1 is switchable for guitar) + MIDI I/O
122
122L - seems like newer model
224 - has digital I/O as well
 
For what it's worth, I called Roland and the UA-25 is compatible with Windows 2000 Pro. I am going to take the plunge on this unit.
 
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