Recording with two interfaces at once?

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stemmy13

New member
Excuse me if I am in the wrong forum for this, but I'm in a jam. I was recently sold a six-piece mic set to record drums with along with a Tascam US-1200 interface.

The US-1200 has four XLR inputs and connects to my desktop via USB.

I also have an AudioBox USB 22VSL that has two XLR/Instrument inputs.

I am running the Windows 7 operating system and really don't want to switch to a Mac... When I bought the new interface, I was told that I would be able to use both, but the salesman didn't elaborate.

Is there any way that I could use both interfaces at the same time to record my six-piece drum set up?

I am currently running Studio One 2 Artist edition and would like to stick with it. I am willing to switch to other DAWs if I can find a good free one that will work with two interfaces simultaneously, since I need the total of six XLR inputs to record my drums hassle-free.

I really don't want to see replies of how this is possible on Macs, since I am running on a PC and don't want to change.

Fast answers will be very appreciated! :facepalm:
 
I'm pretty sure you can't do this, although someone with better experience may correct me.
Generally speaking this only works (on windows) where the manufacturer has written drivers for it.
Interfaces like phase 88 and delta are desiged to allow daiychaining, or multiple interfaces at once. Mixing and matching usually isn't a goer.

However, does that audiobox have any kind of standalone mode? Ie. Can you use it as an analog in/analog out dual preamp?
The tascam seems to have 4 mic pres and two balanced line inputs (when set to line) so I'm thinking you could put the audio box in front of inputs 5+6, maybe.

The simplest alternative is to just sell the two interfaces and buy a us1800.
I haven't researched in detail, but I imagine you'd break even, at least.
 
You may be able to get it to work by switching to the generic Windows MME drivers rather than the ASIO ones that likely came with your interfaces--worth a quick try anyway.

However, even then your problems wouldn't be over because each interface would be running on its own internal clock and could easily start to drift on longer takes. The one time I managed to get this to work (using Tascam boxes BTW) the drift was bad enough that the recordings were unusable without hours of re-syncing. Also, latency is a bigger problem with MME if you're going to work that way.

Steenamaroo's advice is probably the best if you can manage it.
 
Steenamaroo, do you mean that you think I could run the AudioBox through the US-1200, i.e. running two mics through it and running from its outs to the balanced line inputs on the US-1200?
 
I don't know if the audiobox allows for that but, yes, that's what I mean.

It'd be this x 2
Mic -> XLR cable -> Audiobox input -> main output (1/2) -> TRS cable -> Tascam input (5/6)

Like I say, I've no idea if the hardware allows for that. I guess the audiobox would have to be connected to the computer for power, at least, but you would pick the tascam as your interface.

Anyone know first hand?
 
I gotchya haha. The only problem is my new desktop isn't here yet. (5-10 agonizingly long business days)
Also, three of my mics aren't here yet. (3-5 equally agonizingly long business days)

I'd try running them through the old computer, a compaq laptop, but it hardly managed running the Audiobox alone without lag and tracks cutting out mid-recording. I'm also a little skeptic because I've read on a handful of websites that trying to run two interfaces at once via USB could end up crashing the pc when you plug them both in.
 
Bobbsy said:
You may be able to get it to work by switching to the generic Windows MME drivers rather than the ASIO ones that likely came with your interfaces--worth a quick try anyway.
Click to expand...

Wait, would the ASIO4all software allow my pc to recognize both interfaces for simultaneous use?
 
Plug the audiobox into your laptop via USB and make sure the presonus drivers/software are installed.
Open the presonus control panel. You might need to make sure the faders are up and pan is set to wide.
Close any recording software and make sure the audiobox isn't chosen as your system sound device.

Now, plug a mic into input 1 and turn on phantom (if needed) and turn the gain up a bit.
Plug a pair of headphones into main output 1 (L) for testing.
Turn the main output volume up a bit.

Set the monitoring knob on the front to input. Speak into the mic. Can you hear yourself through the cans?

If so, you should be able to do the same thing while the us1200 is set up as your recording interface.
The only difference is you need to unplug the headphones and use a pair of TRS patch cables to route main outs into tascam ins 5+6.

If it doesn't work certainly try Bobbsy's suggestion. It's good advice, but I think this^ is the more stable solution.
 
Yeah. If the Audiobox will pass through audio without a round trip via the computer (something to watch for--check for latency if it appears to work on a first try) then that might well be the solution...worth a try. Be aware that many/most interfaces don't have a "pre amp" mode where audio is passed directly from input to output. I've never used the boxes you have so can only suggest an experiment.

On the other question, yeah, ASIO4ALL might be the way to go and I was going to suggest it if just doing straight to MME works. However, ASIO4ALL is a wrapper that allows you to treat MME a bit like ASIO but it depends on the MME working in the first place if you see what I mean. It would do anything for you if your devices are using ASIO drivers to start with.
 
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