Tascam US122 vs. M-audio MobilePre... help!

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fooshkee8

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I'm looking for a very basic usb recording interface (i need something bus powered... and i only have a 4pin firewire on my laptop so i'm out of luck there) and these two seem like nice little units... i can get the mobilepre for around $120... and the Us122 for $200... i'm having a hard time deciding which one to get... they both seem like nice units... i like the looks of the tascam better... but i cant really find any other reason to justify spending $80 more for it...

also... does anyone know if you could run two of these units (for example: 2 mobilepre's) at the same time so you could have 4 simultanous?

if anyone has experience with both or a reason why one is better than other... i'd really appreciate any info! thanks
 
I don't see how you can run two at the same time, there wouldn't be enough bandwidth.

I have experience with the 122, it's a decent little box, and it does 24 bit, which the mobile pre does not. Something to consider.

Maybe someone else can jump in here, but can't you just buy a 4 pin to 6 pin FW cable and run something like the FW Audiophile? That'd be what I recommend the most, seeing as how it is the same price as the 122.
 
ya if 4 pin is the little plug in thingy, then that is what i have / use on my PC laptop.. get a firewire cable with 4 pin on one end and 6 pin on the other
 
yeah i know i could just buy a 4 to 6 pin adaptor however, that wouldn't be enough power to run it bus powered.... i don't want to use a wall wart at all - i need bus power. i tried getting a pcmicia 6 pin firewire card with the edirol fa101 (which i returned) and it wouldn't power it either...
 
If you need the thing to run off battery power then you need the Apogee MiniMe. That's the only thing that will realy suite your need in that department. Bus power is just not as good as being plugged in. It's more convenient but that's all. I'm currently using a FA-101 on my laptop, 4pin configuration. I'm writing a review of it right now. It has strong points and weak points. Overall a good value so far. Bad news about the minime is you'll be out about $1300. But you'll get the best preamp you've ever had. I wish I could afford it right now. Wel I could, but my wife would kill me.
 
ahh i see, yup USB will get around the problem of plugging in (which is required by firewire). In that case i would vote for the us-122. That is actually what i commonly use. It has many features, all of which i find useful. For example the zero latency direct monitoring is great. It doesn't use any cpu resources. having a line out and a headphone out is very useful as well. With this you can have both your monitors and headphones hooked up at the same time. Although my MIDI equipment is plugged nto my USB, the midi ports ont he us122 work fine. Finally it is equipped with phantom power which allows you to use condensor mics if you so wish. Although i have not used the m-aduio box, i have had not problems with my tascam and would recommend it to anybody desiring to only record 2 or so tracks at one time.
 
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