upgrade my old soundcard or go USB?

A

artschool

New member
hey there guys...lately i've been using my PC more and more to record tracks from my Tascam 488mkII (cassette multitacker) onto ACID 3.
my computer is 5 years old and has a Labway/Yamaha XG PCI soundcard which i'm assuming must be pretty outdated compared to all the new gear out there.
my question is: instead of buying a new PCI soundcard, can i just buy a USB audio interface such as the M-Audio Transit or Edirol UA-25 (forexample) and be able to record into my PC? and do these USB audio interfaces simply connect to one of my USB ports on the back of my PC? seems almost too easy. any advice/info is greatly appreciated.

p.s. when i try to multi-track record on ACID, my problem is that the output of a track already recorded is routed back to the input of a new track being recorded. if i mute it, then i can't hear it to play along with. any suggestions? would going from the old PCI soundcard to a USB audio interface correct this?
thanks so much everyone for your input and wisdom. david

www.myspace.com/artschoolfactory
 
I have the Edirol UA-25 on order as of this writing. It's intended use is with a Dell 9400 laptop and Superlux ECM-999 measurement mic for my speaker designs.

The UA-25 is a USB 1.1 device, and much slower, (read: MUCH) slower than USB 2 or Firewire. The second issue with all USB cards is the power they draw. IMO, you *must* use a powered hub with these interfaces.

Ozraves reviewed the MAudio MobilePre and came up with the conclusion it sounds good on dynamics, and sounds like frying eggs with condensor mics. I suspect the limited power available through USB is responsible for crappy phantom power. I half expect this to be the case with the UA-25, so I'm prepared to use an auxiliary phantom power supply if necessary.

These low end USB devices are OK for one or two tracks without overloading the interface bandwidth. Firewire is the better interface all the way around, but is driver dependent. So is USB, but the UA-25 appears to have stable drivers. One could buy the Apogee MiniMe, but at $1500... yikes.
 
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