USB Recording with Tascam US-428

[elements20]

I have been trying to find an inexpensive means of PC recording for college. I have been looking at the Tascam US-428 to utilize USB. I will mostly be recording acoustic guitar and vocals... possible acoustic grand piano for fun too. My first question is, will this be a good choice to make high quality recordings on my PC? And second, if I use the US-428, will I want to run my condenser mic through a separate mic pre-amp/compressor? If so, how inexpensive can I go and still get good results? What would be my Ideal setup? Phew, lots of questions! Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks much.

[SteveR]

I like the idea of the Tascam but I have always been concerned about the speed of USB as an audio medium.

2 tracks in at a time isn't so great when you can buy a audio card for just over £100 that's actually worth owning, that offers the same amount of inputs, if not more.

The beauty of the 428 is that you could quite literally carry it around with you. That's a nice thought.

If you want to record in one place with one computer, I would head towards a used Mackie 1202VLZ with a half decent audio card like the Echo Mia or the Audiophile 24/96. if your on the move then the Tascam may suit.

The Mackie with Mia or Audiophile will be better in sound quality and offer much better mic preamplification.

Good Luck

SteveR

[elements20]

Thanks for the advice.. I have a mixer similar to the Mackie 1202 (It's a Behringer, don't be too mad at me). I haven't done much with recording but I just tested it out on my (don't laugh) Soundblaster Live card. No matter what I do it sounds completely like crap (which I should probably expect). So is the audiophile card really my ticket to decent recording? And then since I'll have my pre-amps covered, will I want to get a compressor?

[SteveR]

That's a harder question. Recording anything depends on the soundsource. Crap guitar, crap guitar track.

I have a behringer 26/4/2 desk that doesn't get used at all any more. There is nothing wrong with it other than it doesn't meet up with the quality of the rest of the system. Adding an Audiophile or a Mia PCI card would be a shame if you are using the behringer for the mixer as the quality of both of those cards would be spoilt by the behringer.

I am not slagging the behringer, like I say I own one. It's just you have to be careful not to spoil a decent signal chain with a low quality relation.

What I did is get a Focusrite Trakmaster preamp for my RodeNt2 (as a vocal solution) which also works very well as an instrument input. I record most of my stuff one track at a time so I don't need tons of inputs especially. They would be nice but I don't need them for most of the work I do at home.

Aside from talking just about model numbers etc... All you need to do is get a decent mic, a decent mic preamp (Mackie would do it, Behringer... hmmm) and a decent 24 bit (24bit is soo much cheaper these days it seems a shame not to) 'Audio' card and get on with it.

This is the route I would take. USB is okay... PCI 24bit card with decent mic and preamp.. solution...


SteveR

[elements20]

Thanks... That is a lot of help. It looks like my best bet would be to exchange the behringer for a Mackie and get the Audiophile card. One last question... now I'm moving on to software... Right now I have Sound Forge 4.5 and have played around with ACID. Would something like Cakewalk Sonor or the like be better suited for 1 or 2 channel voice or acoustic recordings or am I OK with the sonic foundry programs? Again, thanks a ton!

[SteveR]

Firstly, check out the Echo Mia card as some people seem to think that is the preferred choice. I like M-Audio stuff myself so it would be a hard choice. Either one will sound amazing prodiving you give it good information....

Secondly, if the recording program you use supports 24 bit recording from your audio card then they will all sound the same. It's therefore in the facilities of the applications themselves you should be looking at. If you like two track editors for recording then go for it. I use a Mac G4 so I am shady with Windows only software. I personally wouldn't use anything other than a decent multitracker like Cubase or Logic (cakewalk maybe) for recording. The reason for this is, it's gives you more scope for creating a tune with your guitar and vocal. There are a ton of intrument plugins for VST compatible hosts which you might want to check out. A String sound or piano goes a long way with a guitar track (generalising.. ;0). Also, you can send tunes out to people on the internet that will play their instruments over what you have done. This is common place for me, internet collaborations. Mainly, I arrange, produce or master tracks for people. No money. Love of music and all that. Keep in touch.

Saving the good news until last. If you buy an Audio or Sound card, you almost always get a bundle of one of the main sequencer packages. Cubasis is a common one or Logic AV. These will not only work perfectly with the car d itself, but will provide you with a virtual studio for your guitar tracks..

Get some other opinions as no one person has the answer for everyone...

Let me know how it all goes wont you?

Speak soon

SteveR