Newbie Question: Help me decide with USB device to buy

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Member Since: Mar 18, 2007

Hi all,

I am just getting into home recording and have been using Audacity with an old Samson mixpad and sending the output to the sound card's line input. This works OK, but I am ready to move up to the USB realm. Not really interested in FireWire, mostly due to cost and the fact that my PC doesn't have a FireWite port.

I am trying to decide between the Lexicon Lambda (www.lexiconpro.com/ProductIndex.aspx?ProductID=8) and Behringer 1204FX (www.behringer.com/1204FX/index.cfm?lang=ENG).
They are both similar in price but I am torn as to which I should get.

The Behringer is a real mixer that would also be cool to have for rehearsals, etc. And the Behringer has some cool effects. The Lambda has Cubase LE and is small enough not to require too much room on my already crowded desk.

Will either of these allow four track simultaneous recording (mono) or two track (stereo)?

Is Cubase LE really cool enough that it should affect a buying decision?

Will the Behringer give me the same features (minus Cubase) plus give me an extra mixer to use for playing live?

Thoughts? Advice? Free gear?

Thanks,

Mike

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Prince CZAR-ming
Member
Since: Apr 08, 2004


Mar 18, 2007 09:57 am

Hey Mike, welcome to the HRC.

Both devices listed will only carry two inputs on separate tracks. The mixer will sum channels together, but you probably don't want that.

The mixer (xenyx) is not connected to the computer, the UCA200 device is the go-between. Plug 2 channels of analog into the UCA200, and plug the UCA200 into the computer, via USB.

There's been several others on here that are using this setup, and it seems fair to mid as a solution. Seems a few are having lite troubles, but they are getting resolved, I believe.

The lambda is probably better sonic quality, as Lexicon has a better reputation for decent gear. Plus, the Lambda has midi in and out, which the berhy stuff doesn't.

On the other hand, having a mixer is a whole lotta love too, so it's hard to say which is better. I guess that's an issue you need to figure out.

As far as Cubase LE, personally, I wouldn't even take that into the equation. I think I got cubase VST with my US122, which then evolved into Cubase LE. It was very difficult for me to get used to, and seemed very 'fisher-price' like. I was using N-track at the time, and am now on Reaper (which is great).

That last paragraph is my opinion only, just giving my .02$us.

I won't tell you which I'd choose, as my needs and abilities are different from yours. So it wouldn't be prudent =/.

hth

Member
Since: Aug 06, 2007


Aug 06, 2007 11:17 am

Hey-lo,
I am also new (my first post here) and just went through the same decision process your going through now. As said, both will give you a 44.8 KHZ 2 channel I/O post mix, at some resolution, 24 or 16 bit.

The real way to go, although I couldn't afford it, is with the Alesis or Behringer firewire mixers with several (10-12) channels of 24 bit 96KHZ I/O at around 300 bucks each.

I ended up with the Tascam us-122L for a couple reasons, mainly because it supports USB 2.0 and can stream up to 24 bit/96Khz 2 channel I/O, and I picked up a B stock unit from zZounds with full warranty for $129.00 and it came with Cubase LE and a midi sampling program from Tascam - GigaStudio 3.0 LE.

So far I'm happy, it does what it say's it will do and is a nicely built unit. The only issue I've had is with the GigaStudio running on the same computer as the Cubase. I've concluded that they will not both run on my Dell 1GHZ C600 Latitude laptop, they each want to change the driver to different settings and I get blue screened going from one program to the other. Fortunately I have a desktop for the GigaStudio, but now I'm out of registrations for it from Tascam after loading it up so many times trying to get it to work. I'll call them today and maybe get another chance to load it for the last time on my desktop.

Otherwise I really like the Tascam and it was cheap. I will go to a Firewire 12 channel mixer next, but for now this little 122L is great.

The 96Khz is not a big deal in retrospect, either one of those USB mixers your looking at would be sweet as well. I dont have any experiance with either honestly, but they both look nice. One has the Cubase LE with it though, and I'm glad I got a copy of it. Good luck!

Member
Since: Aug 17, 2007


Aug 18, 2007 09:09 am

You might want to consider just getting a firewire card for your desktop and going with a firebox.

The throughput is much better with firewire and their are firewire options out there that allow recording as many as 16 independent tracks simultaneously.

USB audio interfaces rely on processing from your CPU which could degrade performance.

That being said... I own a Lambda and Id love to get it off my hands. I'd be willing to sell it for $100

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