best soundcard i can buy?

> > > best soundcard i can buy?

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Member Since: Mar 06, 2008

ICurrent have a tascam us 122..and it sounds good..but i been haven driver issues since i bought it...my cpu crashes..everything and im looking to upgrade..i only need 1 mic input..what is the best under 1000 i can get?i wanted to get a mbox 2,but i use adobe 1.5 and dont plan on straying away to protools right away...let me know

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Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Jun 27, 2008 11:50 pm

Have you looked at the Line 6 Toneport UX-1 or UX-2. The UX-1 has a single mic input with pre and phantom power and the UX-2 has a pair of them. They are a very good price and very stable.

They are USB units as well and can be portable.

Member
Since: Mar 06, 2008

Jun 28, 2008 11:23 am

yea i check them out..whats the qaulity like?there kidna cheap..and theres one for 500,is that one more because of the inputs?im looking for top notch qaulity

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Jun 28, 2008 03:59 pm

Yes, they are higher quality units. And yes, it is more because it has more i/o on it.

IF you want absolute top end and have money buring a hole in your pocket you can look into MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn) gear. It is what I use when doing installs in other studio's.

Myself, I use both ESI and a Line 6 UX-2 among other pieces of gear. But, it sound like you want something with pre amps built in so the UXand gear from MOTU are moer what you would need.

You can look at the MOTU Traveler, which is a portable unit and has killer i/o on it.

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006

Jun 28, 2008 04:36 pm

I use the $500 Line6 rig for tracking 8 channels. Although there are many haters on digital modeling I love it. I do enjoy a mic'd guitar cab like no other, but using line6 does not stop you from doing that so it's a win\win imo.

I just finished half *** tracking a song yesterday (my drums tend to be sloppy at times). Is called Judas Goat if you wanna take a listen it's in my profile. Keep in mind it was tracked and mixed in about 3 hours and is an MP3, it will clean up even better with some more EQ.

I personally think the L6 stuff is awesome, stable and convenient. Only reason I am upgrading is for 16 channels, if line6 had a 16 channel interface I'd be the first to buy it.

edit: Noize are you sure the UX1 has phantom power? I thought someone said it did not here on the boards.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Jun 28, 2008 08:15 pm

Ya, it has phantom power. It only has 1 XLR input though.

Prince CZAR-ming
Member
Since: Apr 08, 2004

Jun 29, 2008 10:09 am

Line 6 pages says it doesn't (phantom on UX1):

line6.com/toneport/compare.html

I'm not trying to contradict, but want data to be accurate =).

The MOTU certainly is a higher-level interface, but it may have lots of features you don't need. You're probably looking for preamps like mentioned. The MOTU 8pre has 8 preamps, and is firewire. Nice piece, that includes a lot of functionality you may not need.

RME has some nice spendy stuff, the fireface 400 and FF 800 come to mind. The FF400 has 2 xlr inputs, but can accept 8 analog inputs, so you can record more, but need external preamps for more than the first 2 channels.

excerpt of a review from sweetwater page re: ff400

Quote:
My main qualm is that this is a very complicated piece of equipment to install for some reason. RME is very PC specific...and they like their install process to be as specific (and therefore complicated) as possible.

This may be an issue, if you're not ready to dig into the guts of the project: installing, tweaking, etc.

It's a pretty robust item as well, on par with the MOTU stuff. Lot's of features you may never need.

I guess I'd wonder too, if you're looking for PCI card, or external: USB or Firewire.

Also, depending on the level of quality of your other components, a high-end device may not be prudent. Any other weak links in your signal chain can degrade your quality.

I'd throw out the idea, that a 2 channel interface with 2 preamp inputs will fit the bill nicely. I know you already have the US122 (i have one too) but a more reliable device may be more what you're looking for. My US122 is 24bit/48khz, and i've had pretty good luck with it. Others have not though, so I can see the reason that some want to upgrade.


Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Jun 29, 2008 02:45 pm

Yep, your right pjk. I thought I had seen somewhere that it did have phantom power.

Funny thing is they show it being used with a big condenser mic so that is odd. I wonder if it is simply always on or something?

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006

Jun 30, 2008 04:27 pm

Could be one of the tube mics with their own power like my K2.

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